Days Until New Year's Day

When is New Year's Day?

New Year's Day is January 1, the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar used almost everywhere. The countdown above aims at the moment the date changes: midnight at the start of January 1, in your own timezone — the same instant that New Year's Eve parties count down to. Because the target is the very beginning of the day, the page shows its "It's today!" message throughout January 1 itself, and from January 2 it is already counting toward the next January 1, a full year out.

A start date that took centuries to settle

January 1 feels obvious now, but it wasn't always the new year. The ancient Romans did begin their year on January 1, named for Janus, the two-faced god who looks backward and forward at once. In medieval Europe, though, the year often started on March 25 or December 25, and different regions used different conventions. The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 restored January 1, and most countries followed over the next two centuries — Britain and its colonies were among the last in the West, switching in 1752. The result is the single shared start date the world uses today.

Who rings it in first?

Thanks to time zones, New Year arrives as a wave. The Pacific island nation of Kiribati, whose Line Islands sit at UTC+14, celebrates first; Samoa and Tonga follow close behind. Among the last are Hawaii and American Samoa, almost a full day later — meaning the date line makes the planet's New Year last about 26 hours from first midnight to last. This countdown uses your timezone, so it matches the midnight you'll actually celebrate.

Questions people ask

When exactly does this countdown end? At midnight at the start of January 1 where you are — the moment New Year's Eve turns into New Year's Day.

What happens after the countdown reaches the day? The page celebrates for the whole of January 1, then automatically starts counting down to the next New Year's Day. There's nothing to reset.