The first place to ring in the New Year is Kiritimati Island, which is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The small region is also known as Christmas Island, which is in the world’s farthest forward time zone, making it 19 hours ahead of places like NYC.
Kiritimati Island celebrates New Year’s so early compared to the United States that almost a whole day will have passed before all of the mainland US will have made it to 2024. In fact, when Kiritimati enters New Year’s Day at midnight and it officially becomes January 1, 2024, the local time in New York will just be 5:00 a.m. EST on December 31, 2023.
What’s the first country to celebrate the New Year?
