We in the United States sometimes forget that we’re not the center of the universe, but this becomes abundantly clear when New Year’s rolls around. Many people in the USA are surprised to wake up and find the rest of the world celebrating the start of a new year, as celebrations unfold in a wave across the globe.
How the New Year makes its way across the globe
The new year starts fittingly with Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean—though just barely. Fifteen minutes after that, New Zealand pops the champagne cork and kicks off its celebration of what’s to come.
The festivities continue to spread across Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Australia before reaching Japan and South Korea a few hours later. As Australia begins to wind down for the evening, fireworks light up the sky in China and the Philippines.
The wave of celebration flows through Thailand, Nepal, India, and Pakistan before covering its eyes as it passes through Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia. Completely bypassing Ethiopia, which celebrates on its own calendar, it arrives in Europe, starting with Greece and Germany, setting the stage for the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.
Greenland picks up the torch while Brazil, Argentina, and Newfoundland kick off their celebrations. The US sets sights on the prize, but only before Canada shows them how to truly celebrate. The new year makes its way through the United States and Alaska, finally reaching a few remote islands (Baker Island, Howland Island—southwest of Hawaii), which unfortunately remain rather quiet since they are largely uninhabited.
Given that there are 38 local times globally, it requires 26 hours for the New Year to reach all time zones. Here is the sequence in which they welcome 2025, along with the countries that celebrate first and last.
