The tiny pacific island of Tonga will be the first county in the world to ring in 2018, at 10am on the morning of the 31st, a full three hours before Australia sets off its famous fireworks over Sydney harbour.

The last places on the planet to celebrate the arrival of the New Year will be the minute uninhabited outlying islands of the US, Baker Island and Howland Island, and second last will be American Samoa at 11am on January 1st, which despite being just 900 kilometres from Tonga, celebrates the New Year a full 25 hours later.