Follow New Year celebrations around the world
Who celebrates the new year first and last? Here’s when places around the world will be ringing in the New Year, relative to East Coast time.
It’s going to be a dreary, wet time for festivities in New York City, but how will the weather look across the country on Dec. 31? AccuWeather’s Geoff Cornish has the breakdown.
(CNN) — When the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square to herald the start of 2025, it’ll actually be late to the party as dozens of countries around the world will already have welcomed the new year.
Kiribati is an island country in the central Pacific Ocean, and its largest island, Kiritimati, was the first place to kick off 2025 when it was just 5 a.m. on December 31 on the East Coast of the United States and 11 a.m. UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the global standard).
The Pacific Island nation was followed by Chatham Islands in New Zealand at 5:15 a.m. ET and then most of New Zealand celebrated at 6 a.m., along with Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and some regions of Antarctica.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the international date line, Hawaii, American Samoa, and many of the US outlying islands will be among the last places to pop Champagne corks. They’ll have to wait until Wednesday morning (Eastern Time) to toast 2025.
In all, there are 39 different local time zones in use across the globe – some differing by 15 or 30 minutes compared to nearby zones – including two that are more than 12 hours ahead of UTC, which means it takes 26 hours for the entire world to welcome the New Year.
So, if you really, really, really love to hum “Auld Lang Syne,” the list below will get you in the spirit over and over and over again as the day rolls around.
Here’s when places around the world will be ringing in the New Year, relative to East Coast time.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
5 a.m. ET Kiritimati, which is also known as Christmas Island and forms part of the Micronesian island nation of Kiribati.
5:15 a.m. ET Chatham Islands, off the eastern coast of New Zealand.
6 a.m. ET Most of New Zealand (with a few exceptions) and Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands and some regions of Antarctica are celebrating.
7 a.m. ET Fiji, a small part of eastern Russia, and several more Pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.
Revellers cheer at Mrs Macquaries Point ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, on December 31, 2023. (Photo credit: Dan Himbrechts/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource)
8 a.m. ET Much of Australia including Melbourne and Sydney and seven more locations, including Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia.
8:30 a.m. ET A small region of Australia including Adelaide.
9 a.m. ET Australia’s state of Queensland and six more locations, including parts of Micronesia, the Northern Mariana Islands, a small part of Antarctica, and Guam.
9:30 a.m. ET Australia’s Northern Territory.
10 a.m. ET Japan, South Korea, a small part of Russia, North Korea, a small part of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Palau.
10:15 a.m. ET Western Australia.
11 a.m. ET China, Philippines, Malaysia, parts of Indonesia, most of Mongolia, Taiwan, Brunei, Russia’s Irkutsk region, some parts of Antarctica, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macao.
People are taking photographs with a large illuminated Christmas tree and inflatable Pikachu statues on display to welcome the year 2024 during New Year's Eve in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 31, 2023. (Photo credit: Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Noon ET Much of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, some parts of Russia, some parts of Mongolia, a small region of Antarctica, and Australia’s Christmas Island.
12:30 p.m. ET Myanmar and the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory.
1 p.m. ET Bangladesh, parts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the city of Omsk in Russia, and a small part of Antarctica.
1:15 p.m. ET Nepal.
1:30 p.m. ET India and Sri Lanka.
2 p.m. ET Pakistan, some parts of Russia, much of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Maldives, Tajikistan, French Southern territories, France’s Kerguelen islands, and a small region of Antarctica.
2:30 p.m. ET Afghanistan.
Christians release balloons during New Year celebrations at a church in Ahmedabad on January 1, 2024. (Photo credit: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
3 p.m. ET Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, a small region of Russia, Oman, much of Georgia, Frances’ Réunion Island, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.
3:30 p.m. ET Iran.
4 p.m. ET Moscow in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, in addition to 17 other locations.
The Acropolis during New Year celebrations in Athens, Greece early on January 1, 2024. (Photo credit: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
5 p.m. ET Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Rwanda, Romania and 26 other locations.
6 p.m. ET Germany, Nigeria, Algeria, Italy, Belgium, Morocco, Albania, France and 38 other locations.
7 p.m. ET United Kingdom, Portugal, Iceland, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and 18 other locations.
Fireworks light up the London skyline over Big Ben and the London Eye just after midnight on January 1, 2023 in London, England. London's New Years' Eve firework display returned this year after it was cancelled during the Covid Pandemic. (Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
8 p.m. ET Cabo Verde, the Azores - which are made up of nine enchanting islands in the Atlantic but are part of Portugal - and a small region of Greenland.
9 p.m. ET Most of Greenland, the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
10 p.m. ET Most of Brazil, Argentina, Chile with exceptions, Uruguay, parts of Antarctica, Paraguay, French Guiana, Suriname, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and the Falkland Islands.
10:30 p.m. ET Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province.
Puerto Rican native Farruko performs on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023 during the show’s second-ever Spanish countdown from DISTRITO T-Mobile in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Photo credit: Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
11 p.m. ET Some regions of Canada, Venezuela, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Guyana, and 23 other locations.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Midnight The East Coast of the USA (including New York City, Washington, D.C., and Detroit), parts of Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Cuba, Acre in Brazil, Panama, a small part of Mexico, Haiti, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, a small region of Chile, and the Cayman Islands.
1 a.m. ET Central USA (including Chicago), much of Mexico (including Mexico City), parts of Canada, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and a small part of Ecuador.
2 a.m. ET US (Mountain time zone, including Denver and Phoenix), parts of Canada (including Edmonton and Calgary), and parts of Mexico.
Denver Broncos fans dressed with colorful costumes and New Years Eve flair as they watch a game between the Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers at Empower Field at Mile High on December 31, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo credit: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
3 a.m. ET US (Pacific time zone, including Los Angeles and San Francisco), British Columbia in Canada, Baja California in Mexico, Pitcairn Islands, and Clipperton Island.
4 a.m. ET Alaska in the US and regions of French Polynesia.
4:30 a.m. ET Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.
5 a.m. ET Hawaii in the US, Tahiti in French Polynesia, and the Cook Islands.
6 a.m. ET American Samoa, parts of the US minor outlying islands (including the Midway Atoll), and Niue, an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean.
7 a.m. ET Much of US minor outlying islands (unincorporated US territories in the Pacific), including Baker Island and Howland Island.
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