Which country celebrates New Year first?

Which country celebrates New Year first? Kiribati does: its Line Islands, including Kiritimati, are on UTC+14 and reach midnight first. The table lists every time zone in the order it enters the new year, with the moment in UTC and in your own time.

Next to celebrate

UTCUTC+14

Kiritimati (Line Islands), Kiribati

2027

#	UTC offset	New Year at (UTC)	Places
1	UTCUTC+14	Thu, Dec 31, 10:00	Kiritimati (Line Islands), Kiribati
2	UTCUTC+13:45	Thu, Dec 31, 10:15	Chatham Islands, New Zealand
3	UTCUTC+13	Thu, Dec 31, 11:00	Apia, Samoa, Auckland, New Zealand, Nuku'alofa, Tonga, Tonga, Wellington, New Zealand
4	UTCUTC+12	Thu, Dec 31, 12:00	Funafuti, Tuvalu, Majuro, Marshall Islands, Suva, Fiji, Tarawa, Kiribati, Yaren, Nauru
5	UTCUTC+11	Thu, Dec 31, 13:00	Canberra, Australia, Honiara, Solomon Islands, Melbourne, Australia, Palikir, Micronesia, Port Vila, Vanuatu, Sydney, Australia
6	UTCUTC+10	Thu, Dec 31, 14:00	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
7	UTCUTC+9	Thu, Dec 31, 15:00	Dili, Timor-Leste, Ngerulmud, Palau, Pyongyang, North Korea, Seoul, South Korea, Tokyo, Japan
8	UTCUTC+8	Thu, Dec 31, 16:00	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Beijing, China, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Manila, Philippines, Perth, Australia, Shanghai, China, Singapore, Singapore, Taipei, Taiwan, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
9	UTCUTC+7	Thu, Dec 31, 17:00	Bangkok, Thailand, Hanoi, Vietnam, Jakarta, Indonesia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Vientiane, Laos
10	UTCUTC+6:30	Thu, Dec 31, 17:30	Naypyidaw, Myanmar
11	UTCUTC+6	Thu, Dec 31, 18:00	Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thimphu, Bhutan
12	UTCUTC+5:45	Thu, Dec 31, 18:15	Kathmandu, Nepal
13	UTCUTC+5:30	Thu, Dec 31, 18:30	Colombo, Sri Lanka, Mumbai, India, New Delhi, India
14	UTCUTC+5	Thu, Dec 31, 19:00	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Astana, Kazakhstan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Islamabad, Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan, Malé, Maldives, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
15	UTCUTC+4:30	Thu, Dec 31, 19:30	Kabul, Afghanistan
16	UTCUTC+4	Thu, Dec 31, 20:00	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Baku, Azerbaijan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Muscat, Oman, Port Louis, Mauritius, Tbilisi, Georgia, Victoria, Seychelles, Yerevan, Armenia
17	UTCUTC+3:30	Thu, Dec 31, 20:30	Tehran, Iran
18	UTCUTC+3	Thu, Dec 31, 21:00	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Amman, Jordan, Ankara, Turkey, Antananarivo, Madagascar, Asmara, Eritrea, Baghdad, Iraq, Damascus, Syria, Djibouti, Djibouti, Dodoma, Tanzania, Doha, Qatar, Istanbul, Turkey, Kampala, Uganda, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Manama, Bahrain, Minsk, Belarus, Mogadishu, Somalia, Moroni, Comoros, Moscow, Russia, Nairobi, Kenya, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sana'a, Yemen
19	UTCUTC+2	Thu, Dec 31, 22:00	Athens, Greece, Beirut, Lebanon, Bucharest, Romania, Cairo, Egypt, Chișinău, Moldova, Gaborone, Botswana, Gitega, Burundi, Harare, Zimbabwe, Helsinki, Finland, Jerusalem, Israel, Johannesburg, South Africa, Juba, South Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan, Kigali, Rwanda, Kyiv, Ukraine, Lilongwe, Malawi, Lusaka, Zambia, Maputo, Mozambique, Maseru, Lesotho, Mbabane, Eswatini, Nicosia, Cyprus, Pretoria, South Africa, Ramallah, Palestine, Riga, Latvia, Sofia, Bulgaria, Tallinn, Estonia, Tripoli, Libya, Vilnius, Lithuania, Windhoek, Namibia
20	UTCUTC+1	Thu, Dec 31, 23:00	Abuja, Nigeria, Algiers, Algeria, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Andorra la Vella, Andorra, Bangui, Central African Republic, Barcelona, Spain, Belgrade, Serbia, Berlin, Germany, Bern, Switzerland, Bratislava, Slovakia, Brazzaville, Congo, Brussels, Belgium, Budapest, Hungary, Copenhagen, Denmark, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lagos, Nigeria, Libreville, Gabon, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Luanda, Angola, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Madrid, Spain, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Monaco, Monaco, N'Djamena, Chad, Niamey, Niger, Oslo, Norway, Paris, France, Podgorica, Montenegro, Porto-Novo, Benin, Prague, Czechia, Pristina, Kosovo, Rome, Italy, San Marino, San Marino, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Skopje, North Macedonia, Stockholm, Sweden, Tirana, Albania, Tunis, Tunisia, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, Valletta, Malta, Vatican City, Vatican City, Vienna, Austria, Warsaw, Poland, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Zagreb, Croatia, Zurich, Switzerland
21	UTCUTC	Fri, Jan 1, 00:00	Accra, Ghana, Bamako, Mali, Banjul, Gambia, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, Casablanca, Morocco, Conakry, Guinea, Dakar, Senegal, Dublin, Ireland, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Lisbon, Portugal, Lomé, Togo, London, United Kingdom, Monrovia, Liberia, Nouakchott, Mauritania, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Rabat, Morocco, Reykjavik, Iceland, São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe, Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire
22	UTCUTC−1	Fri, Jan 1, 01:00	Praia, Cabo Verde
23	UTCUTC−2	Fri, Jan 1, 02:00	Nuuk, Greenland
24	UTCUTC−3	Fri, Jan 1, 03:00	Asunción, Paraguay, Brasília, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay, Paramaribo, Suriname, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Santiago, Chile, São Paulo, Brazil
25	UTCUTC−4	Fri, Jan 1, 04:00	Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bridgetown, Barbados, Caracas, Venezuela, Castries, Saint Lucia, Georgetown, Guyana, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, La Paz, Bolivia, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Roseau, Dominica, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, St. George's, Grenada, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda
26	UTCUTC−5	Fri, Jan 1, 05:00	Bogotá, Colombia, Havana, Cuba, Kingston, Jamaica, Lima, Peru, Miami, United States, Montreal, Canada, Nassau, Bahamas, New York, United States, Ottawa, Canada, Panama City, Panama, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Quito, Ecuador, Toronto, Canada, Washington, D.C., United States
27	UTCUTC−6	Fri, Jan 1, 06:00	Belmopan, Belize, Chicago, United States, Dallas, United States, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Houston, United States, Managua, Nicaragua, Mexico City, Mexico, San José, Costa Rica, San Salvador, El Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
28	UTCUTC−7	Fri, Jan 1, 07:00	Denver, United States, Phoenix, United States, Vancouver, Canada
29	UTCUTC−8	Fri, Jan 1, 08:00	Las Vegas, United States, Los Angeles, United States, San Francisco, United States, Seattle, United States
30	UTCUTC−9:30	Fri, Jan 1, 09:30	Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia
31	UTCUTC−10	Fri, Jan 1, 10:00	Honolulu, United States
32	UTCUTC−11	Fri, Jan 1, 11:00	American Samoa, Niue
33	UTCUTC−12	Fri, Jan 1, 12:00	Baker Island and Howland Island (uninhabited, US)

How to use the table

The box at the top shows the time zone that is Next to celebrate, the main places in it and how long until its midnight. Once the last zone has passed midnight, it says that everyone is already in the new year.

The table lists each distinct local midnight on 1 January, in order:

#: the position, from first to last.
UTC offset: the offset of the time zone on that night.
New Year at (UTC): the moment of local midnight in UTC, with Your time underneath.
Places: capitals, major cities and islands that share that midnight.

The row coming up next is highlighted, and the table is computed for the next New Year.

Why the spread is 26 hours

Offsets around the world run from UTC+14 to UTC−12, a range of 26 hours. Midnight on 1 January arrives in Kiritimati at 10:00 UTC on 31 December, and on Baker Island at 12:00 UTC on 1 January. So for 26 hours, somewhere on Earth it is New Year’s Day, and for a while some places are on 31 December while others are already on 1 January. Not every step is a whole hour: some zones, such as India, Nepal and the Chatham Islands, are offset by 30 or 45 minutes.

The International Date Line

The International Date Line, in the Pacific Ocean, separates the first places to see a new day from the last. It is not set by any treaty: each country chooses which side of the line its territory is on, and the line bends around island groups accordingly.

Two countries have moved across it. Kiribati, spread across the line, once had its eastern islands on the other side of it from its capital, so the two ends of the country were on different dates for most of each day. From 1 January 1995 it moved its Line Islands to UTC+14, putting the whole country on the same date and making Kiritimati the first place to greet the new year. Samoa switched sides at the end of 2011, moving from UTC−11 to UTC+13 to align with Australia and New Zealand, its main trading partners. Samoans went from 29 December straight to 31 December 2011; 30 December did not happen there.

First and last

Order	Place	UTC offset on 1 January
First	Kiritimati (Line Islands), Kiribati	UTC+14
Second	Chatham Islands, New Zealand	UTC+13:45
Last inhabited	American Samoa, Niue	UTC−11
Last	Baker Island and Howland Island (uninhabited)	UTC−12

Samoa and American Samoa are close neighbors, yet one is among the first to celebrate and the other among the last. To watch the moment arrive, use the New Year countdown, to follow several cities live, the world clock, and to see every offset, the time zone converter.

Frequently asked questions

Which inhabited places celebrate New Year last?

American Samoa and Niue, on UTC−11. They reach midnight 25 hours after Kiritimati. Only the uninhabited US islands of Baker and Howland, on UTC−12, are later.

Is New Zealand the first country to see the new year?

It is one of the first. The Chatham Islands of New Zealand, on UTC+13:45 in summer, follow Kiritimati after 15 minutes, and mainland New Zealand, on UTC+13 in summer, celebrates together with Tonga and Samoa. Auckland is often the first major city shown in New Year broadcasts.

How long does it take the whole world to enter the new year?

About 26 hours. Midnight arrives at 10:00 UTC on 31 December in Kiritimati and at 12:00 UTC on 1 January on Baker Island.