While much of the world eagerly awaits 2025, the island nation of Kiribati has already embraced the New Year, becoming the first to step into January 1, 2025. Located in the central Pacific Ocean, Kiritimati Island, also known as Christmas Island, celebrated the arrival of the New Year as the clock struck midnight earlier today.
The island operates 14 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and 8.5 hours ahead of India. This means that when it was 3:30 pm on December 31, 2024, in India, Kiritimati was already welcoming the dawn of January 1, 2025. The celebrations on this small Pacific island mark the official start of global New Year festivities.
Residents of Kiritimati ushered in the New Year with fireworks, music, and spirited festivities. The jubilant atmosphere filled the island as locals embraced the fresh start of 2025, setting the tone for celebrations to ripple across the rest of the world.
For India, the time difference is striking. While Kiribati celebrated the arrival of 2025, Indian cities and towns were still preparing for their grand New Year festivities set to unfold later in the evening.
Following Kiribati's early celebrations, the Chatham Islands of New Zealand welcomed the New Year just 15 minutes later at 5:15 am ET. They were soon followed by New Zealand’s mainland and several Pacific islands, including Tokelau and Tonga. As the time zones progressed, the New Year gradually made its way across the globe, with each region bringing its unique traditions and festivities to the occasion.
Kiribati's early celebration of 2025 highlights the beauty of time zones, creating a seamless flow of joy as the New Year is marked at different times worldwide. Each region adds its own cultural flavor to this global event.
Hawaii, American Samoa, and some U.S. territories will be among the last to welcome 2025, with their clocks striking midnight in the early hours of January 1. With 38 distinct local times in play, it takes a full 26 hours for the New Year to be celebrated across every time zone, making it a truly global phenomenon.
Here is the order of how countries enter 2025:
3.30 pm IST: Kiribati
4.30 pm IST New Zealand
5.30 pm IST: Fiji, small regions of Russia
6.30 pm IST: Mush of Australia
8.30 pm IST: Japan, South Korea
9.30 pm IST: China, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines
India, Sri Lanka (5 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT)
1.30 am IST: UAE, Oman, Azerbaijan
3.30 am IST: Greece, South Africa, Cyprus, Egypt, Namibia
4.30 am IST: Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Neitherlands, Morocco, Congo, Malta
5.30 am IST: UK, Ireland, Portugal
8.30 am IST: Brazil, Argentina, Chile
9.30 am IST: Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Venezuela, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands
10.30 am IST: US East Coast (New York, Washington DC, etec,) Peru, Cuba, Bahamas
11.30 am IST: Mexico, parts of Canada and the US
1.30 pm IST: US West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc)
3.30 pm IST: Hawaii, French Polyneisa
4.30 pm IST: Samoa
In this way, the New Year begins its journey around the globe, starting with Kiribati and gradually reaching every corner of the world. It unites people in a shared celebration, bridging time zones and cultures in a collective expression of joy and hope for the year ahead.