Kiribati contains Kiritimati, one of the first inhabited places to enter a new calendar year.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of the Republic of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean. It uses UTC+14, the world's most advanced civil time zone, so its clocks reach January 1 before those in most other inhabited locations. This makes Kiritimati a frequent subject of New Year's Eve maps and time-zone explanations.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line around its eastern islands in 1994. The change placed the country's inhabited island groups on the same side of the date line, simplifying administration and travel within the nation. Kiritimati is in the Line Islands, far east of Kiribati's Gilbert Islands.
“First in the world” claims require care because they depend on the legal time zone being considered and on whether an uninhabited location is included. Kiritimati is best described as one of the first inhabited places to celebrate the New Year, not as the only possible wording for every first-place ranking.