The 2020s (shortened to "the '20s" and referred to as the twenty twenties or simply the twenties)[1][2] is the current decade, which began on 1 January 2020, and will end on 31 December 2029.
With many extreme weather events worsening in the early 2020s, several world leaders have called it the "decisive decade" for climate action as ecological crises continue to escalate.[3][4]5G networks also launched around the globe at the start of the decade, and became prevalent in smartphones.
The conflict between Jewish and Arab communities in Israel and the West Bank has been ongoing since 1948.[5] After Israel took control of the West Bank, it began making settlements there, which led to heightened clashes to this day.[6]
The region of Karabakh has been disputed over the Republic of Artsakh, which is supported by the Armenian government. A ceasefire was held in 1994. In July 2020, a series of border skirmishes left at least 15 dead. From 27 September until 10 November 2020, a second war broke out in the region.
Motivated by the September 11 attacks, the United States and other governments started a large scale effort to eliminate terrorism.[7] With support from NATO, the United States invaded Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and overthrew the government, however remained in the country to stabilise the situation.[8] Two years later, on the pretext that the government of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,[9] the United States and a coalition of partners invaded Iraq and overthrew Hussein's regime,[10] after which the U.S. occupied the country, officially leaving in 2011.[11] However, insurgencies remained active in both countries, long after the invasions.[12]
In late-2013, a terrorist organisation called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began making rapid advances and territorial gains in Iraq and Syria. It captured Mosul in June[13] and made Raqqa its capital.[14] Various international coalitions were formed to help fight the militants.[15][16] By December 2017, ISIL had lost much of its former territory.
Following a rise in criminal violence as a result of drug trafficking in the country, Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared a war on drugs in December 2006.[17] Since the start of the war, the death toll from drug violence had sharply increased.[18] Arrests of key cartel leaders led to increasing violence as cartels fought for control of trafficking routes into the United States.[19][20][21]
In 2009, Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group, began waging an insurgency against the newly formed Transitional Federal Government. In 2011, the federal government captured Mogadishu[22] and subsequently retook several towns across the country.[23] Since then, the government has attempted to clean out the remaining Al-Shabaab strongholds with help from AMISOM soldiers.[24]
In January 2012, a rebellion by Tuaregs in Northern Mali began. After Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d'état, Tuaregs captured Northern Mali,[25] and declared it to be the independent state of Azawad.[26] However, shortly afterward, various Islamist groups took over Northern Mali from the Tuaregs and imposed sharia law on the region.[27]
On 22 February 2020, rivals Kiir and Machar struck a unity deal and formed a coalition government, after an estimated 400,000 deaths and more than 4 million people displaced by the war.
Following a rise in criminal violence as a result of drug trafficking in the country, the Philippines has been engaged in a drug war since Philippine PresidentRodrigo Duterte was inaugurated on 30 June 2016. It had caused more than 5,000 deaths and over 150,000 arrests by the beginning of the decade.[30][31]
A mass popular protests and riots against the controversial Omnibus Law on Job Creation which was passed on 5 October 2020 as well as President Joko Widodo.
A mass popular protests and riots against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office.
Protests and riots due to the murder of George Floyd spread throughout the United States and lasted many months. The stated goal was to end systemic racism and police brutality. These protests and riots caused more than $1 billion in damage.
A mass popular protests and riots against the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, included the dissolution of the Future Forward Party, the changes to the constitution in 2017, and the country's political landscape that it gave rise to.
On 5 October, protests began in Kyrgyzstan in response to the annulled parliamentary election, which protesters felt were unfair with allegations of vote-rigging. A day later, the parliamentary elections were annulled. 6 days later, on 12 October, presidentSooronbay Jeenbekov announced a state of emergency. On 15 October, Jeenbekov finally resigned, making way for Sadyr Japarov, who was nominated by parliament on 14 October to be acting prime minister, as also acting president. Following the protests, Japarov was elected president on 10 January 2021, on the same day a referendum was held on the Kyrgyz government system, in which the Kyrgyz voted for a reintroduction of the presidential system. The new constitution, passed by the Supreme Council was approved by voters in another referendum on 11 April 2021. Finally, on 28 November 2021, new parliamentary elections took place.
Note: To be included, entries must be notable (have a stand-alone article) and described by a consensus of reliable sources as "terrorism". They also must have 100 or more fatalities reported.
During a political crisis, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele sent forty soldiers of the Salvadoran Army into the Legislative Assembly building in an effort to coerce politicians to approve a loan request of $109 million from the United States for Bukele's security plan for the country.
The event has been condemned by foreign governments, the political opposition, and human rights organizations and is considered the first major political crisis in the country since the conclusion of the Salvadoran Civil War in 1992 and has been referred to as a coup attempt.
The 59th United States presidential election was held on 3 November 2020. Democrat and former Vice-presidentJoe Biden defeated Republican and then-incumbent PresidentDonald Trump, with the Electoral College formally declaring Biden the winner on 14 December 2020. Trump refused to concede, and filed lawsuits challenging the results in several states,[60] though most of the legal challenges were either dismissed or dropped, with judges citing lack of evidence to suggest voter fraud occurred. Trump had also unsuccessfully attempted to undo the election results by forcing government officials to stop Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia from certifying Biden as the winner, and urging his supporters to "walk" to the United States capitol to demand Trump be declared the winner of the election.[61] This was one of the reasons for the decision of a group of his supporters to gather in Washington, D.C on 6 January 2021 and break into the Capitol building during a Joint session of Congress. The January 6 United States Capitol attack disrupted Congress while certifying the election, forcing both chambers to undergo lockdown lasting for four hours. On the same day, Trump coerced then-incumbent Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results to which Pence refused. During the attack, Trump tweeted directly to his supporters falsely claiming Congress was attempting to assist in stealing the election. Twitter responded by suspending Trump's account permanently following Trump's tweet. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat all also suspended Trump from using their platforms worrying his posts may incite additional violence to the Capitol attacks. In relation to this, Trump was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives and became the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. Meanwhile, Joe Biden was sworn in as the United States President on 20 January 2021. The impeachment trial ended on 13 February 2021, one month after its start. Trump was found not guilty of inciting the Storming of the Capitol.
Barbados became the newest republic in the world on 30 November 2021, its 55th Independence Day, when the already elected, previous Governor-General of Barbados, Sandra Mason, was sworn into office as the first president of the Caribbean country. This ended Queen Elizabeth II's 55-year tenure as monarch of an independent Barbados.
Since 5 May 2020, Chinese and Indian troops have engaged in aggressive melee, face-offs, and skirmishes at locations along the Sino-Indian border, including near the disputed Pangong Lake in Ladakh and the Tibet Autonomous Region, and near the border between Sikkim and the Tibet Autonomous Region. Additional clashes also took place at locations in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
A 3-day border conflict with clashes occurred in late April 2021 between the two Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The reason why the fighting broke out is disputed, but it is due either to an old water dispute or to local people's dissatisfaction with the installation of surveillance cameras near the border. After 3 days of intense clashes that left 55 people dead and more than 40,000 displaced civilians, the two countries agreed on a ceasefire. After the ceasefire, however, there were further armed incidents that led to further deaths and injuries up to June 2022.
Beginning on 1 May 2021, the Taliban and allied militant groups made a final offensive against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its allies, coinciding with the withdrawal of most United States and allied troops from Afghanistan. It resulted in the de facto takeover of the country and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, ending the twenty-year-long War in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
March 2021 – February 2022 24 February 2022 – ongoing
Russia assembled troops along their border with Ukraine throughout late 2021 to early 2022. It escalated into a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, the longest-living and longest-reigning British monarch, ruling from 6 February 1952 to 8 September 2022, died of natural causes at the age of 96.
Lee Zeldin, a U.S. Congressman, was attacked while on stage campaigning for Governor of New York. The suspect was released with cashless bail within the day[100]
A massive explosion occurred in the port of Beirut. The blast was so loud that it was even reported to be heard in Cyprus, which is approximately 240 km from the location of the explosion.[105] The windows of major buildings in a 6-mile radius were shattered and roads were filled with debris. According to initial findings, it was estimated that a warehouse with 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded, which was confiscated by the Lebanese government from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus and then stored in the port without proper safety measures for six years.[106] 220 deaths were confirmed, more than 110 people were missing and at least 7,000 were reported injured.[107] Beirut governor Marwan Abboud estimated that up to 300,000 people were left homeless by the explosions and there was $10–15 billion USD in property damage.
A 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed. As of 22 July 2021, a total of 98 people are confirmed to have died, while 11 were injured.[108] One person was rescued from the rubble, and about 35 people were rescued on 24 June from the uncollapsed portion of the building, which was demolished 11 days later as a safety precaution due to the approach of Hurricane Elsa. On 7 July, authorities announced that the objective of the search was transitioning from rescue to recovery and that the missing victims are presumed dead.
A large explosion took place in the Surmalu shopping centre in the Armenian capital of Yerevan. It caused widespread destruction and fire, leaving dozens of dead and injured.[109] The explosion killed 16 people and injured 63, with nine missing as of 20 August.[110][111]
A 7.7Mw struck in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and Cuba at 14:10 local time on 28 January 2020. The earthquake was also felt in the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and the Cayman Islands. No damages were reported. A small (12.2 cm) tsunami was reported in the Cayman Islands.[112][113]
A 6.2 Mw earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan, killing at least 1,163 people, with 1,150 in Afghanistan and 13 in Pakistan. The earthquake was so deadly because it hit a densely populated area with buildings too weak to resist earthquakes.
Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, Gulf Coast of the United States, Midwestern United States
77 people were killed and thousands made homeless during one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States. Damages estimated at US$19.1 billion.[118][119]
A total of 278+ people were killed during both Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota in Nicaragua and Honduras. Damages totaled up to US$9.3 billion from both hurricanes.
This category-4 cyclone hit the western coast of India. 174 total fatalities recorded (all countries). Damages totaled up to US$2.12 billion. Other countries affected were Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Several southern provinces in the Philippines were flooded and ravaged by the typhoon. 392 people have died, with at least 515 people injured. Damages amount up to US$720 million.[120]
A small but significant tornado outbreak swept across the Czech Republic on 24 June, resulting in the strongest ever documented tornado in modern Czech history and the deadliest European tornado since 2001.[121][122]
Tornado activity swept the southern and midwestern United States in the evening of 10 December through the following morning. Arkansas, Missouri, and Kentucky suffered extensive damage.[123]
Floods, avalanches, and mudslides
Note: This section reports only floods with 200 or more deaths and avalanches and landslides involving 30 or more deaths.
The rainy season and associated flooding, which has killed more than 400 people, has been described by some in Nepal as the deadliest in recent memory.
Following the highest-ever recorded rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in China, between 300 and 400 deaths along with over 800,000 people having to evacuate.
Intense rainfall led to mudslides and flooding on February 15, that destroyed parts of the city of Petrópolis in the Brazilianstate of Rio de Janeiro and killed more than 230 people.
Deadly floods have been hitting northeastern India and Bangladesh since May 2022, killing more than 250 people and affecting 9 million people in both countries.
On 12 January the Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupted at VEI 4 intensity, bringing intense ashfall to the surrounding areas and killing at least 3 people.[citation needed]
The collapse of an unstable lava dome on the summit of Semeru due to heavy rainfall triggered large pyroclastic flows, killing 48, injuring over 100 and leaving 23 missing.[125]
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcano in the South Pacific erupted violently on 15 January, causing tsunamis to hit Hawaii, Japan and Tonga's largest island, Tongatapu, and sent waves flooding into Nukuʻalofa.[126]
An ongoing period of drought began in the country of South Africa in late October 2018 and continued into early 2021, negatively affecting food security in the region.
Parts of Russia and eastern Europe were hit by a record-breaking heat wave in May and June 2021, with temperatures in the Arctic Circle above 30 °C and the highest temperatures recorded in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Extreme temperatures caused by a prolonged heat dome over western Canada and the western United States kill over 613 people including over 480 people in British Columbia alone. The village of Lytton, British Columbia, which recorded the highest temperatures in Canada, is destroyed by a large wildfire as over 200 other ones devastate wide areas of the province. Wildfires in parts of the western coastal states of the US such as Washington, Oregon and California are also greatly worsened by the heatwave.
Over a hundred wildfires began in the Mediterranean Region of the forest in Turkey, the worst in the country for at least a decade. The wildfires started in Manavgat, Antalya on 28 July 2021, with the temperature around 37 °C (99 °F).
Drought developed in the Western, Midwestern and Northeastern United States in the summer of 2020. Over the course of 2021, conditions improved in the Northeast but worsened in the Western US. As of June 2021, 97% of the region was facing abnormally dry conditions. By August 2021, parts of the upper Midwestern US were experiencing some of the worst drought spells since the 1980s. Drought also affected a wide area of Mexico as of 2021, as well as the prairies of Canada.
The Brexit withdrawal agreement went into effect at the end of January 2020 with the UK completing its economic withdrawal from the EU at the end of that year.[137][138]
The United States, Mexico, and Canada signed the USMCA agreement, which came into effect on 1 July 2020.[139][140]
The World Trade Organization reported that trade growth had stagnated and that trade restrictions were increasing as the decade began. The sectors most affected by import restrictions were mineral and fuel oils (17.7%), machinery and mechanical appliances (13%), electrical machinery and parts (11.7%), and precious metals (6%).[143]Regional trade agreements were found to be increasing.[144]
37.9 million people living with HIV (end of 2018), 24.5 million people accessing antiretroviral therapy (end of June 2019), 32.0 million deaths from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic (end 2018).[151]
NASA launched the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone on 30 July 2020 as part of their Mars 2020 mission to search for signs of ancient life on Mars.[152] On 19 April 2021, the Ingenuity helicopter drone performed the first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet other than Earth.[153]
On 11 July 2021, Virgin Galactic became the first spaceflight company to independently launch a paying civilian into outer space using the 50-mile high definition of outer space, having flown Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson above the 50 mile mark, enabling him and the rest of the crew to experience approximately 3 minutes of weightlessness above Earth's atmosphere.
The BBC reports that for the "first time someone who has had a complete cut to their spinal cord has been able to walk freely... because of an electrical implant that has been surgically attached to his spine".[160]
Sales of electric vehicles have grown significantly and this is expected to continue through the decade.[161]
Low-income individuals were more likely to contract the coronavirus and to die from it. In both New York City and Barcelona, low-income neighborhoods were disproportionately hit by coronavirus cases. Hypotheses for why this was the case included that poorer families were more likely to live in crowded housing and work in low-skill jobs, such as supermarkets and elder care, which were deemed essential during the crisis. In the United States, millions of low-income people may lack access to health care due to being uninsured or underinsured. Millions of Americans lost their health insurance after losing their jobs. Many low-income workers in service jobs became unemployed.
The coronavirus pandemic was followed by a concern for a potential spike in suicides, exacerbated by social isolation due to quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, fear, and unemployment and financial factors. Many countries reported an increase in domestic violence and intimate partner violence attributed to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial insecurity, stress, and uncertainty led to increased aggression at home, with abusers able to control large amounts of their victims' daily life. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for a domestic violence "ceasefire".
Population
The population of Egypt reached 100 million in February 2020.[162]
24.3% of all national parliamentarians were women as of February 2019. 11 women were serving as Head of State and 12 as Head of Government in June 2019. 20.7% of government ministers were women as of January 2019. There are wide regional variations in the average percentages of women parliamentarians. As of February 2019, these were: Nordic countries, 42.5%; Americas, 30.6%; Europe excluding Nordic countries, 27.2; sub-Saharan Africa, 23.9; Asia, 19.8%; Arab States, 19%; and the Pacific, 16.3%. Rwanda has the highest number of women parliamentarians worldwide, 61.3% of seats in the lower house. About 26% of elected local parliamentarians are women.[164]
Team Seas is an international collaborative fundraiser founded by the YouTuber/Influencers Mark Rober and MrBeast on 29 October 2021, as a follow-up to Team Trees. The fundraiser's aim was to raise US$30 million to remove 30 million pounds of trash from the ocean by the end of the year. They also partnered with the Ocean Cleanup and the Ocean Conservancy.
Switzerland banned discrimination based on sexuality due to a referendum, putting into effect a law previously introduced in 2018, that was subsequently blocked by the government that requested a referendum to be held on the matter first.[167]
Decorated cloth face masks. Wearing a face covering in settings such as shops, bars, airports, and on public transport became mandatory in many countries in the early 2020s, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The video-sharing site TikTok became a major influence to pop culture and the music industry in the early 2020s.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many movies and shows were released on internet streaming services instead of theaters during the early 2020s. Squid Game was a global success as a result of streaming and the pandemic in 2021.
Bright multi-colored clothing became a trend in the early 2020s, as did baggier, looser-fitting clothing (in a rejection to the form-fitting 2010s fashion), as modeled here by Billie Eilish, one of the most popular musicians of the early decade.
In the 2020s, multiple online food delivery services such as Uber Eats, Postmates, DoorDash and Grubhub became popular. Pictured above is an Uber Eats employee delivering a meal.
The use of cryptocurrency became more mainstream in the 2020s. Crypto such as Bitcoin and others were notable. The Staples Center was even renamed Crypto.com Arena in 2021.
Electric vehicles became more popular for sustainable transport in the 2020s. Pictured is a vehicle being charged at a charging station, using battery power instead of gasoline.
COVID-19 vaccines became widely available to the public in some countries starting in 2021, and influenced certain cultures based on the vaccine status of individuals.
Fashion trends of the early 2020s have been largely inspired by the 2000s.[173][174][175] Wearing a decorative mask to prevent the disease COVID-19 from spreading was a fashion trend in the early 2020s.[176]
Spider-Man: No Way Home was the highest-grossing film of the 2020s, becoming the highest-grossing Spider-Man film and non-Avengers Marvel film. It is currently the 6th highest-grossing film of all time. Several films and other upcoming movies were released exclusively on streaming platforms instead of in theatres due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As COVID-19 cases declined through 2021 and some restrictions were lifted, some films were released both in theatres and on streaming services.
The fourth season of the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things was released on the streaming service Netflix in two volumes. The first set of seven episodes was released on 27 May 2022, while the second set of two episodes was released on 1 July 2022.
By 2020, TikTok had become an extremely popular music platform on social media.[178] Streaming on platforms such as Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and Apple Music increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Festivals such as Coachella were cancelled because of the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated the touring business.[179][180]
The Unity Tower was finally completed on 30 September 2020. The construction of the building originally started in 1975, but stopped permanently in 1981 because of economic constraints and political unrest at the time. Due to the unfinished building's resemblance to a skeleton, it was nicknamed after Skeletor, the arch-villain in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which was popular in Poland at the time construction began.[186]
The COVID-19 pandemic leads to the cancellation or rescheduling of numerous sporting events globally:
The 2020 Summer Olympics was postponed to July–August 2021. This was the first Olympic Games to be postponed rather than cancelled in history.[187]
The 2020 T20 Cricket World Cup, originally scheduled to take place in Australia, was rescheduled to occur in India in 2021. The tournament was ultimately held in the UAE and Oman (primarily the former) in 2021, with Australia winning the final against New Zealand to earn its first T20 World Cup title.
Tampa Bay Lightning won their second Stanley Cup championship during playoffs that were held in two "hub" cities in Canada (Toronto, Edmonton) by defeating the Dallas Stars. It is the first time since 1925 that the Stanley Cup is contested entirely in Canada.
Due to cross-border restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Hockey League (NHL) realigns its team divisions, with all seven Canadian teams competing in their own division for the first time. Tampa Bay Lightning win the second of back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and third championship overall, defeating the Montreal Canadiens.
With the easing of COVID restrictions in the UK, the 2021 Wimbledon Championships are held with full attendances. Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles title, his 20th Grand Slam win equaling Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's record.
The 2020 Summer Olympics take place in Tokyo, Japan, being the country's fourth time hosting the games. The United States wins the most gold and overall medals, with China coming in second and host Japan coming in third.
The 2022 Winter Olympics take place in Beijing, China, becoming the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympic Games. Norway wins the most gold and overall medals, with Germany coming in second and host China coming in third.
Literature in 2020s has also increased in popularity in the decade as both of these years and time flies by. Several and much of these bookstores thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic and other unprecedented times. This pandemic has completely changed how libraries operated, and which were faced with really hard choices as to which services to offer and which services to shut down for a limited time and most of them have shifted to online-only resources[citation needed] such as e-book lending and other technological services. In 2021, it was announced that the library named "Ocean Sea Public Library," the largest library in Asia, would open in Hong Kong to gain more visitors. Also, many of these literary works that are published have been influenced by current events including one of them that happened recently and other books about climate change, economy, and politics. Books published throughout the present times include The Vanishing Half, Leave the World Behind, Transcendent Kingdom, Memorial and The City We Became. Recent releases on this decade include How to Prevent the Next Pandemic by Bill Gates, Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange, and The Candy House.[193][194]
^Sullivan, Mark P., ed. (18 December 2008). "Mexico – U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress"(PDF). CRS Report for Congress: Mexico and the 112th Congress. Congressional Research Service. pp. 2, 13, 14. Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 June 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
