In which country does the sun rise last in the world?

In which country the sun rises/sets last in the world.

The country where the sun rises last—in other words, the country where the sun sets last—is on the western side of the longitude near the date line. Following are the regions and countries where the sun rises and sets last:

・Baker Islands and Howland Island –uninhibited

・American Samoa and Niue –inhabited

The answer to the question, “In which country does the sun rise last?” is Baker Island and Howland Island in the U.S. These two islands are uninhabited.

In terms of inhabited areas, American Samoa and Niue are the areas where the sun sets last in the world.

Countries/regions where the sun rises and sets last in the world

American Samoa and Samoa

American Samoa and Samoa are hard to distinguish. The Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa are neighboring island nations.

The Independent State of Samoa is located to the west, and American Samoa is located to the east. Generally speaking, “Samoa” refers to the Independent State of Samoa. American Samoa, as the name implies, is a self-governing territory of the U.S.

In fact, the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa were originally  the same country. The division between the two countries was caused by power struggles within Samoa and intervention by Western nations.

The time difference between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa is 24 hours. The reason for this is that the date line runs between the Independent State of Samoa and American Samoa.

This started in 2011. Until then, Samoa was also on the east side of the date line, i.e., in the same time zone as American Samoa.　However, since the time of Samoa’s independence, trade with New Zealand, which is located in the west, has increased, and the time difference caused an economic inconvenience by being off by about one day.

Therefore, in 2011, Samoa declared that it would move from east to west of the date line.

Samoa is one of the first countries in the world to see the sun rise and American Samoa is the last country to see the sun rise.

The map shows that they are only about 100 km apart.

The time difference between the two regions is 24 hours, though it takes only 20 minutes by plane to travel between them.

When it is 13:00 on Friday in American Samoa, it is 13:00 on Saturday in the Independent Sate of Samoa.

This makes it possible to celebrate New Year’s Day twice in one year. If you want to experience the New Year twice, why not give it a try?

・The Independent State of Samoa has its own currency, “tālā”, while American Samoa uses the U.S. dollar.

・They drive on the left side of the road in Samoa, but they drive on the right (the same as in the U.S.) in American Samoa.

Niue

Niue is a constitutional monarchy in eastern Oceania. Its territory includes the island of Niue, northeast of New Zealand, east of Tonga, and southeast of Samoa. It is a constituent member of the Kingdom of New Zealand and has a “free association relationship.” Its total area is 259 square kilometers and it has the second smallest population in the world, with a total population of 1520 (2018, Secretariat of the Pacific Community).

Alaska (USA) sees the sunrise last during winter.

In northern areas, the sun rises quite late during the winter time and in northernmost most areas the sun never rises during mid winter. Therefore during the winter time the sun rises later in northern Alaska than it does in American Samoa and the State of Alaska, USA sees the last sunrise in the world.