The islands of Niue and American Samoa, which are southwest of Kiribati in the South Pacific, are the last inhabited places to celebrate the New Year, according to National Geographic. By the time American Samoa says goodbye to 2025, a lot of the rest of the world will already be firmly in 2026.
If we consider only inhabited places, then American Samoa (USA) is the last location where people celebrate New Year. While most countries have already moved on to January 1, American Samoa enters the New Year several hours later, making it the final populated region to do so.
While Baker Island and Howland Island are the last two places to welcome the new year, the last inhabited region to celebrate New Year's Day is American Samoa.
In contrast, the last to greet 2025 are Baker Island and Howland Island, two uninhabited territories of the United States. These remote locations, lying just west of the International Date Line, will bid farewell to 2024 long after the rest of the world has already embraced the new year.
This is American Samoa. Located in the South Pacific, the island nation is the last inhabited land mass where the clock strikes midnight. Halfway between Hawaii in the north and New Zealand in the south, American Samoa is known for its rich blue hues, its historical sites, its beaches and its relationship with time.
Kiribati ushered in 2026 when it was 5 a.m. Eastern on Dec. 31. After Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga are among the first countries to welcome the New Year. The New Zealand city of Auckland is considered one of the first major cities to welcome each day.
This means their clocks run 14 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, making them the first inhabited places to begin a new day, and by default, a new year. Kiribati's position at the front of the New Year celebrations is not purely geographical, it is also political and practical.
China, India, and the United States will emerge as the world's three largest economies in 2050, with a total real U.S. dollar GDP of 70 percent more than the GDP of all the other G20 countries combined. In China and India alone, GDP is predicted to increase by nearly $60 trillion, the current size of the world economy.
3 May – The 2025 Australian federal election is held which sees the Australian Labor Party led by prime minister Anthony Albanese return to government defeating the Coalition in a landslide victory, and also sees Liberal leader Peter Dutton defeated in his own seat of Dickson by ALP candidate Ali France - a seat he was ...
The world has entered the 1st January 2025 (by Kiritimati, Christmas Island, Kiribati time)
Happy New Year! New Zealand is the first country in the world to enter 2026.
Auckland has marked the start of 2026 by firing fireworks from the Sky Tower, becoming the first major city to bring in the new year around the globe. Video Player is loading.
Facts dependent on the IDL
According to the clock, the first areas to experience a new day and a New Year are islands that use UTC+14:00. These include portions of the Republic of Kiribati, including Millennium Island and Kiritimati in the Line Islands.
Kiribati is the country that will be the first to enter 2025, specifically Kiritimati Island, which is part of Kiribati. This Pacific Ocean atoll is one of the first places on Earth to celebrate the new year due to its proximity to the International Date Line.
As the final inhabited place on the planet to ring in the new year, American Samoa is an ideal choice to mark the new beginning. This lush group of volcanic islands is located approximately 2,500 miles south of Hawaii. American Samoa is also the only inhabited U.S. territory positioned south of the equator.
The last places to enter 2026
While Baker and Howland Islands are technically last on the clock, they are uninhabited. For travelers, the meaningful “last New Year” celebrations happen in American Samoa, Niue, and Hawaii.
When discussing the Australian population by race, the majority of the population is considered to be white. A white person is defined as a person who has European ancestry. In Australia, about 90.2 percent of the nation's population is white.
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The Pacific island nation of Kiribati led the world into 2026, becoming the first country to celebrate the New Year as clocks struck midnight in its Line Islands.
The day on 01/01/0001 is Monday.
The pattern is Monday, followed by Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and finally Sunday.
Time is kept from an imaginary line running through Greenwich, England, called the Prime Meridian. The International Date Line is an imaginary line located halfway around the world at roughly 180 degrees longitude that separates one day from the next. If you cross the International Date Line, the date changes.