The first to celebrate New Year’s live on Kiritimati in Kiribati. Only 3,547 people there in that time zone. It spreads west from there, reaching all sorts of places until the last spots catch up.
This map labels the biggest city or town in each zone, with populations that go from huge urban areas to spots with hardly anyone.
You see big differences here. Jakarta at +7 has 41.9 million, the most in any single zone based on current data. But places like Baker Island and Howland Island at -12 have zero people celebrating, while the smallest with residents is Eucla at +8:45, with 37.
UTC Offset
Community
Country
Population
+14
Tabwakea (Kiritimati)
Kiribati
3,547
+13:45
Waitangi (Chatham Islands)
New Zealand
177
+13
Auckland
New Zealand
1.7 million
+12
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
Russia
164,900
+11
Sydney
Australia
5.2 million
+10:30
Adelaide
Australia
1.4 million
+10
Brisbane
Australia
2.6 million
+9:30
Darwin
Australia
147,255
+9
Tokyo
Japan
33.4 million
+8:45
Eucla
Australia
37
+8
Shanghai
China
29.6 million
+7
Jakarta
Indonesia
41.9 million
+6:30
Yangon
Myanmar
7.3 million
+6
Dhaka
Bangladesh
36.6 million
+5:45
Kathmandu
Nepal
2.9 million
+5:30
Delhi
India
30.2 million
+5
Karachi
Pakistan
20.4 million
+4:30
Kabul
Afghanistan
4.3 million
+4
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
3.5 million
+3:30
Tehran
Iran
15.8 million
+3
Moscow
Russia
21.5 million
+2
Cairo
Egypt
25.6 million
+1
Lagos
Nigeria
24.7 million (metro)
+0
London
United Kingdom
15.1 million
-1
Praia
Cabo Verde
561,901
-2
Fernando de Noronha
Brazil
3,101
-3
São Paulo
Brazil
22.6 million
-3:30
St. John’s
Canada
205,955
-4
Caracas
Venezuela
5.3 million
-5
New York City
United States
20.1 million
-6
Mexico City
Mexico
22.5 million
-7
Phoenix
United States
4.8 million
-8
Los Angeles
United States
13.2 million
-9
Anchorage
United States
398,328
-9:30
Nuku Hiva
French Polynesia
3,120
-10
Honolulu
United States
1 million
-11
Pago Pago
American Samoa
3,656
-12
Baker Island & Howland Island
United States
0
If time zones interest you, check my post on how time zones started or borders that split oddly.
Worth knowing the top of this list is drawn, not found.
Kiritimati’s 3,547 lead because Kiribati deleted Saturday 31 December 1994, moving the date line east to wrap the whole country (Friday the 30th went straight to Sunday the 1st). Samoa did the same to rejoin its trading partners, deleting Friday 30 December 2011. And the Philippines deleted 31 December 1844 on the way the other direction.
So the order here isn’t where the sun rises first. It’s where a government decided a line should run. Baker Island ends the list for the same reason: nobody moved it.
Worth knowing the top of this list is drawn, not found.
Kiritimati’s 3,547 lead because Kiribati deleted Saturday 31 December 1994, moving the date line east to wrap the whole country (Friday the 30th went straight to Sunday the 1st). Samoa did the same to rejoin its trading partners, deleting Friday 30 December 2011. And the Philippines deleted 31 December 1844 on the way the other direction.
So the order here isn’t where the sun rises first. It’s where a government decided a line should run. Baker Island ends the list for the same reason: nobody moved it.