Global New Year: Kiribati First, American Samoa Last, India's Place in 26-Hour Wave

• New Year celebrations span nearly 26 hours globally due to time zones and the International Date Line.
• Kiritimati Island (Kiribati) is the first to welcome the New Year (UTC+14), followed by New Zealand and Australia.
• East Asia (Japan, South Korea) and Southeast Asia (China, Singapore, Hong Kong) celebrate next.
• India (UTC+5:30) celebrates after East Asia, serving as a midway point in the global countdown.
• Europe, South America, and North America follow, with American Samoa and uninhabited Baker/Howland Islands being the last (UTC-12).

Why It Matters: The world celebrates New Year across 26 hours, beginning in Kiribati and concluding in American Samoa, with India in the middle.