Although we know that due to the different time zones in different parts of the Earth there can be a slip between the days of the calendar even in a single day, the discrepancy is really noticeable only at this time, on New Year’s Eve.
This is due to the oddity of the International Date Line, which is the official starting and ending point for each day. The date line idea was introduced at a conference in 1884 to aid the rise of the railroad and international travel. But because of this, which country celebrates the New Year first every year, and who stays last?
The first country in 2023
The first place to call in the New Year is Christmas Island, also known as Kiritimati, and 10 other, mostly uninhabited, places in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Kiritimati, one of the 33 islands that make up the Republic of Kiribati, is located almost directly south of Hawaii at the same longitude, but celebrates the New Year a full day earlier. On the islands, the transition to the year 2023 takes place already at 11 am Hungarian time, more than half a day before the midnight fireworks in Budapest.
However, this wasn’t always the case… The International Date Line once crossed Christmas Island, meaning the day was different depending on whether one was on one of the westernmost or easternmost islands. But in 1995, Kiribati moved the date line so that all of its islands celebrated the same day at the same time—while drawing tourists there who wanted to be the first to pop champagne in the new millennium.
After the islands, New Zealand, and Australia move into 2023, residents of Sydney and Melbourne will celebrate New Year’s Eve at 2:00 pm Hungarian time, for example. Asian countries are next, starting at 4 p.m. Japan will start an hour later as well as China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.
After that, most African countries and most of Russia will move to the year 2023, after which the celebration will begin in most European countries. According to the Hungarian calendar, South America calls out on Sunday, followed by the United States and most of its protected islands to welcome in the new year.
An uninhabited island is the last
The last populated places to celebrate the New Year are the island of Niue and American Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean, southwest of Kiribati, where people can fall on each other’s necks at noon on Sunday.
The day practically ends an hour later on Baker Island and Howland Island in the US, which are the last to welcome the New Year, but both are uninhabited, so there is no one there to blow confetti at midnight – here I can say hello to the New Year at 1pm Hungarian time Sunday.
Also nearby Samoa (not to be confused with American Samoa) was one of the last countries to celebrate the New Year, but in 2011 the country decided to switch time zones to align with its trading partners Australia and New Zealand. With this change, Samoa jumped over the International Date Line and, in an interesting twist, became one of the first countries to celebrate.
detailed chronological list, It can be seen here.
(Cover Photo: (Wagner Meyer / Getty Images)
