Kiritimati: World's First New Year Celebration Unveiled in Pacific

• Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island and part of Kiribati, is the first inhabited place globally to celebrate New Year.
• It is located in the UTC+14 time zone, the earliest on Earth, due to Kiribati shifting the International Date Line in 1995.
• New Year arrives in Kiritimati when it's 3:30 PM on December 31st in India.
• Celebrations are local, family-oriented, with traditional music and dance, not grand like Sydney or Times Square.
• The New Year wave spans approximately 26 hours across the globe after Kiritimati's initial celebration.

Why It Matters: Kiritimati, Kiribati, is the first inhabited place to welcome the New Year due to its UTC+14 time zone.