Countries That Are Already in Tomorrow
6 min read
Right now, as you read this, there are people living in tomorrow. Not metaphorically — literally. The Line Islands of Kiribati observe UTC+14, the most advanced timezone on Earth. When it is Monday afternoon on the US West Coast, it is already Wednesday morning in the Line Islands. The world spans 26 hours of time zones simultaneously, meaning three different calendar dates can exist at the same moment.
How can a timezone be UTC+14?
In theory, the world should only need time zones from UTC−12 to UTC+12 — a total of 24 hours. But time zone boundaries are political, not mathematical. The International Date Line (IDL) — the imaginary line in the Pacific where one calendar day ends and the next begins — was drawn to avoid splitting countries and territories across two different dates.
The result is that some island nations in the Pacific have bent the rules to stay on a single calendar date with their neighbors and trading partners, even when their geography would put them on the other side of the IDL. This created time zones beyond the theoretical UTC+12 maximum: UTC+13 and UTC+14 exist as real, populated time zones.
The countries furthest ahead
The Line Islands, including Kiritimati (Christmas Island), use UTC+14 — the most advanced timezone on Earth. When it is noon on Monday in London, it is 2 AM on Tuesday in the Line Islands. Kiribati was the first place on Earth to enter the year 2000, which made it briefly famous as the “first country to see the new millennium.”
Kiribati itself is split across three time zones: the Gilbert Islands (UTC+12), the Phoenix Islands (UTC+13), and the Line Islands (UTC+14). This means different parts of the same country are on different calendar dates.
Samoa made headlines in 2011 when it skipped an entire day — December 29, 2011 simply did not exist in Samoa. The country switched from UTC−11 to UTC+13, jumping the International Date Line to align its business week with Australia and New Zealand, its main trading partners. Before the switch, Samoa was one of the last places on Earth to end each day; after, it was one of the first to begin each day.
Tonga is normally UTC+13. Fiji observes DST and reaches UTC+13 during its summer months (November to January). New Zealand during DST is UTC+13 as well.
The countries furthest behind
On the other end of the scale, the US Minor Outlying Islands of Baker Island and Howland Island observe UTC−12 — the most behind timezone on Earth. These are uninhabited atolls, so no permanent population lives there, but they are US territory and officially assigned UTC−12.
The inhabited location furthest behind is American Samoa and the Niue island, both at UTC−11. When it is Tuesday in Kiritimati (UTC+14), it is still Sunday in American Samoa (UTC−11) — a difference of 25 hours across places that are not that far apart geographically.
Three calendar dates at once
The world’s time zones span from UTC−12 to UTC+14, a range of 26 hours. This means there are moments when three different calendar dates exist simultaneously:
- In the UTC−12 zone: still on Day 1
- In the UTC+0 zone: Day 2 has begun
- In the UTC+14 zone: already on Day 3
This three-date window is narrow — only about two hours long each day, from 10:00 PM UTC to midnight UTC — but it is real. On New Year’s Eve, this creates a situation where some places are still celebrating the old year while others have already finished celebrating the new one and are going to sleep.
The International Date Line
The International Date Line runs roughly along the 180th meridian in the Pacific Ocean but bends significantly to keep island nations on the same date as their neighbors. The bends around Kiribati, Samoa, and Tonga are the most dramatic — they push the line hundreds of miles east to keep those countries in the same calendar day as Australia and New Zealand.
Crossing the IDL westward (flying from the US to Asia, for example) means jumping forward one calendar day. Crossing it eastward (flying from Asia to the US) means going back one calendar day. This is why flights from Los Angeles to Tokyo can “arrive before they leave” in local time — you gain a day crossing the Pacific westward.