When the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square to ring in the start of 2024, it’ll actually be late -– in dozens of countries around the world already welcoming the new year.
Christmas Island in Kiribati, an island country in the central Pacific Ocean, was the first country to pop Champagne, welcoming 2024 while 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 nation was followed by Chatham Islands in New Zealand at 5:15 a.m. ET and then most of New Zealand 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 celebrate the new year. They’ll have to wait until Monday morning (Eastern Time) to toast 2024.
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 which 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.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
5 a.m. ET Christmas Island, part of the 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
7 a.m. ET Fiji, a small part of eastern Russia, and several more Pacific islands, including the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu
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 Queensland province 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
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
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
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
8 p.m. ET Cabo Verde, Azores in Portugal, and a small region of Greenland
9 p.m. ET Most of Greenland, the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, and South Georgia/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
11 p.m. ET Some regions of Canada, Venezuela, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Guyana, and 23 other locations
Monday, January 1, 2024
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
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