Who see's in the new year first

 

So, the year is all but over and that had me thinking about which country would be the first to see in a new year and which would be the last. So, this is what I found out.

The place to see the New Year first is Kiribati, specifically Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Line Islands. Not to be confused with the Christmas Island that is a territory of Australia and in the Indian Ocean.

The Line Islands (also called the Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands) are a chain of 11 atolls and low coral islands stretching more than 2,350 km across the Pacific. They lie south of Hawaii and are among the longest island chains in the world.

Why is it the first well it’s because it sits in the UTC+14 time zone — the earliest on Earth — which puts it ahead of every other inhabited place when the first of January arrives.

In 1995, Kiribati shifted the International Date Line eastward so all its islands would share the same calendar day. As a result, Kiritimati became the first inhabited place to celebrate the New Year.

The last inhabited place is American Samoa in UTC−11.

However, the very last to see in a new year that would be Baker Island and Howland Island these are uninhabited U.S. territories.