Want to know which country will be the first to welcome the New Year around the world? It’s time to say “goodbye” to 2024 and “hello” to 2025. If you’re in the United States and want to spend the New Year’s holiday abroad, here are the schedules of the nations that will be celebrating the holiday so you can make it to your family or friends gatherings on time.
The small Pacific island nations of Samoa and Kiribati/Christmas Island will be the first to celebrate. While Samoans are counting down to midnight, most New Yorkers are still sleeping at 5 am EST on December 31.
This nation is followed by the Chatham Islands in New Zealand at 5:15 am ET and then most of New Zealand at 6 am, along with Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and some regions of Antarctica.
Meanwhile, across the International Date Line, Hawaii, American Samoa and many of the U.S. outlying islands will be among the last places to welcome the new year. They’ll have to wait until Monday morning (US Eastern Standard Time) to toast the year 2025.
In total, there are 39 different local time zones in use around the world, some of which differ by 15 or 30 minutes compared to nearby zones, including two that are more than 12 hours ahead of UTC, meaning it takes the entire world 26 hours to welcome the New Year.
The last (inhabited) country to welcome the New Year will be American Samoa, on January 1 at 6 am EST.
Below are the times when places around the world will celebrate the New Year, relative to East Coast time.
What time does New Year 2025 start around the world? List of countries from first to last
Dec 31
5:00 am ET – Samoa and Christmas Island/Kiribati Kiritimati
5:15 am ET – Chatham Islands/New Zealand
6:00 am ET – New Zealand
7:00 am ET – Small region of Russia
8:00 am ET – Much of Australia
8:30 am ET – Small region of Australia
9:00 am ET – Queensland/Australia
9:30 am ET – Northern territory Australia
10:00 am ET – Japan, South Korea
10:15 am ET – Western Australia
11:00 am ET – China, Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore
12:00 noon – Most of Indonesia, Thailand
12:30 pm ET – Myanmar and Cocos Islands
1:00 pm ET – Bangladesh
1:15 pm ET – Nepal
1:30 pm ET – India and Sri Lanka
2:00 pm ET – Pakistan
2:30 pm ET – Afghanistan
3:00 pm ET – Azerbaijan
3:30 pm ET – Iran
4:00 pm ET – Russia, Iraq, Nairobi
5:00 pm ET – Greece, Egypt, Romania, South Africa
6:00 pm ET – Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Algeria, Netherlands, Sweden
7:00 pm ET – United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Wales, Scotland
8:00 pm ET – Cabo Verde
9:00 pm ET – Brazil and South Georgia (island)
10:00 pm ET – Most of Brazil, Argentina, Chile
10:30 pm ET – Newfoundland, Canada
11:00 pm ET – Some regions of Canada, Venezuela, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
Jan 1
12:00 midnight – U.S. East Time Zone, regions of Canada, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti
1:00 am ET – U.S. Central Time, regions of Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua
2:00 am ET – U.S. Mountain Time, regions of Canada
3:00 am ET – U.S. Pacific Time, regions of Canada
4:00 am ET – Alaska in the U.S., regions of French Polynesia
4:30 am ET – Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia
5:00 am ET – Hawaii, Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, Adak Island in Alaska
6:00 am ET – American Samoa
7:00 am ET – Much of U.S. Minor Outlying, including Baker Island, Howland Island