Where Does the New Year Start First in the World?
The first place to celebrate New Year is the tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati, 26 hours before the last place. Here is the full order of every country to ring in the new year, and the strange story of how Kiribati got there.
The Surprise First-Place Holder: Kiribati
The first place on Earth to celebrate the New Year is the tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati — specifically, the Line Islands, which include Kiritimati (Christmas Island) and Caroline Island, also known as "Millennium Island." This region uses UTC+14, the easternmost time zone on the planet. When the clock strikes midnight on January 1 in Kiritimati, it is still 10:00 AM on December 31 in New York City. The party starts in Kiribati a full 26 hours before the last places on Earth get to celebrate.
The Last Place to See the New Year: American Samoa and Baker Island
The last places on Earth to ring in the new year are American Samoa (UTC−11) and a few uninhabited US territories like Baker Island and Howland Island (UTC−12). When American Samoa's clock hits midnight to start January 1, it is already midnight UTC the next morning in much of the world — meaning Kiribati, just a few thousand miles away, has been celebrating the new year for 26 hours. A flight from Apia, Samoa to Pago Pago, American Samoa takes about 30 minutes, but crosses the International Date Line and effectively goes back a day. You could literally celebrate New Year in Samoa, fly 30 minutes east, and celebrate it again 24 hours later in American Samoa.
The Full Order of New Year Celebrations
Here is the order in which the world rings in the new year, from first to last (each celebrating midnight local time): 1. Kiribati Line Islands (UTC+14) — first to celebrate 2. Samoa, Tokelau, parts of Kiribati (UTC+13) — 1 hour later 3. New Zealand mainland (UTC+13 in DST) — 1 hour later 4. Chatham Islands NZ (UTC+13:45) — 15 minutes after NZ mainland 5. Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania (UTC+11 in DST) — 2 hours after NZ 6. Brisbane, Queensland (UTC+10) — 1 hour later 7. Tokyo, Seoul (UTC+9) — 1 hour later 8. Beijing, Singapore, Manila (UTC+8) — 1 hour later 9. Bangkok, Jakarta (UTC+7) 10. New Delhi (UTC+5:30) 11. Dubai (UTC+4) 12. Moscow (UTC+3) 13. Cairo, Athens (UTC+2) 14. London, Lisbon (UTC+0) 15. Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo (UTC−3) 16. New York, Buenos Aires (UTC−5) 17. Chicago (UTC−6) 18. Denver (UTC−7) 19. Los Angeles (UTC−8) 20. Anchorage (UTC−9) 21. Honolulu (UTC−10) 22. American Samoa (UTC−11) — last to celebrate The full process from first celebration to last takes 26 hours.
The Strange Case of Kiribati
Kiribati has not always been the first to celebrate the new year. Until 1995, the country was split across the International Date Line: its western islands were on one side and its eastern islands (including Kiritimati) were on the other. This meant residents of the same country were a full day apart — it was Sunday on Tarawa while it was Saturday on Kiritimati. This caused enormous administrative headaches: the government could only conduct business with itself four days a week. So in 1995, Kiribati unilaterally moved the International Date Line eastward, putting all its territory on the same side. Overnight, the country jumped from being one of the last to see each new day to being the first. The Line Islands skipped December 31, 1994 entirely and went straight from December 30 to January 1, 1995.
Samoa Made the Same Move in 2011
In 2011, Samoa did almost exactly the same thing. Samoa had historically been on the eastern side of the date line (UTC−11), aligned with the United States for trading purposes. But by 2011, most of Samoa's economic ties had shifted to Australia and New Zealand, which were on the OTHER side of the date line. The mismatch meant that when it was Friday in Sydney, it was still Thursday in Apia — making business communication awkward. So Samoa moved the date line west, jumping from UTC−11 to UTC+13 overnight. Samoans went to bed on Thursday, December 29, 2011, and woke up on Saturday, December 31, 2011 — December 30 simply did not exist for them. This made Samoa one of the first countries to celebrate the new year, and aligned its calendar with its main trading partners.
How Long Does It Take for the Whole World to Reach New Year?
From the first celebration in Kiribati at midnight UTC+14 (which is 10:00 AM UTC on December 31) to the last celebration in American Samoa at midnight UTC−11 (which is 11:00 AM UTC on January 1), the entire process of "reaching the new year" takes 26 hours. That is two hours longer than a single day, because the time zones span 26 hours of offset (UTC+14 minus UTC−12 = 26). For 26 hours straight, somewhere in the world is celebrating New Year's Eve and somewhere is celebrating New Year's Day. If you wanted to "experience" New Year's in as many countries as possible, you could theoretically chase it westward by jet — but you would need a very fast plane and a lot of patience.
The Cities That Make Headlines for New Year
Although Kiribati technically celebrates first, very few television cameras are pointed at it. The cities that actually make the global news on New Year's Eve are the ones with iconic celebrations and large international audiences. Sydney is usually the first big celebration shown on global news — the fireworks over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are broadcast worldwide at 1:00 PM UTC. Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore follow a few hours later. London's fireworks at the London Eye get massive UK and European coverage at midnight UTC. Times Square in New York is the most-watched celebration in the United States, at 5:00 AM UTC. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco all celebrate at 8:00 AM UTC. After that, the celebrations move into Hawaii and the remote Pacific, and the cycle ends in American Samoa.
The 30-Minute and 45-Minute New Year Surprises
Most people think every time zone is exactly one hour apart, but several major regions are not. New Year on the Indian subcontinent (UTC+5:30) happens 30 minutes after Pakistan (UTC+5) and 30 minutes before Bangladesh (UTC+6). New Year in Iran (UTC+3:30) and Afghanistan (UTC+4:30) happens at unusual moments. The strangest is the Chatham Islands of New Zealand at UTC+12:45 — they celebrate New Year exactly 45 minutes after the rest of New Zealand. The country's main TV networks always do a special countdown for the Chathams. Nepal, at UTC+5:45, celebrates 15 minutes after India. These quirky offsets exist because of historical decisions that prioritized solar noon over neat round-hour offsets.
New Year on the International Space Station
The International Space Station orbits Earth approximately every 90 minutes, which means astronauts onboard see roughly 16 sunrises and sunsets per day. So which New Year do they celebrate? Officially, the ISS runs on UTC — same as Greenwich Mean Time — which means the official station "midnight" is when the clock in London hits 12:00 AM. But astronauts often celebrate multiple times throughout the day, joining whichever country they are flying over or want to honor. Russian cosmonauts traditionally celebrate Russian New Year (Moscow time, UTC+3). American astronauts celebrate again at US time. So a crew of mixed nationality on the ISS might celebrate three or four times in a single 24-hour period. Not a bad way to spend New Year.
New Year in Antarctica
Antarctica is a special case. The continent has no native population and no permanent time zone of its own — each research station uses the time zone of the country that operates it, OR the time zone of its supply base. The McMurdo Station (US) uses New Zealand time. The Vostok Station (Russia) uses Moscow time. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station uses New Zealand time. So depending on which station you are at, you might celebrate New Year very early (at NZ time) or very late (if your station uses an unusual offset). The South Pole itself is technically in every time zone simultaneously — standing on it, you cross all 24 longitudinal lines in a single step.
Track New Year Around the World
If you ever want to watch the new year roll across the planet in real time, you can use Clockzilla to check what time it is in any city right now. The world clock view shows 12 major cities at once, including Sydney, Tokyo, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Honolulu — enough to follow the wave of midnight celebrations as it sweeps westward. For a more comprehensive view, you can search for any specific city in our 150,000-city database. Whether you are planning your own celebration, trying to call family in another country at exactly midnight their time, or just curious where in the world it is currently New Year's Eve, Clockzilla will give you the answer in seconds.
The Short Version
The first place on Earth to ring in the new year is Kiribati at UTC+14, and the last is American Samoa at UTC−11 — a span of 26 hours. Kiribati became first by moving the International Date Line east in 1995. Samoa joined them in 2011 by skipping a day to align with its trading partners. The famous big-city celebrations like Sydney, London, and New York happen well after Kiribati but well before the US west coast and Hawaii. The whole world takes more than a day to ring in the new year — a fact that always surprises people the first time they think about it.
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