Across the world, countries celebrate New Year’s Eve and the official beginning of the next year at different times due to time zones – and here is a complete list of the order
When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve we officially enter a new year, and leave the last one behind us. While in the UK, anyone watching the bells on TV will have likely noticed that many other countries have reached the milestone before us – and a lot of countries have yet to meet the new year when we do.
This is because of the time zone system that operates globally – and some countries like Russia and the USA are so vast that they even include multiple time zones. This means that some Americans have entered the new year before some of their countrymen, who will reach midnight later on.
For many of us, time zones can be confusing – and it’s actually not as simple as you might think to establish the order in which each country celebrates New Year – this is because of something called the International Date Line, which was established in 1884 and aimed to make international travel less complicated.
The National Geographic says: “The international date line roughly follows the 180th meridian north to south through the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is located halfway around the world from the prime meridian, which crosses Greenwich, England, in the United Kingdom. Countries are free to decide which side of the international date line they want to be on—resulting in a line that zigs and zags its way between the North and South Poles.”
Not only that, but countries can also decide their own times – so some countries have multiple local times, and some use only one official time – like China, which sticks to Beijing’s clock across the country despite how unbelievably vast it is. The very first place to celebrate New Year’s is Kiribati, while here in the UK it’s still only 10am on December 31. According to World Population Review, the list below is as cohesive an order as we can get about where New Year’s Eve is celebrated, from first to last – however, it’s important to note that according to the website, many of these countries jointly share position with this around them. For instance, China, Phillippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mongolia, Macau and Brunei all share the 8th position.
The global order – who rings in the New Year first
- Kiribati
- Samoa
- Tonga
- Tokelau
- New Zealand
- Russia
- Fiji
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Wallis and Futuna
- Tuvalu
- Australia
- Papua New Guinea
- Guam
- Micronesia
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Indonesia
- Japan
- South Korea
- North Korea
- Timor Leste
- Palau
- China
- Philippines
- Malaysia
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- Singapore
- Mongolia
- Macau
- Brunei
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Cambodia
- Laos
- Myanmar
- Bangladesh
- Kazakhstan
- Bhutan
- Nepal
- India
- Sri Lanka
- Pakistan
- Uzbekistan
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Maldives
- Afghanistan
- United Arab Emirates
- Azerbaijan
- Oman
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Mauritius
- Reunion
- Seychelles
- Iran
- Ethiopia
- Turkey
- Tanzania
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Iraq
- Yemen
- Ukraine
- Saudi Arabia
- Madagascar
- Syria
- Somalia
- Jordan
- Belarus
- Kuwait
- Eritrea
- Qatar
- Bahrain
- Dijbouti
- Camoros
- Mayotte
- Egypt
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Mozambique
- Malawi
- Zambia
- Romania
- Zimbabwe
- Rwanda
- Burundi
- South Sudan
- Greece
- Israel
- Libya
- Bulgaria
- Lebanon
- Finland
- Palestine
- Moldova
- Namibia
- Lithuania
- Botswana
- Lesotho
- Latvia
- Estonia
- Cyprus
- Eswatini
- Nigeria
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Algeria
- Poland
- Morocco
- Angola
- Cameroon
- Niger
- Chad
- Netherlands
- Benin
- Tunisia
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Sweden
- Hungary
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Serbia
- Republic of Congo
- Denmark
- Norway
- Slovakia
- Central African Republic
- Croatia
- Bosna and Herzegovina
- Albania
- Gabon
- Slovenia
- Equatorial Guinea
- North Macedonia
- Luxembourg
- Montenegro
- Western Sahara
- Malta
- Andorra
- Lichtenstein
- Gibraltar
- Monaco
- San Marino
- Vatican City
- United Kingdom
- Ghana
- Ivory Coast
- Mali
- Burkina Faso
- Senegal
- Guinea
- Portugal
- Togo
- Sierra Leone
- Liberia
- Ireland
- Mauritania
- Gambia
- Guinea Bissau
- Iceland
- San Tome and Principe
- Jersey
- Isle of Man
- Guernsey
- Greenland
- Faroe Islands
- Cape Verde
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Chile
- Uruguay
- Suriname
- French Guiana
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Falkland Islands
- Canada
- Venezuela
- Bolivia
- Dominican Republic
- Paraguay
- Puerto Rico
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Guyana
- Guadeloupe
- Martinique
- Barbados
- Curacao
- Saint Lucia
- Grenada
- Aruba
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Antigua and Barbuda
- United States Virgin Islands
- Dominica
- Bermuda
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Sint Maarten
- British Virgin Islands
- Saint Martin
- Anguilla
- Saint Barthelemy
- Montserrat
- United States
- Mexico
- Colombia
- Peru
- Ecuador
- Haiti
- Cuba
- Panama
- Jamaica
- Bahamas
- Cayman Islands
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- El Salvador
- Costa Rica
- Belize
- French Polynesia
- Cook Islands
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