Millions around the world welcome 2016 with lavish New Year fireworks

Millions of people around the world have welcomed the arrival of 2016 with parties and fireworks, although security concerns have disrupted celebrations in Europe and parts of Asia.

Crowds thronged to vantage points to see the displays centred on Sydney's famed harbour which drew more than 1 million people, ahead of the chimes of midnight moving across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and finally the Americas.

Samoa and Kiribati were the first countries to usher in 2016, followed by New Zealand, which put up an impressive fireworks display, reported to be the biggest in the country's history.

Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and other Asian cities may rival Sydney's pyrotechnic splash, but Brunei offered a sober evening after banning Christmas in a shift to hardline Islamic law.

Jakarta remained on high alert after anti-terror police foiled detailed plans for an alleged new year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital.

Terrorism concerns also curbed celebrations in Europe.

Police in Germany said they had information indicating as many as seven followers of the Islamic State group were planning a New Year's Eve suicide bomb attack on train stations in Munich.

Paris, still reeling from the November 13 attacks which killed 130 people, cancelled its main fireworks display on the Champs-Elysees avenue.

France "has not finished with terrorism yet", the country's President Francois Hollande said in his new year address, adding the threat of another attack "remains at its highest level".

But authorities agreed France's biggest public gathering since the attacks could go ahead on the famous boulevard, with bolstered security.

"The people of Paris and France need this symbolic passage into the new year," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told the weekly Journal du Dimanche.

"After what our city has lived through, we have to send a signal to the world."

In Brussels, all public celebrations were scrapped in the Belgian capital after the arrest of six people suspected of plotting an attack.

Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur said the police could not guarantee people's safety.

"Last year there were 100,000 people [and] in these circumstances we have no guarantee of checking every single person who comes to the event," he said.

"Since the investigation is not over yet, it's better not to take risks."

In Turkey, police detained two suspects linked to Islamic State allegedly planning to stage attacks in the centre of Ankara.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, police for the first time closed off Red Square where tens of thousands of revellers traditionally gather.

"It's no secret that Moscow is one of the choice targets for terrorists," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said recently.

In Britain, Scotland Yard said there would be around 3,000 officers across central London in what was reported to be an unprecedented anti-terror security effort.

Fireworks were banned in towns and cities across Italy, in some cases because of a recent spike in air pollution but also because of fears that, in the current climate, sudden loud bangs could cause crowds to panic.

The number of police on duty in Italy was increased by 30 per cent compared to last year, although the Interior Ministry stressed: "There has been no specific alert."

In Madrid, thousands of people flocked to Puerta del Sol square, however police limited the number allowed in to just 25,000.

Street parties in Germany, Beach bashes in Sierra Leone

Photo: Thousands will gather in front of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for a street party. (AFP: Tobias Schwarz (file))

In Berlin, as many as one million people were expected to bring in the new year at a free street party at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Egyptian government staged celebrations in front of the pyramids near Cairo, with ambassadors, artists and intellectuals all invited.

Sierra Leone's capital Freetown was hoping to reclaim its mantle as host of the best beach parties in Africa after Ebola scared people away last year.

Celebrations away from the palm-fringed beaches were muted, however, as people remembered almost 4,000 victims of the epidemic.

Security was also tightened in the US, most namely New York City, where around a million people gather into Times Square yearly at New Year's Eve to watch the renowned ball drop for the midnight countdown.

The American islands of Hawaii are set to be the last to usher in 2016.