Dana Malcolm
Staff writer
January 1, 2024 – As we welcomed the year 2024 on Monday January 1, some fireworks went off before others, as they do every year, but what determines who celebrates the new year first?
The short answer is time zones and the International Date Line.
United Kingdom
The Date Line is the internationally accepted boundary between one day and the next and sits halfway around the world from the Prime Meridian. Generally, if a map was spread flat, with the IDL in the middle; to the west of the Date Line would be eastern countries like Russia, New Zealand, and Japan. To the right, are Western countries including the Americas and some parts of Europe and Africa. However, one would find there are even some of the easternmost countries that lie just to the right of the line, like American Samoa. It means despite sitting right next to each other Kiribati and American Samoa are generally the very first and very last countries respectively to experience the new year.
The IDL is not legally binding, and countries can make requests to be on either side. In fact, Kiribati used to be bisected by the line, with some of its islands celebrating the new year first, and others much later. Following a request to include all of its islands on the western side of the line the country officially became the first to celebrate New Year’s each year.
There are 38 time zones. Each time zone celebrates New Year’s Day in a staggered motion. Time Zones are listed below with some of the countries that fall into each, and the corresponding TCI time when they hit the 12 am mark.
UTC+14:00 including Kiribati at 5 a.m. Sunday
UTC+13:45 including sections New Zealand at 5:15 a.m. Sunday
UTC+13:00 including Tonga at 6 AM on Sunday
UTC+12:00 including Fiji at 7 AM Sunday
UTC+11:00 including the Solomon Islands at 8 AM Sunday
UTC+10:30 including Australia at 8:30 AM Sunday
UTC+10:00 including Papua New Guinea at 9 AM Sunday
UTC+09:30 including at 9:30 Northern Australia AM Sunday
UTC+09:00 including at Japan, Korea (N&S), and Russia 10 AM Sunday
UTC+08:45 including Western Australia at 10:15 AM Sunday
UTC+08:00 including China at 11 AM Sunday
UTC+07:00 including Thailand at 12 p.m. Sunday
UTC+06:30 including Mynmar at 12:30 p.m Sunday
UTC+06:00 including Bangladesh at 1 PM Sunday
UTC+05:45 including Nepal at 1:15 PM Sunday
UTC+05:30 including India at 1:30 PM Sunday
UTC+05:00 including The Maldives at 2 PM Sunday
UTC+04:30 including Afghanistan at 2:30 PM Sunday
UTC+04:00 including the UAE at 3 PM Sunday
UTC+03:30 including Iran at 3:30 PM Sunday
UTC+03:00 including Kenya at 4 PM Sunday
UTC+02:00 including South Africa and Greece at 5 PM Sunday
UTC+01:00 including Germany Frances and Denmark at 6 PM Sunday
UTC+00:00 including The UK, Ghana, and Ireland at 7 PM Sunday
UTC−01:00 including The Cabo Verde Islands at 8 PM Sunday
UTC−02:00 including Brazil at 9 PM Sunday
UTC−03:00 including Argentina and Chile at 10 PM Sunday
UTC−03:30 including parts of Canada at 10:30 PM, Sunday
UTC−04:00 including Barbados, and The Dominican Republic at 11 PM Sunday
UTC−05:00 including The Turks and Caicos, The United States, The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Cayman at 12 AM Monday
UTC−06:00 including Belize at 1 AM Monday
UTC−07:00 including parts of Mexico at 3 AM Monday
UTC−08:00 including the Pitcairn Islands at 3 AM Monday
UTC−09:00 including Alaska at 4 AM Monday
UTC−09:30 including French Polynesia at 5 AM Monday
UTC−10:00 including Hawaii at 5:30 AM Monday
UTC−11:00 including American Samoa at 6 AM Monday
UTC−12:00 including uninhabited islands at 6 AM Monday
Huge celebrations were held in almost every location.
Kiribati has become a niche tourist destination for those who want to ring in the new year first.
Fireworks and drone shows populated the globe, going off one after the other with sometimes as little as fifteen minutes in between time zones.
Exciting and by now, we are all well into the Year 2024!