Happy New Year 2026: Which country welcomes the year first and who celebrates last…

New Year’s Eve is only 9 days away. And while most of the world won’t be celebrating the new year all at once, it won’t be ringing in 2026 all at the same time, either.

In fact, when New Year’s Eve 2026 finally arrives, it will arrive over a period of hours. Spread out by time zones, borders, and a few oddball exceptions, midnight in one place is still December 31 somewhere else (or even December 30).

Who rings in 2026 first? Who’s last? Let’s take a look at time zones across the globe to find out.

The First Place on Earth to Celebrate New Year 2026

The very first place on Earth to ring in the New Year 2026 will be in Kiribati, which consists of 33 atolls and reef islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean. The first islands to get there will be Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island.

Christmas Island is just west of the International Date Line and in the UTC+14 time zone. It is, quite literally, the first place on Earth that sees the New Year in every year.

In fact, it’s so early that while it’s January 1 in Kiritimati, it’s still December 30 for most of the planet.

New Year celebrations then spread to New Zealand. Although not the first part of the world to ring in 2026, they are some of the first major cities. Welcome the New Year in Auckland, and enjoy world-famous fireworks over the Sky Tower.

Asia, Europe, and Africa Celebrate the New Year

Hours later, midnight will also come to Australia. From there, midnight continues to roll east to west across the Asian continent and into Southeast Asia.

Japan, South Korea, China, and India(BHARAT) are among the next major countries to celebrate New Year’s. The parties, parades, and pyrotechnics are no longer on just a few islands, but they’ve only just started.

Midnight in Europe soon follows, complete with big celebrations in London and Paris. Africa’s major cities will be the next to ring in the New Year.

The Americas Celebrate the New Year

Europe, for all intents and purposes, now leads the world into the early hours of 2026. The Americas and major American cities, such as New York City, are the next to have a countdown to welcome 2026.

While New York City is one of the biggest celebrations of New Year’s in the world, South America doesn’t fall far behind. Many countries are one time zone or another with the eastern half of the United States.

By now, nearly two-thirds of the world has already arrived in 2026, as midnight and New Year’s Eve parties move from east to west.

The Last Place on Earth to Celebrate New Year 2026

The last places on Earth to welcome the New Year 2026 will be Baker Island and Howland Island. Baker Island is in the UTC-12 time zone.

These are both uninhabited islands owned by the United States. They’re also the last places on Earth to celebrate New Year, meaning they won’t technically celebrate 2026 until nearly 26 hours after the world’s first party on Kiritimati.

All Over the World, Midnight Comes, and Goes

While the world shares a single point in time as part of our shared history, time is staggered differently across the world. This means that New Year’s Eve doesn’t come all at once in every country. It comes a little at a time, a continent at a time, and one hour at a time. Even the moment of New Year’s doesn’t arrive seconds apart, but minutes and hours apart instead.

But even if you’re on the first island to welcome a new year while the rest of the world still has another day left, it doesn’t stop New Year’s from being one of the most globally-inclusive holidays. One way or another, everyone rings in the New Year on New Year’s.