The first and last places on planet earth to welcome 2025

While we in Hyderabad and elsewhere in India were making plans for Tuesday night to celebrate New Year’s Eve, people of Kiritimati, also known as Christmas island located in Pacific Ocean, celebrated the New Year exactly at 3.30 pm on Tuesday itself.

Hyderabad: Ever wondered who on our planet were the first and last to welcome the New Year!

While we in Hyderabad and elsewhere in India were making plans for Tuesday night to celebrate New Year’s Eve, people of Kiritimati, also known as Christmas island located in Pacific Ocean, celebrated the New Year exactly at 3.30 pm on Tuesday itself.

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“At exactly 3.30 pm, as the Indian Standard Time, on December 31, 2024, Kiritimati Island became the first place on Earth to welcome the New Year and celebrate Earth’s next revolution around the Sun,” said N Sri Raghunandan Kumar, Director, Planetary Society of India (PSI).

Kiritimati is part of Republic of Kiribati and is world’s largest atolls (islands made up of coral reefs) in terms of land area, spreading across 312 square kilometers of area.

“People in Kiritimati island who follow GMT 14 time zone, is an independent island nation in South Pacific ocean with a population of nearly 1,30,000. Further, various islands of Kiritbati’s follow three time zones including Gilbert Islands (UTC 12), Phoenix Islands (UTC 13) and Line Islands (UTS 14), Raghunandan said.

Niue, as self Governing territory in free association with American New Zealand and American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of United States in the South Pacific ocean were the last inhabited places on Earth to welcome New Year at 4.30 pm IST on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, he added.