Fireworks illuminated skies over Paris, Rio and Sydney to celebrate the entry to 2024, while rockets and strikes marked the year's earliest hours in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. Much of the world's population – now more than eight billion – is hoping to shake off high living costs and global tumult in 2024, which will bring elections concerning half the world's population and the Paris Olympics.

In New York City, thousands of visitors lined up to watch the annual dropping of a giant illuminated ball in Times Square as crooner Paul Anka saw out the final minutes of the year. Hours earlier, more than a million partygoers had packed in around the harbor in Sydney, the self-proclaimed "New Year's capital of the world," to watch eight tonnes of fireworks. Pyrotechnics also illuminated the skies in Auckland, Hong Kong, Manila and Jakarta, while revelers danced in the streets in Greece and bathed in the nude in southern France.