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First Countries to Celebrate the New Year

Which 20 countries are the first to welcome in the New Year each year?
Based on the first area of the country to reach midnight
NOT including overseas territories
Source: Wikipedia
Quiz by kiwirage
Rate:
Last updated: May 12, 2023
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First submittedOctober 24, 2014
Times taken22,313
Average score85.0%
Rating4.84
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Time
Country
First country
Kiribati
+1:00
Samoa
+1:00
Tonga
+1:15
New Zealand
(Chatham Islands)
+2:00
Tuvalu
+2:00
Fiji
+2:00
Russia
Time
Country
+2:00
Marshall Islands
+2:00
Nauru
+3:00
Vanuatu
+3:00
Solomon Islands
+3:00
F. S. Micronesia
+3:00
Papua New Guinea
+3:30
Australia
(Lord Howe Island)
Time
Country
+5:00
Japan
+5:00
Palau
+5:00
Indonesia
+5:00
South Korea
+5:00
North Korea
+5:00
East Timor
+6
Level 15
Oct 24, 2014
Good quiz although need to know all countries in oceania
+1
Level 90
Dec 27, 2015
Where does the Philippines figure in this list?
+7
Level ∞
May 12, 2023
Six hours after Kiribati
+11
Level 69
May 12, 2023
Australia and New Zealand can't be input without the territories in the parenthesis.
+3
Level ∞
May 12, 2023
Very sorry about that. My mistake, now fixed.
+2
Level 62
May 12, 2023
Thanks!
+1
Level 59
May 12, 2023
May I make a Spanish Translation?
+2
Level 59
May 12, 2023
I just need your permission to submit it.
+3
Level 62
May 12, 2023
Yes, go ahead.
+2
Level 59
May 12, 2023
+1
Level 67
May 12, 2023
Australia and New Zealand doesn't work.
+6
Level 77
May 12, 2023
Korean New Year is a totally different day, though! It's like... +965:00
+7
Level 81
May 24, 2023
We celebrate both January 1 and the lunar new year, called Seolnal or Seollal. On a recent exam I had my students (about 150 undergrads) answer which they considered more important, and surprisingly they mostly said January 1. (We don't have school for either holiday, because winter break is over the solar new year (end of December to March), but the lunar new year break is just 4-5 days, including Saturday and Sunday. Workers may think differently because they only get January 1 off and maybe Dec 25, but not the days in between them.
+4
Level 77
Jun 9, 2023
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
+1
Level 69
May 13, 2023
France!?
+3
Level 67
Jul 10, 2023
No overseas territories.
+4
Level 87
May 14, 2023
I thought Alaska reached into the Eastern hemisphere…
+8
Level 76
May 15, 2023
Yeah, but it's still on the opposite side of the International Date Line.
+8
Level 67
May 15, 2023
Nice quiz :)) I think though that NZ should be +0:15 and Australia should be +3:00 because of daylight savings time, the summer time zone for Chatham Islands is +13:45 and south eastern Australia is +11:00 :))
+3
Level 71
Dec 31, 2023
I agree. The quiz implies it is when New Year is 'celebrated' . Doesn't change which countries appear, and is consistent with the logic of using observed time rather than longitude that excludes the western reach of Alaska.

Happy New Year!

+4
Level 65
Dec 13, 2023
Those people, they live in the futur
+1
Level 69
Dec 31, 2023
How about USA (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands)?
+2
Level 59
Dec 31, 2023
it says not including overseas territories
+1
Level 34
Dec 31, 2023
May I make a Polish Translation?
+1
Level 62
Dec 31, 2023
Yes that’s fine.
+2
Level 45
Dec 31, 2023
nice quiz! i really like it, and find it cool how all the oceanian countries are first on new year

to everyone reading this, happy new year! may this year be filled with success!

+1
Level 39
Jan 2, 2024
Does Japan not make it into here?
+2
Level 62
Jan 2, 2024
Yes, it's there already.