Well, it’s almost 2023 — even though the big countdown to the new year happens just before midnight everywhere in the world, the time zone where you live determines who gets to celebrate first (and last.)
So who gets to go first? That honor goes to Kiritimati — you may know it as Christmas Island. Kiritimati became famous, or maybe notorious, as the site of nuclear testing by the British and United States in the 1950s and 60s. But the residents get to be the first to welcome in the new year.
If Kiritimati goes first, who is the last to get in on the celebration? The last place on Earth to ring in the new year is Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket Island or Phoebe Island. The island is now uninhabited except for periodic visits by scientists and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under whose jurisdiction it has been since 1974. The last inhabited place to observe the New Year of 2023 will be American Samoa. The people in the capital of Pago Pago, although located less than 600 miles from where the first celebration of 2023 took place, won’t be able to start the new years until 25 hours later….
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