What’s the First Country To Celebrate the New Year?

World bauble with New Year's sparkling lights behind

The countdown is on! Can you believe it’s almost time to say farewell to 2023 and hello to 2024? Before you know it, you’ll be counting down the seconds until the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve alongside your loved ones as tiny bits of colorful confetti fall from the sky and coat the ground beneath you. For that brief moment, time will stand still as you reflect on the previous 365 days and start dreaming about the next 365 days (or 366 days thanks to the leap year) that are now ahead of you.

It’s truly one of the most joyous and magical times of the year, so it’s no wonder people in countries all across the world love to celebrate it. It’s a day that everyone can look forward to, no matter how old you are or where you live.

However, do you know what the first place is to cross over into 2024? If you guessed the United States, guess again! The U.S. is actually not even close to being one of the first countries to do so. Crazy, right? Well, thanks to the fact that there are 38 different time zones, it takes 26 hours for the New Year to officially encompass every single one of them. That’s why we’re listing out a few of the first regions that will get to say “Happy New Year!,” below. So if you ever want to plan a New Year’s Eve trip somewhere, keep these places in mind!

Related: What's the Last Place in the World To Celebrate the New Year?

What's the First Country To Celebrate the New Year?

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.

Related: Closing Our Eyes While Opening Our Hearts—30 Transformative New Year's Prayers

What Other Locations Celebrate the New Year First?

Keep reading to see who else is among the first to celebrate the New Year. The list below shows some of the areas that follow right behind Kiritimati Island. We also included what time it is in the United States (in EST) when the clock strikes midnight in these locations.

1. The Chatham Islands (which are part of New Zealand) is the second place to celebrate New Year’s—just fifteen minutes after Kiritimati Island. When the clock strikes midnight there, it’s only 5:15 a.m. EST on December 31 in the United States.

2. About 45 minutes later, other places in New Zealand, like Auckland and Wellington, as well as cities like Nuku'alofa in Tonga celebrate. It’s just 6:00 a.m. EST on December 31 when that happens.

3. When it’s 7:00 a.m. EST, it’s January 1st in Fiji and in some of the most eastern parts of Russia.

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4. Around 8:00 a.m. EST is when it’s officially New Year’s in most of Australia, including Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

5. A half hour later at 8:30 a.m. EST is when Australians in Adelaide, Broken Hill and Ceduna will flip their calendars to January.

6. Places like Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, along with the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, say “Happy New Year!” when it’s 9:00 a.m. EST.

7. The northern territory of Australia is the eighth place to ring in the New Year. It’s only 9:30 a.m. EST on December 31 when that happens.

8. At 10:00 a.m. EST, the clock strikes midnight in Japan and South Korea.

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