New Year’s Day Around the World, who got to 2024 first?

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!