Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 22:05, 7 January 2025

The 21st century is the current century in the Anno Domini or Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 and will end on 31 December 2100. It is the first century of the 3rd millennium.

The rise of a global economy and Third World consumerism marked the beginning of the century, along with increased private enterprise and deepening concern over terrorism after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The NATO intervention in Afghanistan and the United States-led coalition intervention in Iraq in the early 2000s, as well as the overthrow of several regimes during the Arab Spring in the early 2010s, led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world, resulting in several civil wars and political instability. The 2020s saw an increase in wars across the world, as seen with conflicts such as the Russian Invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. The United States has remained the sole global superpower, while China is now considered to be an emerging superpower.

In 2022, 45% of the world's population lived in "some form of democracy", although only 8% lived in "full democracies". The United Nations estimates that by 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will be urbanized.

The world economy expanded at high rates from $42 trillion in 2000 to $101 trillion in 2022, and though many economies rose at greater levels, some gradually contracted. Effects of global warming and rising sea levels exacerbated the ecological crises, with eight islands disappearing between 2007 and 2014.

Globally, from January 2020 to May 2023, the COVID-19 pandemic began to rapidly spread worldwide, causing more than 7 million reported deaths, and around 18.2 to 33.5 million estimated deaths, while at the same time, causing severe global economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Due to the sudden proliferation of internet-accessible mobile devices, such as smartphones becoming ubiquitous worldwide beginning in the early 2010s, more than two thirds of the world's population obtained access to the Internet by 2023. After the success of the Human Genome Project, DNA sequencing services became available and affordable. There were significant improvements in the complexity of artificial intelligence, with American companies, universities, and research labs pioneering advances in the field. Research into outer space greatly accelerated in the 2020s, with the United States mainly dominating space exploration, including the James Webb Space Telescope, Ingenuity helicopter, Lunar Gateway, and Artemis program.

Pronunciation

There is a lack of general agreement over how to pronounce specific years of the 21st century in English. Academics have pointed out that the early years of previous centuries were commonly pronounced as, for example, "eighteen oh five" (for 1805) and "nineteen oh five" (for 1905). Generally, the early years of the 21st century were pronounced as in "two-thousand (and) five," with a change taking place around 2010, when pronunciations often shifted between the early-years form of "two-thousand and ten" and the traditionally more concise form of "twenty-ten."

The Vancouver Olympics, which took place in 2010, was being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as "the twenty-ten Olympics".

Society

Technologies such as ultrasound, prenatal genetic testing and genetic engineering have advanced significantly. Because of sex-selective abortion, fewer girls have been born in the 21st century (and since the early 1980s) compared to past centuries, mostly because of son preference in East and South Asia. In 2014, only 47 percent of Indian births were of girls. This has led to an increase in bachelors in countries such as China and India. The first genetically modified children were born November 2018 in China to significant controversy, beginning a new biological era for the human species.

Anxiety and depression rates have risen in the United States and many other parts of the world. However, suicide rates have fallen in Europe and most of the rest of the world so far this century, declining 29% globally between 2000 and 2018, despite rising 18% in the United States in the same period. The decline in suicide has been most notable among Chinese and Indian women, the elderly, and middle-aged Russian men.

Knowledge and information

The entire written works of humanity, from the beginning of recorded history to 2003, in all known languages, are estimated to amount to five exabytes of data. Since 2003, with the beginning of social media and "user-generated content", the same amount of data is created every two days. With the AI boom of the 2020s gaining international prominence, as of 2024, mass-produced AI-generated content comprised over half of the Internet.

Telecommunications in the early 21st century are much more advanced and universal than they were in the late 20th century. Only a few percent of the world's population were Internet users and cellular phone owners in the late 1990s; while as of 2023, 67% of the world's population is online, and 78% of all people aged 10 and above own a mobile phone. In the 2010s, artificial intelligence, mainly in the form of deep learning and machine learning, became more prevalent and in the early 2020s, with the rise of generative AI, the AI boom began. As of 2022, 8.6% of the world's population still lacked access to electricity.

In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist, beginning the era of commercial spaceflight. Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Richard Branson are working towards commercial space exploration, colonization and tourism, while China and India have made substantial strides in their space programs. On 3 January 2019, China landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first to do so. On 23 August 2023, with the Chandrayaan-3 Mission, India became the first country to touch down near the lunar south pole.

Culture and politics

War and violence have declined considerably compared to the 20th century, continuing the post-World War II trend called Long Peace. However, since the beginning of the 2020s, geopolitical tensions and wars have been rising across the world, as seen with the deterioration of US-China relations, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Tigray War, Sudanese civil war, Israel–Hamas War, etc. As of 2023, 14% of people in the world lives within 5 kilometers of violent conflict; the highest number of ongoing conflicts across various regions than at any point since World War II.

Poverty is still widespread globally, but fewer people live in the most extreme forms of poverty. In 1990, 37.9% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty; by 2022, this had dropped to just 9%.

The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal drew international attention to the possible adverse effects of social media in influencing citizen's views, particularly regarding the 2016 United States presidential election.

Population and urbanization

The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and reached 8 billion by November 2022. It is estimated to reach nearly 8.6 billion by 2030, and 9.8 billion by 2050. According to the United Nations World Urbanization prospects, 60% of the world's human population is projected to live in megacities and megalopolises by 2030, 70% by 2050, and 90% by 2080.

Life expectancy has increased as child mortality continues to decline. A baby born in 2019, for example, will, on average (globally), live to 73 years—27 years longer than the global average of someone born in 1950. Ten million Britons (16% of the United Kingdom population) will, on average, live to 100 or older.

Climate change remains a serious concern; UN Chief António Guterres, for instance, has described it as an "existential threat" to humanity. Furthermore, the Holocene extinction event, the sixth most significant extinction event in the Earth's history, continues with the widespread degradation of highly biodiverse habitats as a by-product of human activity.

Economics, education and retirement

Economically and politically, the United States and Western Europe were dominant at the beginning of the century; by the 2010s, China became an emerging global superpower and, by some measures, the world's largest economy. In terms of purchasing power parity, India's economy became more significant than Japan's around 2011.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are decentralized currencies that are not controlled by any central bank. These currencies are increasing in popularity worldwide due to the expanding availability of the internet and are mainly used as a store of value.

There is an ongoing impact of technological unemployment due to automation and computerization: the rate at which jobs are disappearing—due to machines replacing them—is expected to escalate. Automation alters the number of jobs and the skills demands of industries. As of 2019, the production output of first world nations' manufacturing sectors was doubled when compared to 1984 output; but it is now produced with one-third fewer workers and at significantly reduced operating costs. Half of all jobs with requirements lower than a bachelor's degree are currently in the process of being replaced with partial- or full-automation.

The World Economic Forum forecast that 65% of children entering primary school will end up in jobs or careers that currently do not yet exist.

A rise in the retirement age has been called for in view of an increase in life expectancy and has been put in place in many jurisdictions.

Linguistic diversity

As of 2009, Ethnologue catalogued 6,909 living human languages. The exact number of known living languages will vary from 5,000 to 10,000, generally depending on the precision of one's definition of "language", and in particular, on how one classifies dialects.

Estimates vary depending on many factors, but the general consensus is that there are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages currently spoken. Between 50% and 90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100.

The top 20 languages spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population. In contrast, many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with fewer than 10,000 speakers.

Events

2000s

• 1998–2003 – The Second Congo War continued into the early 21st century. A 1999 ceasefire quickly broke down and a UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, was unable to control the fighting. Troops from Rwanda and Uganda continued to support rebel groups against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and rifts also grew between Rwanda and Uganda as they accused each other of supporting rival rebel groups as well. Laurent Kabila, president of the DRC, was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took power. Throughout 2002 steps were made towards peace and Rwanda and Uganda both removed their troops from the country. On December 17, 2002, a massive treaty officially ended the war. However, the DRC only holds power in less than half of the country, with most of the eastern and northern portions still controlled by rebel groups, where there is still significant infighting. In addition, Rwanda still supports anti-DRC rebels and anti-Rwandan rebels continue to operate from the DRC. The war killed an estimated 3.9 million people, displaced nearly 5.5 million, and led to a widespread and ongoing famine that continues to result in deaths. Severe human rights violations continue to be reported.
• 2000–2005 – The Second Intifada, a major Palestinian uprising against Israel, is estimated to have led to the deaths of approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis.

2001

• January 20:
  • George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States. He is the second president from the Bush family, after his father.
  • President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines is ousted in the Second EDSA Revolution.
• January 26 – An earthquake strikes Gujarat, India, on Republic Day, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths.
• April 1 – The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
• May 13 – Conservative media magnate Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election in Italy, becoming the country's Prime Minister. Berlusconi would go on to dominate Italian politics for the rest of the decade.
• June 1 – The Nepalese royal massacre occurs at a house on the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, the residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Ten members of the family were killed during a party or monthly reunion dinner of the royal family in the house. The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aishwarya.
• July 20 – 22 – More than 200,000 anti-globalization protesters march in Genoa, during the 27th G8 summit. Two demonstrators are killed by the Italian police. On July 21, a group of Carabinieri attacked the school Armando Diaz, critically injuring many peaceful protesters.
• September 11 – September 11 attacks – Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four commercial airliners and crash two of them into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of the United States on 11 September, killing nearly 3,000 people. The president George W. Bush subsequently declares the War on Terror.
• October 23 – Steve Jobs introduces the first iPod.
• December 11 – After 15 years of negotiations, the People's Republic of China becomes a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• 2001–2014 – The Northern Alliance and NATO-led ISAF invades Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and overthrows the Al-Qaeda-supportive Taliban government. Troops remained to install a democratic government, fight a slowly escalating insurgency, and to hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who would be killed by American troops nearly 10 years later, on May 2, 2011. On December 24, 2014, NATO forces officially ended combat operations in Afghanistan, but forces remained until August 30, 2021, followed by a quick withdrawal of all troops.

2002

• January 1:
  • The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
  • The Euro is the official currency introduced in the Eurozone countries. The former currencies of all the countries that use the Euro ceased to be legal tender on February 28.
• January 6 – The Boston Globe publishes results of an investigation leading to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and bringing widespread attention to the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.
• January 17 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• January 18 – The Sierra Leone Civil War comes to a conclusion with the defeat of the Revolutionary United Front by government forces.
• February 6 – Queen Elizabeth II of the Commonwealth realms celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years since her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• February 8 – 24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
• February 14 – The State of Bahrain is declared a constitutional monarchy and becomes the Kingdom of Bahrain.
• February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• February 20 – 2002 El Ayyat railway accident: A train fire in El Ayyat, Egypt kills at least 370 people.
• February 22:
  • UNITA guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes against government troops led by Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola.
  • The government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers agree to a ceasefire, temporarily ending the Sri Lankan Civil War. It would last until the resumption of hostilities in 2008.
• February 27 – A mob attacks a train near Godhra, India, killing approximately 59 people. The state of Gujarat breaks out into riots, including the Gulbarg Society massacre on February 28 that kills approximately 69 people.
• March 14 – SpaceX is founded by Elon Musk.
• May 20 – After a long period of occupation by Indonesia, East Timor's independence is recognized by Portugal and the UN.
• July 1 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established.
• September 10 – Switzerland, a neutral country, becomes a member of the United Nations.
• October 12 – Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, claims responsibility for the detonation of three bombs in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people and left 209 people injured.
• November 15 – Hu Jintao becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Jiang Zemin.

2003

• January 10 – North Korea announces its withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
• February 4 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed to "Serbia and Montenegro" (after its two constituent states) after its leaders reconstitute the country into a loose state-union between Montenegro and Serbia, ending the 73-year-long use of the name "Yugoslavia" by a sovereign state.
• 2003–2020 – In February 26, 2003, a conflict in Darfur, Sudan begins and escalates into full-scale war. By 2008 it was believed that up to 400,000 people had been killed and over 2.5 million displaced. In 2005, the ICC decided that Darfur war criminals would be tried, and on July 14, 2008, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was charged with 5 accounts of crimes against humanity and 2 accounts of war crimes, even though the ICC had no power to enforce such charges. The war ends following a peace agreement on August 31, 2020.
• 2003–2010 – The U.S.-led coalition invades Iraq on March 20, 2003, and overthrows the government of Saddam Hussein (who is executed by the Iraqi government on December 30, 2006). Coalition troops remain in the country to install a democratic government and fight an escalating insurgency. In addition to an insurgency against the American presence, Iraq also suffered from a civil war for several years. The war was soon seen as the central front of the War on Terror by many governments, despite growing international dissatisfaction with the war. The total death toll has been estimated at near 150,000 but these estimations are highly disputed, with one highly disputed study guessing even over 1 million. After the U.S.-led coalition initiated a troop surge in 2007, casualty numbers have decreased significantly. Combat ended, at least officially, in August 2010.
• April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
• August 27 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years.
• November 3 – 23 –The Rose Revolution occurs in Georgia.
• November 17 – Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes Governor of California.
• December 19 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announces that Libya would voluntarily eliminate all weapons of mass destruction.

2004

• February 4 – TheFacebook, later renamed to Facebook, is formed by Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes.
• March 11 – Ten explosions occur at the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring around 2,000.
• May 1 – The European Union expands by 10 countries (including eight former communist countries, plus Malta and Cyprus).
• June 5 – Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan dies at the age of 93, after suffering nearly a decade from Alzheimer's disease.
• September 1 – A group of Chechen rebels invade a school in Beslan, keeping thousands of hostages during three days. A series of shootings and bombings kills 334 people and injured 750.
• 2004–2005 – Beginning on November 22, 2004 and ending on January 23, 2005, the Orange Revolution occurs in Ukraine.
• November 11 – Palestinian leader and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat dies in France, at the age of 75, from hemorrhagic stroke.
• November 18 – Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
• December 26 – 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami leaves 227,898 dead.

2005

• January 1 – Jeanna Giese becomes the first person to ever survive rabies without a vaccination.
• January 5 – Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
• January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral with the purpose of studying the comet Tempel 1.
• January 14 – The Huygens spacecraft lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.
• January 20 – The most intense solar particle event in recorded history is observed.
• February 14 – YouTube is founded by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.
• February 14 – April 27 – Cedar Revolution occurs in Lebanon.
• February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect.
• March 22 – April 11 – Tulip Revolution occurs in Kyrgyzstan.
• April 19 – After the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
• July 7 – Four Islamic extremist suicide bombers set off three bombs in London; 56 people are killed, including the four suicide bombers.
• November 22 – Angela Merkel becomes the first elected female Chancellor of Germany.

2006

• January 16 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes President of Liberia, and thus Africa's first elected female head of state.
• March 21 – Twitter is founded by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams.
• April 23 – Spotify is founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.
• May 21 – June 3 – The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro is peacefully dissolved and Serbia and Montenegro emerge as independent and sovereign nations.
• July 12 – Hezbollah crosses the border of Lebanon and captures two Israeli soldiers. Israel responds by sending troops across the border and bombing Hezbollah strongholds, while Hezbollah fires missiles on towns in northern Israel, approximately 6 each day. At the end of the war 1,200 Lebanese civilians, 500 Hezbollah fighters, 44 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers die. A ceasefire is signed on August 14, after which Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon.
• October 9 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test. This was preceded by years of political wrangling with the U.S. over the status of their nuclear program.

2007

• January 1 – Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
• January 9 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco, starting the new era of smartphones with this invention.
• January 25 – A civil war escalates in the Gaza Strip throughout June, which would result in the Hamas driving most Fatah-loyal forces out from the Strip. In reaction, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas dismisses Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and dissolves the Hamas-ruled parliament. Scattered conflict continues.
• January 31 – Boston faces a hoax bomb scare, as a result of LED placards of Ignignokt and Err from Aqua Teen Hunger Force being mistaken as an improvised explosive device
• July 25 – Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman to be elected President of India.
• December 13 – 27 EU member states sign the Treaty of Lisbon, with the treaty coming into effect on December 1, 2009.
• 2007–2008 – Crisis follows the Kenyan presidential election of 2007, leading to the formation of a coalition government, with Mwai Kibaki as president and Raila Odinga as prime minister.

2008

• January 1 – Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro currency.
• January 14 – At 19:04:39 UTC, the uncrewed MESSENGER space probe is at its closest approach during its first flyby of the planet Mercury.
• January 21:
  • Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. Great Recession, fueled by the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis.
  • Online activist group Anonymous initiates Project Chanology, after a leaked interview of Tom Cruise by the Church of Scientology is published on YouTube, and the Church of Scientology issued a "copyright infringement" claim. In response, Anonymous sympathizers took to the streets to protest outside the church (after February 10), while the church's websites and centres were getting DoS attacks, phone line nukes, and black faxes.
• February 16 – Kosovo unilaterally declares independence from Serbia. Serbia refuses to recognize it and considers Kosovo as part of its territory.
• February 18 – WikiLeaks releases allegations of illegal activities carried out by the Cayman Islands branch of Swiss banking corporation Julius Baer; a subsequent lawsuit against WikiLeaks prompts a temporary suspension of the website, but uproar about violations of freedom of speech causes WikiLeaks to be brought back online.
• May 2 – Cyclone Nargis kills 133,000 in Myanmar.
• May 12 – Magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurs in Wenchuan, China, causing almost 90,000 people to die or go missing.
• May 28 – The 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly declares Nepal a republic, ending its monarchy.
• August 1 – 12 – An armed conflict is fought between Georgia and the Russian Federation together with Ossetian and Abkhazian separatists on the other. Russia officially recognizes independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
• November 4 – Barack Obama is elected as the first African-American president of the United States. He is sworn into office in January 20, 2009.
• November 26 – 29 – The financial capital of India, Mumbai, is attacked by 10 Pakistani terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, resulting in 175 deaths (including 9 attackers). One gunman named Ajmal Amir Kasab was captured alive by Mumbai Police and was executed on 21 November 2012.
• December 11 – Following the release of its beta version on September 2, Google Chrome 1.0 is released.

2009

• January 3 – The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is launched.
• January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River in an accident that becomes known as the "Miracle on the Hudson", as all 155 people on board are rescued.
• April 1 – Albania and Croatia join NATO.
• April 5 – North Korea launches a rocket from its Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, which it says is carrying the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
• April 7 – April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests – In protests that spurred across Moldova, claiming a fraudulent election had occurred, 4 people died and 270 were injured.
• April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.
• June 13 – Protests erupt in Iran, following the presidential election against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• June 16 – BRIC is formed by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, as an economic bloc.
• June 25 – American pop star Michael Jackson dies at the age of 50. His death triggers an outpouring of worldwide grief; online reactions to the event cripple several major websites and services, as the abundance of people accessing the web addresses pushes internet traffic to unprecedented and historic levels.

2010s

2010

• February 25 – Kamla Persad-Bissessar becomes the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
• April 10 – Polish President Lech Kaczyński dies in an airplane crash near the city of Smolensk, Russia, along with his wife and 94 other people on board.
• June 11 – July 11 – South Africa becomes the first country in Africa to host the FIFA World Cup.
• June 24 – Julia Gillard becomes the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
• October 3 – Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female president of Brazil. She serves as the president until her impeachment and removal from office on August 31, 2016.
• November 13 – Burmese opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest, after being incarcerated since 1989.
• December 17 – The Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave, begins in Tunisia, and eventually spreads across the Middle East and the Arab world, with widespread protests, demonstrations, riots and civil wars for free elections and human rights.

2011

• March 11 – The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan leave 15,899 dead.
• May 2 – Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, is killed in a raid at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU).
• July 10 – Britain's largest tabloid newspaper, the News of the World, shuts down after 168 years in print due to the 2009 phone hacking scandal.
• July 14 – South Sudan, following the January 2011 independence referendum, becomes a member of the United Nations.
• September 17 – The Occupy movement, an international protest movement against social and economic inequality, takes shape. It is partially inspired by the Arab Spring and is one of the first significant global protest movements to occur in the age of social media.
• October 20 – Deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed by the National Liberation Army of Libya, during the Libyan Civil War.
• November 16 – Italy's long-term Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns amid public protests, financial crisis and sexual scandals.
• December 15 – The Iraq War is formally declared over.
• December 17 – Kim Jong-il, supreme leader of North Korea, dies. He is succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un.

2012

• November 15 – Xi Jinping becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Hu Jintao.
• December 10 – Séléka rebels seize power in the Central African Republic, ousting the President and government and beginning a civil war.
• December 19 – Park Geun-hye is elected President of South Korea, the first woman to hold the position.

2013

• January 11 – France intervenes with its army in the Northern Mali conflict, defeating the Islamists who had taken control of the country.
• February 28 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415. Benedict takes the title pope emeritus. At the subsequent papal conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected pope on March 13, becoming the first Latin American pope. Bergoglio takes the name of Pope Francis.
• March 5 – President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez dies due to prostate cancer and is succeeded by Nicolás Maduro.
• March 21 – Convicted Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan puts an end to the armed revolt against Turkey.
• April 8 – British politician and former Prime Minister of the UK Margaret Thatcher dies at the age of 87, from a stroke.
• July 1 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.
• September 14 – Syria avoids an American intervention on its soil during the Syrian Civil War, accepting to destroy all chemical weapons stocks owned.
• November – China declares an "Air Defense Identification Zone" in the East China Sea, including over the Senkaku Islands, a group of islands held by Japan, but claimed by both Japan and China, and the Socotra Rock, claimed by both China and South Korea.
• December 5 – South African political and civil leader Nelson Mandela dies at the age of 95, from natural causes.
• December 15 – The South Sudanese Civil War breaks out.
• Iran allows international inspections on its nuclear policy in exchange of the removal of the sanctions and the right to produce a small amount of low-grade enriched uranium, thus marking an apparent new policy towards the United Nations under Hassan Rohani's presidency.
• 2013–2014 – A political crisis in Thailand breaks out and the government declares martial law.

2014

• February 22 – Pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich is ousted amidst the Euromaidan revolution. The Russian Federation annexes Crimea in response, and a "low intensity" war in Donbas breaks out between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists.
• May 26 – Narendra Modi becomes 14th Prime Minister of India, winning a clear majority in the election.
• September 18 – Scotland votes to remain part of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
• September–October – During the Syrian civil war, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant rises and seizes territories in northern Iraq and Syria, near the border with Turkey. The United States lead a coalition of more than 30 countries to destroy ISIL. Meanwhile, Russia leads its own coalition, along with Syria, Iraq and Iran, and Russia's military action begins on September 30, 2015.
• October 31 – In Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaoré resigns amidst widespread protests, ending 27 years of leadership.
• December 17 – United States President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announce the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the two nations. Later, on July 20, 2015, with full diplomatic relations, the embassies of both countries are opened after five decades.

2015

• January 7 – Two gunmen, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, commit a mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people. Following the attack, about two million people, including more than 40 world leaders, met in Paris for a rally of national unity, and 3.7 million people joined demonstrations across the country. The phrase Je suis Charlie became a common slogan of support at the rallies and in social media.
• March 6 – NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet.
• March 23 – Singaporean politician and the 1st Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew dies at the age of 91.
• April 25 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Nepal and causes 8,857 deaths in Nepal, 130 in India, 27 in China and 4 in Bangladesh with a total of 9,018 deaths.
• April 29 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas.
• June 26 – The Supreme Court of the United States determines that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in a landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges.
• July 14 – The P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US + Germany) and Iran agree on final provisions of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in regards to the latter's nuclear program.
• October – The Chinese Communist Party announces the end of the one-child policy after 35 years.
• November 13 – ISIL claims responsibility of the November 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 137 and left 416 injured.
• November 24 – Turkey shoots down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft. This is the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the attack on the Sui-ho Dam (during the Korean War).
• November 30 – December 12 – During the UN summit on Climate Change, 193 nations agree to reduce carbon emissions starting in 2020.
• During the 2015 European migrant crisis, around 1.3 million people, most notably refugees of the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, flee to Europe to claim asylum, leading to considerable political upheaval in the European Union. Germany ultimately takes in the majority of the asylum seekers.

2016

• January 3 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia and several other countries end their diplomatic relations with Iran.
• January 8 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.
• January 16
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that Iran has adequately dismantled its nuclear weapons program, allowing the United Nations to lift sanctions immediately.
  • In the general election of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Democratic Progressive Party, led by Tsai Ing-wen, secured a majority in the Legislative Yuan, resulting in the first majority by a non-KMT party and the first majority won by the DPP. Tsai become the 14th President for Taiwan, and also become the first female leader for China.
• January 28 – The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.
• June 5 – Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the United States, making her the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party.
• June 23 – The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union in the June 2016 membership referendum.
• July 15 – 16 – A coup d'état is attempted in Turkey against state institutions, including but not limited to the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attempt is carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council.
• September 2 – 1st President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov dies at age of 78, after 25 years in office.
• September 28 – Former President of Israel and 1994 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres dies at the age of 93, from a massive stroke.
• October 13 – Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest-reigning Thai monarch dies at the age of 88, from a long illness.
• November 8 – Donald Trump is elected as the 45th president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton.
• November 25 – Cuban political and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90.

2017

• January 21 – 22 – In opposition to Donald Trump's inauguration, millions of people in the US and worldwide join the Women's March.
• January 27 – U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order restricting travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. This order was blocked by the U.S. federal courts; a second, related order issued by Trump was also blocked by the federal courts. The block of second order was partially removed, by the Supreme Court, in June. The Supreme Court stated they would reconsider the order in October.
• March 10 – The UN warns that the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, with up to 20 million people at risk of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
• March 29 – The United Kingdom triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting the Brexit negotiations, the talks for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
• March 30 – SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital-class rocket.
• March 31 – Horacio Cartes presents to Congress his plans of allowing the re-election of the president of Paraguay for a second term, going against the Constitution of Paraguay, leading to a political crisis which ended in the storm of Congress by liberal activists and in the assassination of Rodrigo Quintana by the police. After this, the Congress votes against the re-election project.
• October 27 – Catalonia declares independence from Spain, but the declaration is not recognized by the Spanish government or any other sovereign nation.

2018

• February 6 – SpaceX successfully conducts the maiden flight of its most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, from LC39A at John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
• February 9 – 25 – The 2018 Winter Olympics are held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
• March 11 – The National People's Congress of China approves a constitutional change removing term limits for its leaders, granting Xi Jinping the status of "leader for life". Xi is the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader).
• March 19 – Paula-Mae Weekes becomes the first female president of Trinidad and Tobago.
• March 24 – In over 900 cities internationally, people participate in demonstrations against gun violence and mass shootings, calling for stronger gun control in the March for Our Lives, which was a student-led demonstration in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that took place in February 14.
• May 9 – The opposition-led Pakatan Harapan coalition, led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, secures a parliamentary majority in the Malaysian Parliament, ending the 61-year rule of the Barisan Nasional coalition in Malaysia since independence in 1957.
• June 12 – President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attend a summit in Singapore, the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
• October 28 – Jair Bolsonaro is elected as the 38th president of Brazil, after having been stabbed during the election campaign and undergoing three surgeries.

2019

• January 10 – Venezuela enters a presidential crisis after the disputed results of the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election leads to Juan Guaidó being declared the acting president, disputing Nicolás Maduro.
• February 27 – 28 – President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet for the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit in Vietnam.
• March 15:
  • Over 2 million people in Hong Kong protest against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China.
  • At the first ever Global School Strike for Climate, 1.4 million people in about 2,200 protests across 125 countries gathered urging decision-makers to take responsibility and stop the climate crisis.
• March 23 – Most of the territory formerly held by the Islamic State in Syria collapses amidst the Syrian Civil War. After years of global push back, the extremist group transitions from a proto-state into an insurgency as it retains offshoots and influence in regions across the globe.
• April 11 – Amid mass protests, Omar al-Bashir is deposed as President of Sudan in a coup d'état, after nearly 30 years in office.
• April 21 – A series of Islamist bomb attacks occur at eight locations in Sri Lanka, including three churches, four hotels and one housing complex in Colombo, on Easter Sunday, leaving 259 people dead and over 500 injured. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in the country since the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in 2009.
• April 28 – Victor Vescovo achieves the deepest dive of any human in history, as he reaches Challenger Deep within the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,928 m (35,853 ft).
• April 30 – Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates from his throne, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in almost two centuries. The abdication ends the Heisei era of Japan and ushers in the Reiwa era with new emperor Naruhito ascending to the throne on May 1.
• July 16 – The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen as the new president of the European Commission.
• September 20 - Likely the largest in world history, the September 2019 climate strikes included protests in 4,500 locations across over 150 countries and gathered roughly 6 million people, many of them schoolchildren.
• December 10 – Sanna Marin, at the age of 34, becomes the world's youngest serving prime minister after being selected to lead Finland's Social Democratic Party.
• December 18 – President Donald Trump is impeached by the United States House of Representatives.
• December 31 – The first known case of COVID-19 is reported in Wuhan, China; the disease would rapidly proliferate into a global pandemic throughout the next three months.

2020s

2020

• January 2 – The Royal Australian Air Force and Navy are deployed to New South Wales and Victoria to assist mass evacuation efforts amidst the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.
• January 5 – 2019–20 Croatian presidential election – The second round of voting is held and Zoran Milanović of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia defeats incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.
• January 10 – Haitham bin Tariq succeeds Qaboos bin Said as the Sultan of Oman.
• January 11 – Presidential and legislative elections are held in Taiwan. Incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen is reelected and the Democratic Progressive Party wins a majority of 67 out of 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan.
• January 31 – The United Kingdom becomes the first member state to leave the European Union.
• May 26 – Protests break out following the murder of George Floyd across hundreds of cities in the United States and even smaller ones outside the US. Derek Chauvin, the officer responsible for Floyd's murder, would ultimately be convicted on two counts of murder and one of manslaughter in the wake of the protests.
• June 30 – China passes the controversial Hong Kong national security law, allowing China to crack down on opposition to Beijing at home or abroad.
• August 11 – Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for vice-president of the United States, making her the first African-American, the first Asian-American and the third female vice presidential running mate on a major party ticket.
• August 18 – A mutiny in a military base by soldiers of the Malian Armed Forces develops into a coup d'état. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé, among other senior governmental and military officers, are forced to resign.
• August 28 – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Japan, announces his pending resignation from office, citing ill health, he was replaced by Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida.
• September 4 – Kosovo and Serbia announce that they will normalize economic relations.
• September 29 – The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah dies at the age of 91. Crown Prince Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is named his successor.
• November 3 – Joe Biden is elected as the 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris is elected as vice-president. Biden is the oldest person elected to a first term.
• November 15:
  • President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigns from office after weeks of massive protests in the wake of the October 2020 parliamentary election; opposition leader Sadyr Japarov assumes office as both the acting president and Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.
  • The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries to form the world's largest free-trade bloc, covering a third of the world's population.

2021

• January 1 – The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect.
• January 6 – Pro-Trump rioters storm the US Capitol, disrupting the Congressional certification of United States President-elect Joe Biden. Trump is impeached a second time a week later for his role in the storming, making him the first US federal official to be impeached more than once and the first president to have his trial occur after his tenure expired.
• January 20 – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are inaugurated as the 46th and 49th President and Vice President of the United States. Harris becomes the first Black, South Asian and female Vice President.
• January 22 – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement comprehensively to prohibit nuclear weapons, comes into effect.
• January 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide.
• February 1 – A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.
• February 18 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.
• April 30 – June 13 – A crush during a pilgrimage on Lag BaOmer, renewed violence during the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis and continuing problems with the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel precede the 2021 Israeli presidential election. Amidst the election, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid agree to a rotation government, first headed by Bennett, in order to oust Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister as the month of crises is the culmination of scandals and corruption, including financial criminal charges, during Netanyahu's record long tenure.
• June 7 – The Juno spacecraft performs its only flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the first flyby of the moon by any spacecraft in over 20 years.
• July 7 – President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, is assassinated in a midnight attack by unknown mercenaries.
• August 15 – The Taliban regain control of Kabul after US forces and the republican government flee Afghanistan, marking the end of the War in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years.
• November 30 – Barbados becomes a republic by replacing Elizabeth II as Queen with Sandra Mason as president in the role of head of state.
• December 25 – NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.

2022

• February 4 – 20 – The 2022 Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China, making it the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics.
• February 24 – After a prolonged military buildup, Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine.
• June 24 – The Supreme Court rules that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion, thus overruling the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, and its related 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Protests erupt across nearly every major city in the United States.
• July 8 – Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe is assassinated while giving a public speech in the city of Nara, Japan.
• September 8 – Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch and longest reigning female monarch dies, and is succeeded by Charles III, her eldest child.
• October 30 – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as the 39th president of Brazil, after defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, becoming the first Brazilian president to be elected for a third term.
• November 24 – Long-time opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is appointed by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
• December 7 – The Congress of Peru removes President Pedro Castillo from office and arrests him after he tries to dissolve congress in a coup attempt, Vice President Dina Boluarte succeeds him, leading to large protests against Boluarte and in favor of Castillo to erupt.
• December 19 – At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), nearly 200 countries agree a landmark deal to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030.
• December 29 – Brazilian football legend Pelé dies at the age of 82.
• December 31 – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who served from 2005 until his resignation in 2013, dies at the age of 95.

2023

• January 1 – Croatia adopts the euro and joins the Schengen Area, becoming the 20th member state of the Eurozone and the 27th member of the Schengen Area. This is the first enlargement of the Eurozone since Lithuania's entry in 2015, and the first enlargement of the Schengen Area since Liechtenstein's entry in 2011.
• February 6 – Two earthquakes strike southern Turkey, the first 7.8 () in Gaziantep Province and the other 7.5 M_ww  in Kahramanmaraş Province, causing widespread damage and at least 58,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria, with more than 120,000 injured.
• February 27 – The United Kingdom and the European Union reach a new agreement surrounding modifications to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
• March 10 – The National People's Congress unanimously re-elects Xi Jinping as the President of the People's Republic of China to an unprecedented third term.
• March 17 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first against a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
• April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling its border with Russia.
• April 14 – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to search for life in the Jovian system, with an expected arrival date of 2031.
• May 5 – World Health Organization declares end of the COVID-19 pandemic global health emergency.
• May 6: The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
• June 14: Scientists report the creation of the first synthetic human embryo from stem cells, without the need for sperm or egg cells.
• June 19: The United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopts the High Seas Treaty, the first treaty aimed towards marine conservation in international waters.
• June 23 – The Wagner group launches a rebellion against the Russian government.
• July 14 – SAG-AFTRA announces it will begin an ongoing strike against the major film and TV studios in protest of low compensation, ownership of work, and generative AI.
• August 18 – The United States, Japan, and South Korea agree to sign a trilateral pact.
• August 23:
  • India's Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first spacecraft to land near the south pole of the Moon.
  • Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and founder Dmitry Utkin are killed when their plane crashes outside of Moscow, killing eight others.
• August 30 – In the hours following the announcement of incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection as President of Gabon after the 2023 presidential election, the military launches a successful coup d'état and creates the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions to govern the country, ending the rule of the Bongo family after 56 years in power.
• September 9 – At the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi, the African Union is announced as the 21st permanent member of the G20.
• September 10 – Storm Daniel, a Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone makes landfall in Libya, killing at least 5,000 people, with Libyan authorities announcing between 10,000 and 100,000 missing. In the city of Derna in Libya, two dams collapsed, resulting in a quarter of the city being destroyed.
• September 28 – President of Artsakh Samvel Shahramanyan signs a decree that will dissolve all state institutions of Artsakh by 1 January 2024, bringing an end to the breakaway state.
• October 7:
  • Hamas militants launch a large-scale attack from the Gaza Strip, infiltrating southern Israel and prompting a full military response from the Israel Defense Forces.
  • A doublet earthquake occurs in Herat Province in Afghanistan, killing 2,000 people and injuring over 9,000, with tremors felt in Iran and Turkmenistan. The earthquake is the deadliest in the country since 1998.
• October 8 – Israel's Security Cabinet formally declares war, for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, on Hamas.
• October 15 – Twenty-one species in the United States are declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. These are one mammal, ten birds, two fish, and eight mussels.
• November 1 – The first AI Safety Summit takes place in the United Kingdom, with 28 countries signing a "world first agreement" on how to manage the riskiest forms of artificial intelligence.
• November 9:
  • U.S. surgeons at NYU Langone Health announce the world's first whole eye transplant.
  • SAG-AFTRA ends its strike at 12:01 a.m. PDT following a tentative deal reached the day prior.
• November 24 – Somalia is admitted as the eighth member of the East African Community, having applied for membership in 2012.
• December 6 – Google DeepMind releases the Gemini Language Model. Gemini will act as a foundational model integrated into Google's existing tools, including search and Bard.
• December 12 – At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, a consensus is reached for countries to "transition away" from fossil fuels, the first such agreement in the conference's 30-year history.
• December 16 – Emir of Kuwait Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dies at the age of 86 and is succeeded by his half-brother Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

2024

• January 1:
  • Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates become BRICS members.
  • The Republic of Artsakh is formally dissolved as Nagorno-Karabakh unifies with Azerbaijan.
  • Ethiopia announces an agreement with Somaliland to use the port of Berbera. Ethiopia also says that it will eventually recognize Somaliland's independence, becoming the first country to do so.
  • Disney's copyright protection on Steamboat Willie and the original Mickey Mouse expires as they enter the public domain.
• January 8:
  • Astrobotic Technology alongside NASA launch the first commercial Lunar Lander. Seven hours after launch, an anomaly prevents stable orientation due to propulsion issues, resulting in critical fuel loss and the abandonment of the moon landing.
  • Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declares a state of emergency following the escape of Los Choneros drug cartel leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar, from prison.
• January 13 – 2024 Taiwanese presidential election: Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party wins with 40% of the votes.
• January 14:
  • Queen Margrethe II of Denmark formally abdicates as Queen on the 52nd anniversary of her accession, with her eldest son Frederik succeeding her as King Frederik X.
  • 2024 Comorian presidential election: Amid an opposition boycott, incumbent president Azali Assoumani wins re-election with 62.9% of the vote and only 16.3% voter turnout.
• January 15: Following a brief political crisis in the aftermath of the 2023 elections, Bernardo Arévalo is inaugurated as the 52nd President of Guatemala.
• January 19: Japan becomes the fifth country to successfully soft land on the Moon, with its SLIM mission.
• January 26 – 2024 Tuvaluan general election: Kausea Natano, the incumbent Prime Minister of Tuvalu, loses reelection to Parliament. A month later, Feleti Teo is elected prime minister.
• February 4:
  • President of Namibia Hage Geingob dies at the age of 82, and is succeeded by his vice-president Nangolo Mbumba.
  • 2024 Salvadoran general election: Incumbent President Nayib Bukele wins the election with over 80% of the vote, becoming the first president to be reelected in El Salvador since 1944.
• February 6 – Former President of Chile Sebastián Piñera dies in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.
• February 7 – 2024 Azerbaijani presidential election: Amid an opposition boycott, President Ilham Aliyev is reelected to a fifth term.
• February 8 – 2024 Pakistani general election: Independent politicians, most of whom are members of the banned political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, win a plurality of seats in the National Assembly.
• March 7 – Sweden officially joins NATO, becoming its 32nd member.
• March 10 – 2024 Portuguese legislative election: The Democratic Alliance wins a plurality of seats and forms a minority government amid losses by the incumbent Socialist Party and major gains by the right-wing Chega party.
• March 11 – Haitian acting Prime Minister and President Ariel Henry announces his pending resignation from both offices amid an ongoing crisis marked by gang warfare in the country.
• March 13 – The Artificial Intelligence Act, the world's first comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, is passed by the European Union.
• May 29 – 2024 South African general election: The ANC party fails to win a majority of the vote for the first time in South Africa's democratic history.
• June 2 – The 2024 Mexican general election is held, with Claudia Sheinbaum elected as the first female president of Mexico.
• June 6–9 – The 2024 European Parliament election is held. The EPP, of incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, retains its status as the largest group in parliament amid notable gains by far-right political groups.
• July 4 – 2024 United Kingdom general election: Sir Keir Starmer leads the Labour Party to a landslide victory, returning the party to government for the first time in 14 years.
• July 31 – Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, is assassinated at his residence in Tehran.

• 

  August 5 – Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina announces her resignation and flees to India following nationwide protests.
• October 30 – 2024 Botswana general election: The ruling BDP party is voted out of power, ending 58 years of uninterrupted governance. Duma Boko of the UDC party is elected President of Botswana.
• November 5 – 2024 United States presidential election: Donald Trump, with his running mate JD Vance, is elected for a second non-consecutive term, the first candidate to be so since Grover Cleveland in 1892.

Politics, wars, and states

New countries and territorial changes

Some territories and states have gained independence during the 21st century. This is a list of sovereign states that have gained independence in the 21st century and have been recognized by the UN.

•  East Timor (Timor-Leste) on 20 May 2002.
•  Montenegro on 3 June 2006.
•  Serbia on 3 June 2006.
•  South Sudan on 9 July 2011.

These nations gained sovereignty through government reform.

•  Comoros on 23 December 2001.

The Union of the Comoros replaced the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

• Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan on 13 July 2002.

The Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan replaced the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

• State Union of Serbia and Montenegro on 4 February 2003.

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro replaced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

• Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 7 December 2004.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan replaced the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan

• Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on 28 May 2008.

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal replaced the Kingdom of Nepal.

• National Transitional Council of Libya on 20 October 2011.

The National Transitional Council of Libya replaced the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

• State of Libya on 8 August 2012.

The State of Libya replaced the National Transitional Council of Libya.

• Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan replaced the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

These territories have declared independence and secured relative autonomy but they have only been recognized by some UN member states:

• Kosovo on 17 February 2008. (partially recognized)
• South Ossetia on 26 August 2008. (partially recognized)
• Abkhazia on 26 August 2008. (partially recognized)

These territories have declared independence and secured relative autonomy but they have been recognized by no one:

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in June 2014. Had taken over much of Iraq, Syria and Libya. It is considered a terrorist organization and no longer holds any significant territorial control.
• Republic of Catalonia on 27 October 2017. The Catalan Parliament proclaimed the Catalan Republic, but the Kingdom of Spain did not recognise this and for a time imposed direct rule. (See 2017 Catalan independence referendum and 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis)
• Southern Transitional Council in March 2017. Claimed the majority of the southern part of Yemen and the restoration of South Yemen.

These territories were annexed from a sovereign country, the action has only been recognized by some UN member states:

• Crimea annexed from Ukraine into the Russian Federation on 18 March 2014.
•  Donetsk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast,  Luhansk People's Republic, and Zaporizhzhia Oblast annexed from Ukraine into the Russian Federation on 30 September 2022.

These territories were ceded to another country:

• India–Bangladesh enclaves, traded between the two countries in 2015.
• Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor, ceded by Armenia to Azerbaijan on 1 January 2024.

Science and technology

Space exploration

• 2001 – Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist by paying $19 million to board the International Space Station.
• 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February.
• 2003 – The Chinese space program launches its first crewed space flight, Shenzhou 5, on 15 October. This made China the third country in the world to have indigenous crewed space capability.
• 2004 – Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity land on Mars; Opportunity discovers evidence that an area of Mars was once covered in water.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne makes the first privately funded human spaceflight, on 21 June.
• 2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, on 14 January.
• 2006 – The New Horizons probe is launched to Pluto, on 19 January.
• 2006 – Pluto is reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight planets.
• 2007 – China launches its first lunar mission with the Chang'e 1, on 24 October.
• 2008 – India launches its first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 which included a remote sensing orbiter and impactor on 22 October 2008. It made India the third nation to place its flag on Moon.
• 2008 – Chinese space program launches its third crewed space flight carrying its first three-person crew and conducts its first spacewalk that makes China the third nation after Russia and USA to do that, Shenzhou 7, on 25 September.
• 2008 – Phoenix discovers water ice on Mars.
• 2009 – Iran launches its first satellite, Omid, on 2 February.
• 2011 – NASA retires the last Space Shuttle, Atlantis, marking an end to its three-decade shuttle program.
• 2012 – SpaceX successfully delivers cargo to the International Space Station.
• 2012 – NASA successfully lands the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, on 6 August.
• 2014 – India's Mars Orbiter Mission, the nation's first attempt to send a spacecraft to Mars, successfully entered orbit on 24 September, making India the fourth nation in the world to reach that goal.
• 2014 – The European Space Agency robotic spacecraft Philae landed successfully on the comet 67P, the first cometary landing ever.
• 2015 – On 14 July, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft became the first to fly by Pluto, on a mission to photograph and collect data on its planetary system. No other spacecraft has yet performed such a mission so far from Earth.
• 2015 – On 28 September, NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars.
• 2015 – SpaceX launches and lands a Falcon 9 into orbital space on 21 December, becoming the first reusable rocket to do so.
• 2016 – SpaceX lands the first orbital rocket, a CRS-8, on a drone platform at sea on 8 April.
• 2016 – On 4 July, NASA's Juno space probe maneuvered into a polar orbit to study the planet Jupiter.
• 2016 – On 26 July, Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the world.
• 2016 – On 24 August, an Earth-sized exoplanet is discovered around Proxima Centauri, 4.2 light years away, which is potentially habitable.
• 2016 – On 8 September, NASA's ORIRIS-Rex space probe is launched as the first asteroid sample return mission to collect samples from Bennu.
• 2019 – On 3 January, Chinese probe Chang'e 4 becomes the first human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon.
• 2019 – NASA concludes the 15-year Opportunity rover mission after being unable to wake the rover from hibernation.
• 2019 – Israel launched its first spacecraft, Beresheet, towards the Moon on 7 April; after two months of journey, the spacecraft failed to land and crashed on the surface of the Moon, making Israel the seventh country to orbit the Moon.
• 2019 – The first image of the supermassive black hole inside galaxy Messier 87 was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.
• 2021 – NASA's Perseverance rover, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, successfully lands on Mars.
• 2021 – NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is successfully launched into orbit.
• 2022 – The first image of the supermassive black hole inside Milky Way was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.
• 2022 – The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope is published.
• 2022 – NASA successfully launches the Artemis 1 Moon mission on the SLS spacecraft after multiple delays.
• 2023 – India successfully touched down near the south pole of the Moon with Chandrayaan-3's lander on August 23, making it only the fourth country to achieve the feat of reaching lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Physics

• 2003 – WMAP observations of the cosmic microwave background.
• 2010 – The Large Hadron Collider's first high energy collisions took place in March 2010.
• 2012 – Physicists discover the Higgs boson based on collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, on 4 July. It is the latest particle to be discovered in the Standard Model.
• 2016 – On 11 February, LIGO announces the discovery of bursts of gravitational waves generated by cosmic collisions of black holes on, and was previously predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago.
• 2022 – on 13 December, the US Department of Energy announces that scientists at the National Ignition Facility have achieved the first positive energy gain from a fusion reactor in history.

Mathematics

• 2002 – Grigori Perelman posted the first of a series of eprints to the arXiv, in which he proved the Poincaré conjecture, the first of the Millennium Prize Problems to be solved.
• 2013 – Yitang Zhang publishes a paper in the Annals of Mathematics that established the first finite bound on the least gap between consecutive primes that is attained infinitely often.

Meteorology

• 2005 – A record 27 named storms occurred during the Atlantic hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center runs out of names from its standard list and uses Greek alphabet for the first time.
• 2007 – The Enhanced Fujita scale is formally released and put into use across the United States, replacing the Fujita scale.
• 2013:
  • Environment Canada (EC) adopts a variation of the Enhanced Fujita scale (CEF-scale), replacing the Fujita scale across Canada.
  • A violent EF5 tornado impacts Moore, Oklahoma, marking the last tornado to receive the rating of EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
  • A violent tornado impacts areas around El Reno, Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma's RaXPol mobile Doppler weather radar, positioned at a nearby overpass, measured winds preliminarily analyzed as in excess of 296 mph (476 km/h). These winds are considered the second-highest ever measured worldwide, just shy of the 302 ± 22 mph (486 ± 35 km/h) recorded during the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado.
• 2015 – The European Severe Storms Laboratory along with the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics publish a detailed assessment of the 1764 Woldegk tornado, in which it was assigned a rating of F5 on the Fujita scale, marking the oldest official F5 tornado.
• 2023:
  • Elizabeth Leitman becomes the first woman to issue a convective watch from the Storm Prediction Center.
  • The TORNADO Act was introduced by U.S. Senator Roger Wicker as well as eight other senators from the 118th United States Congress.
  • The International Fujita scale (IF-scale) is officially published.
• 2024 – Researchers with the University of Tennessee and University of Missouri publish an academic study about how survivors from the 2011 Joplin tornado recover from "Tornado Brain", a new term for the PTSD of tornado survivors.

Biotechnology and medicine

• 2001 – The first telesurgery is performed by Jacques Marescaux.
• 2003 – Completion of the Human Genome Project
• 2005 – The first successful partial face transplant is performed in France.
• 2006 – Australian of the Year Dr Ian Frazer develops a vaccine for cervical cancer.
• 2007 – Visual prosthetic (bionic eye) Argus II.
• 2008 – Japanese scientists create a form of artificial DNA.
• 2008 – Laurent Lantieri performs the first full face transplant.
• 2011 – First successful Uterus transplant from a deceased donor in Turkey.
• 2012 – The first successful complete face transplant is performed in Turkey.
• 2012 – Doubts raised over Statin medication.
• 2013 – First kidney grown in vitro in the U.S.
• 2013 – First human liver grown from stem cells in Japan.
• 2014 – A 3D printer is used for first ever skull transplant.
• 2016 – The first ever artificial pancreas is created.
• 2019 – Researchers 3D-print a heart from human patient's cells.
• 2020 – First COVID-19 Vaccine is developed.
• 2022 – The complete human genome is sequenced.

Telecommunications

The Digital Revolution continued into the early 21st century with mobile phone usage and Global Internet usage growing massively, becoming available to many more people, with more applications and faster speeds.