While much of the world eagerly awaits 2025, the island nation of Kiribati has already embraced the New Year, becoming the first to usher in January 1, 2025. Located in the central Pacific Ocean, the Kiritimati Island, also known as Christmas Island, celebrated the arrival of the New Year when the clock struck midnight today.

The island runs 14 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and 8.5 hours ahead of India. This means that when it was 3:30 in the afternoon on December 31, 2024, in India, Kiritimati was already welcoming the dawn of January 1, 2025. The celebrations on this small island of Pacific marks the official start of the world’s New Year festivities.

Residents of Kiritimati ushered in the New Year with fireworks, music and lively parties. An atmosphere of jubilation filled the island as locals embraced the new beginning of 2025, setting the tone for the celebrations to spread to the rest of the world.

For India, the time difference is staggering. While Kiribati celebrated the arrival of 2025, Indian cities and towns were still gearing up for their big New Year celebrations later in the evening.

After early celebrations in Kiribati, New Zealand’s Chatham Islands welcomed the New Year just 15 minutes later at 5:15am ET. They were soon followed by mainland New Zealand and several Pacific islands, including Tokelau and Tonga. As the time zones advanced, the New Year made its way around the world, with each region bringing its own unique traditions and festivities to the occasion.

The early celebration of 2025 in Kiribati highlights the beauty of the time zones, creating a seamless flow of joy as the New Year is marked at different times around the world. Each region adds its own cultural flavor to this global event.

Hawaii, American Samoa and some US territories will be among the last to welcome 2025, with their clocks striking midnight in the early hours of January 1. With 38 different local times in play, the New Year needs a full 26 hours. be held in all time zones, making it a truly global phenomenon.

This is the order of how countries enter in 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, Philippines

India, Sri Lanka (5 hours 30 minutes before GMT)

1.30 hrs IST: UAE, Oman, Azerbaijan

3.30 hrs IST: Greece, South Africa, Cyprus, Egypt, Namibia

4.30 am IST: Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, 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 USA

1:30 PM IST: US West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc.)

3.30 pm IST: Hawaii, French Polynesia

4.30 pm IST: Samoa

In this way, the New Year begins its journey around the world, starting with Kiribati and gradually reaching all corners of the world. It brings people together in shared celebration, bridging time zones and cultures in a collective expression of joy and hope for the coming year.