Countries that celebrate New Year 2024 earliest and latest in the world

Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati is the first place in the world to welcome the new year 2024, while Baker and Howland islands in the US are the latest to welcome the new year.

When the clocks strike midnight on December 31, the world will welcome the new year, but not all countries will do so at the same time. Countries around the world will use their own time zones to determine when they enter 2024. All time zones on Earth are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is the time at the zero meridian passing through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England.

These factors help explain why some countries will welcome 2024 first and others will welcome it last.

Fireworks light up a corner of Hoan Kiem Lake on the occasion of the Year of the Cat 2023. Photo: Ngoc Thanh — Fireworks light up a corner of Hoan Kiem Lake on the occasion of the Year of the Cat 2023. Photo: *Ngoc Thanh*

The Republic of Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, is the first country to welcome the New Year 2024 because it is closest to the international date line (to the left). The island nation has an area of over 3.5 million km2 spread over more than 30 coral islands. The main island of Kiritimati (Christmas Island) is considered the place to welcome the New Year earliest in the world, at 5:00 p.m. on December 31 ( Hanoi time).

On the map, Kiritimati lies on the same meridian as the Hawaiian Islands, but because it is on the other side of the date line, it celebrates the new year a day earlier. In 2000, the island's tourism industry began to boom as visitors from around the world flocked to "welcome the first sunrise of the third millennium." Kiribati is famous for its pristine islands, vast coral reefs, and white sand beaches with clear water.

The next country to welcome the New Year is New Zealand. At 5:15 p.m. on December 31, the Chatham Islands entered the New Year. At 6 p.m. on the same day, the remaining cities in this country such as Auckland and Wellington began to set off fireworks to welcome the New Year. Due to its convenient travel, New Zealand has become an ideal tourist destination for tourists who want to welcome the New Year early in the world.

Before the pandemic, New Zealand held a grand countdown with many activities to attract tourists. At the time of the New Year, people and tourists gathered at Auckland Harbor or Sky Tower to watch fireworks to celebrate the New Year.

Countries that welcome New Year 2024 earliest

Nation	New Year's Eve (Hanoi time)
Kiribati	17:00 December 31
New Zealand	17:15 (Chatham Islands) and 18:00 in Auckland, Wellington
Fiji and some small areas in Russia	19h
Australia	20h
Japan, South Korea, North Korea	21h
China, Philippines, Singapore	23h
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam	0:00 January 1, 2024
Myanmar	0:30 January 1
Bangladesh and some South Asian countries	1:00 a.m. January 1
India, Sri Lanka	1:30

The next countries to enter the new year are Fiji, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. One hour after the Philippines, Singapore, and China celebrate the new year, Vietnam begins the transition between two years. People in Thailand and Laos will celebrate the new year at the same time as Vietnam. People in Myanmar and other South Asian and West Asian countries will celebrate the new year 30 minutes to 3 hours after Vietnam. Then come European and American countries.

The last country to ring in the new year is the United States. The country's uninhabited territories of Baker Island and Howland Island will be the last places to end the day on the international date line, so they will be the last to ring in the new year. Thirty minutes earlier, Hawaii and other islands in French Polynesia, as well as the state of Alaska, will ring in the new year.

Besides, some countries have only one time zone, but some countries have different time zones like Russia due to its large area. Therefore, some small areas in Russia have entered the new year but it is a few hours later in the capital Moscow that the clock strikes 12 to signal midnight.

Anh Minh (According to Travel & Leisure Asia, Time and Date )

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