New Year Around the World: Who Celebrates First and Who Last

Every New Year is welcomed at different times across the world because of Earth’s rotation and the International Date Line (IDL). While some countries enter the New Year first, others are still hours away from midnight. This difference makes New Year celebrations a rolling global event that lasts about 25 hours.

Why New Year Is Celebrated at Different Times

• The Earth rotates once every 24 hours, but time zones divide this rotation into different local times.
• The International Date Line, an imaginary line in the Pacific Ocean, marks where each new calendar day begins and ends.
• Countries are free to choose their time zones, which explains why celebrations vary worldwide.

First Country to Celebrate the New Year

• The first inhabited place to welcome the New Year is Kiritimati Island, part of the Republic of Kiribati.
• In 1995, Kiribati shifted the International Date Line eastward to unify the country under one date.
• This decision moved some islands from being among the last to celebrate New Year to being among the first.
• As a result, Kiribati enters the New Year almost a full day before parts of the Americas.

Other early celebrants include,

• Samoa
• Tonga
• Tokelau
• New Zealand (Auckland is the first major city)

Countries That Celebrate After Kiribati

Following Kiribati, several Pacific and Asia-Pacific countries welcome the New Year in sequence, including:

• Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru
• Australia
• Japan, North Korea, South Korea
• China and Southeast Asian nations

India’s Position in the New Year Countdown

• India celebrates New Year at 12:00 AM IST, which corresponds to 3:30 PM UTC on December 31.
• India is neither among the first nor the last
• It comes after countries in East and Southeast Asia
• Before countries in Europe, Africa, and the Americas

Last Countries to Celebrate the New Year

The last inhabited places to welcome the New Year are,

• American Samoa
• Niue
• Cook Islands

These regions lie east of the International Date Line in the South Pacific. When they finally enter the New Year, much of the world has already been in the new year for nearly a full day.

Interesting Fact

Because of time zone differences,

• Kiribati celebrates New Year while parts of the world are still on December 30
• The full global transition into a New Year takes about 25 hours