When is New Year 2027?
New Year's Day is January 1, 2027. The New Year officially begins at midnight local time as January 1 arrives in each time zone around the globe.
New Year across time zones
Because the New Year begins at local midnight, it sweeps across the planet over about 26 hours — from the first to the last time zone.
When is the New Year's countdown?
The New Year's countdown happens in the final seconds of December 31 — the famous 10-second countdown to midnight that rings in January 1. The New Year's Eve countdown begins at 11:59:50 PM local time, with the ball drop in Times Square and celebrations around the world peaking at the stroke of midnight.
When does the New Year's countdown start? Globally, the first New Year's countdown happens in Kiritimati, Kiribati (UTC+14), and the last in Honolulu (UTC-10) — a sweep of roughly 26 hours. The live New Year's countdown on this site runs all year, so you can see exactly how long until New Year's Eve at any moment.
Looking for where to watch it? See our guide on where to watch the New Year's countdown — channels, streaming, and city-by-city coverage.
How is the New Year date decided?
The Gregorian calendar, used by most of the world, marks January 1 as the first day of the year. This was established in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. The date falls shortly after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, a time long associated with renewal.
Many cultures also observe a separate lunar or cultural New Year — such as Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and Nowruz — but January 1 is the globally recognized civil New Year.