The first place on Earth where it turns midnight (and a new calendar day begins) is around the Line Islands of Kiribati , especially Kiritimati (Christmas Island), which sit in the far‑ahead time zone of UTC+14.

Quick Scoop: Who hits midnight first?

  • The earliest regularly inhabited places to reach midnight are:
    • Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in Kiribati
    • Other Line Islands of Kiribati in the same UTC+14 zone.
  • Just behind them (depending on the time of year and daylight saving shifts) come:
    • Parts of Samoa and Tonga, which are typically at UTC+13 or UTC+14.

So if you imagine New Year’s Eve, the “first midnight” party kicks off on Kiritimati, then rolls to Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, and mainland New Zealand shortly after.

Why these places go first

  • The world’s time zones are arranged roughly around the prime meridian (0°) and the International Date Line (near 180°), but with political tweaks.
  • Kiribati shifted its date line position in 1995 so its eastern islands would be on the same calendar day as the rest of the country, putting the Line Islands at UTC+14 and giving them the world’s first midnight each day.

First midnight vs. last midnight

  • First to midnight: Line Islands (Kiribati, UTC+14).
  • Last to midnight: Baker Island and Howland Island (uninhabited U.S. territories) in UTC−12, which are the very last places on Earth to reach the same calendar date.

In simple terms: if you want to be among the absolute first humans to shout “Happy New Day” or “Happy New Year,” you head to Kiritimati in Kiribati; if you want to be dead last, you pick Baker or Howland Island.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.