New Year’s Eve Countdowns Around the World
(CNN) People around the world are beginning to wave goodbye to 2019 and welcome 2020.
The Pacific Island nations of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati were the first to see in the new year — when it was still 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). New Zealand was next, an hour later.
American Samoa, just 101 miles from Samoa but in an entirely different timezone, must wait a full day before seeing in 2020.
There are 39 different local times in use — including two which are more than 12 hours ahead of UTC — which means it takes 26 hours for the entire world to enter the New Year.
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