Kiribati’s Christmas Island is first to welcome 2026

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was the first place in the world to usher in 2026, leaving behind a turbulent year marked by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the increasing use of AI, and political upheaval, from Trump’s return to power and global trade wars to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Christmas Island, which is part of Kiribati, is in the farthest forward timezone, which is 14 hours ahead of UTC, putting them at the same time as Hawaii except the date is one day ahead. This means that when it turned Thursday in Kiribati it was still Tuesday in American Samoa.

Christmas Island, officially known as Kiritimati, is home to more than 7,000 people and was once one of the last places in the world to welcome the new year. That changed in 1994, when the country jumped a full day ahead to use being first as a tourist draw.

New Zealand’s Chatham Islands and its more than 700 people hit midnight just 15 minutes later, making it the second-earliest place on Earth. The first major city to welcome the new year is Auckland in New Zealand at 1100 GMT (6 a.m. ET), along with Fiji, Tonga, and parts of Antarctica.

But perhaps the most unique way to welcome the new year is aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts have 15 opportunities to celebrate as they circle the globe at 17,500 miles per hour (28,163 km/h). The official time at the space station, however, is in UTC/GMT.

As usual, one of the biggest New Year’s Eve events will be taking place in Sydney, where a massive fireworks display will take place over the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Other major events are taking place in Hong Kong, Seoul, Dubai, London, and New York City.