What is the first country to celebrate the New Year?
After what has been another difficult year clouded by uncertainty, many will be hoping that 2022 will be an improvement.
New year celebrations are likely to be a bit more muted this year amid concerns over the spread of the Omicron Covid variant.
London’s famous fireworks have already been cancelled for the second year in a row.
While celebrations may not be back to pre-pandemic scales, there is no doubt many people across the world will still be ringing in 2022 with a sense of cheer and optimism.
But just who will get to see in 2022 first?
What is the first country in the world to celebrate New Year?
The first country – or countries – in the world to mark New Year will actually be the small Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati/Christmas Island.
They’ll be ringing in the new year at 10am GMT, sparking off a day’s worth of celebrations around the globe.
Next in line will be New Zealand, who’ll say hello to 2022 at around 10.15am GMT.
As it stands the UK will be one of the last countries to celebrate the New Year – and we’ll do so at the same time as Ireland, Iceland, Ghana and Portugal, and an hour later than most of Europe.
However that won’t be the end of New Year celebrations, as North and South America will be the final part of the world to see 2022.
The last place which will welcome the New Year will be Baker Island and Howland Island, two unoccupied US Islands in the Pacific – but the last occupied territory to celebrate January 1 will be American Samoa at 11am GMT tomorrow morning.
What time is it in Australia?
Australia is known for kicking off the New Year in spectacular fashion with a huge fireworks display over Sydney.
They’ll also be among the first countries to see in 2022, although the time varies according to where you are in Australia.
Sydney and Melbourne are 11 hours ahead of the UK – meaning they’ll be celebrating New Year at 1pm GMT.
Adelaide, meanwhile, is 10 and a half hours ahead of UK time, while Brisbane is 10 hours ahead and Perth is only eight hours ahead.
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