21st century

The entire written works of humanity, from the beginning of recorded history to 2003, in all known languages, are estimated to be at five exabytes of data.[19][20] Since 2003, with the beginning of social media and "user-generated content", the same amount of data is created every two days.[21] The growth of human knowledge and information continues at an exponential rate.

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; as of 2018, 55% of the world's population is online, and as of 2019, an estimated 67% own a cell phone.[22] In the 2010s, artificial intelligence, mainly in the form of deep learning and machine learning, became more prevalent and is prominently used in Gmail and Google's search engine, in banking, with the military and other areas. In 2017, 14% of the world's population still lacked access to electricity.[23]

India's Prayag Kumbh Mela is regarded as the world's largest religious festival.

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.[24]

War and violence have declined considerably compared to the 20th century, continuing the post-World War II trend called Long Peace. Malnourishment and poverty are still widespread globally, but fewer people live in the most extreme forms of poverty. In 1990, approximately one-in-four people were malnourished, and nearly 36% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty; by 2015, these numbers had dropped to approximately one-in-eight and 10%, respectively.

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.

The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and reached 7.8 billion by March 2020. It is estimated to reach nearly 8.6 billion by 2030,[25] and 9.8 billion by 2050. According to the United Nations World Urbanization prospects, a 60% projection of the world's human population is to live in megacities and megalopolises by 2030, 70% by 2050, and 90% by 2080. It is expected by 2040, the investing of more than 5 times the current global gross domestic product is expected to be in urban infrastructure.[26]

Life expectancy has increased as child mortality continues to decline. A baby born in 2016, for example, will, on average (globally), live to 72 years—26 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.[27]

Climate change remains a serious concern; UN Chief António Guterres, for instance, has described it as an "existential threat" to humanity.[28] 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.[29]

A map of uncontacted tribes, around the start of the 21st century

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.[30]

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.[31] 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.[32] 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.[33]

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.[34]

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.[35][36]

As of 2009, SIL Ethnologue catalogued 6,909 living human languages.[37] 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.[38]

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.[38]

Belligerents of the Second Congo War

• 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 17 December 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.[39]
• 2001

George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, from 2001 to 2009

• • 20 January: George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States. He is the second president from the Bush family.
  • 1 April: The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
  • 13 May: The conservative media magnate Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election in Italy, becoming country's Prime Minister. Berlusconi would dominate Italian political life for all the decade.
  • 1 June: 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.
  • 20–22 July: More than 200,000 anti-globalization protesters marched in Genoa, during the 27th G8 summit. Two demonstrators were killed by the Italian police. On 21 July a group of Carabinieri attacked the school Armando Diaz, seriously injuring many peaceful protesters. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi insisted that police used the minimum amount of force necessary to achieve their goals.

September 11 attacks

• • 11 September: 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.
  • 11 December: 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 invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001, and overthrew 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 was killed by American troops nearly 10 years later, on 2 May 2011. On 24 December 2014, NATO forces officially ended combat operations in Afghanistan; but forces still remained to 30 August 2021, followed by a quick withdrawal of all troops.
• 2002
  • 20 May: After a long period of occupation by Indonesia, East Timor's independence is recognized by Portugal and by the UN.
  • 1 July: The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established.
  • 10 September: Switzerland, a neutral country, becomes a member of the United Nations.
  • 12 October: Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, claimed 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 209 people were injured.
  • 15 November: Hu Jintao becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Jiang Zemin.
• 2003–present – In February 2003, a conflict in Darfur, Sudan, began and soon escalated 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 14 July 2008, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was charged with 5 accounts of crimes against humanity and 2 accounts of war crimes, although the ICC has no power to enforce these charges.
• 2003–2010 – The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on 20 March 2003, and overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein (who was executed by the Iraqi government on 30 December 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.[40] 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.
• 2003–2005 – A series of nonviolent revolutions known as the colour revolutions overthrew governments in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Lebanon.
• 2003
  • December: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announced that Libya would voluntarily eliminate all weapons of mass destruction.
• 2004
  • 11 March: Ten explosions occur at the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring around 2,000.
  • 1 May: The European Union expanded by 10 countries (8 former communist countries, plus Malta and Cyprus).
  • 1 September: A group of Chechen rebels invades a school in Beslan, keeping thousands of hostages during three days. A series of shootings and bombings kills 334 people and injured 750.
  • 11 November: Palestinian leader and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat dies in France, at the age of 75, from hemorrhagic stroke.
  • 18 November: Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
• 2005
  • 7 July: Four Islamic extremist suicide bombers set off three bombs in London; 56 people were killed, including the four suicide bombers.
  • 19 November: After the death of Pope John Paul II in April, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
  • 22 November: Angela Merkel becomes the first female elected Chancellor of Germany.

Angela Merkel and José Manuel Barroso

• 2006–2008 – The dismantling of former Yugoslavia continued after Montenegro gained independence on 3 June 2006, and Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008. However, Kosovo's independence was disputed by Russia and many of its allies and was only partially recognized.
• 2006
  • 12 July: 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 fighteres, 44 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers die. A ceasefire is signed on 14 August, after which Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon.
  • 9 October: North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on 9 October.[41] This was preceded by years of political wrangling with the U.S. over the status of their nuclear program.
• 2007–2008 – Nepal's centuries-old monarchy is overthrown, and the country becomes a republic.
• 2007
  • 1 January: Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
  • 25 January: A civil war escalated in the Gaza Strip throughout June, which resulted in Hamas eventually driving most Fatah-loyal forces from the Strip. In reaction, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh and dissolved the Hamas-ruled parliament. Scattered conflict continues.
  • 25 July: Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman to be elected President of India.
  • 13 December: 27 EU member states signed the Treaty of Lisbon, and entered into force on 1 December 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
  • 17 February: Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbia refuses to recognize it and considers Kosovo as part of its territory.
  • 1 April: Some cadres of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) attacked Senior leader of Nepali Congress, Bal Chandra Poudel, during an electoral period in Rasuwa, Nepal.
  • 1–12 August: An armed conflict is fought between Georgia on one side, and the Russian Federation together with Ossetians and Abkhazians on the other. Russia officially recognized independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
  • 4 November: Barack Obama is elected as the first African-American president of the United States. He is sworn into office in January 2009. He is awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which cited "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," and accepted the award the following year with "deep gratitude and great humility".

Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after signing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

• 2009
  • 13 June: A protest begins in Iran, after a presidential election against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Julia Gillard was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Australia in 2010.

Americans celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden in front of the White House

• 2010
  • 24 June: Julia Gillard becomes the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
  • South Africa, becomes the first country in Africa to host the FIFA World Cup.
  • 10 April: 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.
  • 13 November: Burmese opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize awardee Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her house arrest after being incarcerated since 1989.
  • 17 December: The Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave, begins in Tunisia, spreads throughout the Middle Eastern countries, with protests, demonstrations, riots and civil wars for free elections and human rights.
• 2011
  • 11 March: The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan result in 15,899 deaths.
  • 29 April: An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.
  • 2 May: al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the development of the plans for the 9/11 attacks, is killed in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU).
  • 10 July: Britain's largest tabloid newspaper, the News of the World, shuts down after 168 years in print due to the 2009 phone hacking scandal.
  • 14 July: South Sudan, after the January 2011 independence referendum, becomes a member of the United Nations.
  • 22 July: Anders Behring Breivik perpetrates two terrorist attacks, the first being a bombing which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a mass shooting at a youth camp on the island of Utøya. It was the deadliest attack in Norway since the Second World War, with 77 people killed and 319 injuries.
  • 17 September: 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.
  • 20 October: deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed by the National Liberation Army of Libya, during the Libyan Civil War.
  • 31 October: Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female president of Brazil. She served as the president until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016.
  • 16 November: Italy's long-term Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns amid public protests, financial crisis and sexual scandals.
  • 15 December: The Iraq War is declared formally over.
  • 17 December: Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader of North Korea, dies on 17 December. His son Kim Jong-un takes power in the country.
• 2012
  • 12 January: Civil unrest broke out in Romania in January 2012, because of the introduction of a new health reform legislation, but also by the unpopularity of Băsescu-backed Boc government. The unrest continued until Victor Ponta's resignation in November 2015, in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire.
  • 11–12 September: In Benghazi, Libya, an attack is coordinated against two United States government facilities by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.
  • 15 November: Xi Jinping becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Hu Jintao.
  • 10 December: Séléka rebels seize power in the Central African Republic, ousting the President and government and beginning a civil war.

Pope Francis in Poland

• 2013
  • 11 January: France intervenes with its army in the Northern Mali conflict defeating the Islamists who had taken control of the country.
  • 25 February: Park Geun-hye is elected President of South Korea, the first woman to hold the position.
  • 28 February: Pope Benedict XVI resigns, becoming the first pope to step down since 1415. Benedict takes the title pope emeritus. At the subsequent papal conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected pope on 13 March, becoming the first Latin American pope. Bergoglio takes the name of Pope Francis.
  • 5 March: President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez dies due to prostate cancer and is replaced by Nicolás Maduro.
  • 21 March: Convicted Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan puts an end to the armed revolt against Turkey.
  • 8 April: British politician and the first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies at the age of 87, from a stroke.
  • 1 July: Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.
  • 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.
  • 14 September: 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.
  • 5 December: South African political and civil leader Nelson Mandela dies at the age of 95, from natural causes.
  • 15 December: The South Sudanese Civil War breaks out.

Ukraine, Euromaidan, people protesting in favor of Ukraine's European way.

Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, Ukraine

• 2013–2014 – A political crisis in Thailand breaks out and the government declares martial law later.
• 2014
  • 22 February: Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich is ousted amidst the Euromaidan revolution. Then Russian Federation annexed Crimea, and "low intensity" war in Donbas started between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists.
  • 26 May: Narendra Modi becomes 14th Prime Minister of India with clear majority in the election.
  • 8 July–26 August: Israel, In tensions rise again between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the State of Israel. Hamas fire hundreds of missiles into civilian cities in Israel, and the IDF retaliates and conducts airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for more than a month, with high casualties on both sides.
  • 17 July: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a civilian commercial aircraft, is shot down in pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Eastern Ukraine.
  • 18 September: Scotland, with the 2014 independence referendum, decides to remain part of the United Kingdom.
  • September to October: During the Syrian civil war, the terrorist group 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 lead a coalition, with Syria, Iraq and Iran, and Russia's military action begins on 30 September 2015.
  • 31 October: In Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaoré resigns amidst widespread protests ending 27 years of leadership.
  • 16 November: In Romania, Klaus Iohannis wins the November 2014 election, becoming the first Romanian president to come from an ethnic minority.
  • 17 December: 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 nations. Meanwhile, on 20 July 2015, with full diplomatic relations, the embassies of both countries are opened after five decades.

2015 European migrant crisis

• 2015
  • 7 January: 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.
  • 23 March: Singaporean politician and the 1st Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew dies at the age of 91.
  • Late year: In China, the Communist Party announces the end of One-child policy after 35 years.
  • 26 June: The Supreme Court of the United States, in Obergefell v. Hodges, determines that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
  • During the "2015 European migrant crisis", around 1.3 million people, especially refugees of the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, came to Europe to claim asylum, causing considerable political upheaval in the European Union. Germany ultimately took in the majority of the asylum seekers.
  • 14 July: Iran and P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US + Germany), agree on final provisions of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in regards to the latter's nuclear program.
  • 13 November: ISIL claims responsibility of the November 2015 Paris attacks. Many were killed and injured from the incident.
  • 24 November: 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).
  • 30 November–12 December: During the UN summit on Climate Change, 193 nations agree a process to reduce carbon emissions starting in 2020.

Turkish anti-coup rally in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 22 July 2016

• 2016
  • 5 June: 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.
  • 12 June: In Orlando, Florida, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, kills 49 people and wounds 53 others in a terrorist attack inside Pulse, a gay nightclub.
  • 23 June: The United Kingdom, with the June 2016 membership referendum, decides to leave the European Union.
  • 13 July: After 6 years of leadership, UK politician and Prime Minister David Cameron resigns and is replaced by Theresa May, the second female UK prime minister.
  • 15–16 July: 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.
• 8 November: Donald Trump is elected as the 45th president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton.
• 2017
  • 21–22 January: In opposition to Donald Trump's inauguration, millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide join the Women's March.
  • 27 January: 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.
  • 6 April: In response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, the U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat Airbase in Syria.
  • 17–18 August: The 2017 Barcelona attacks, a terrorist drives into more than 100 people in Barcelona, Spain, killing 13 and injuring many.
  • 27 October: Catalonia declares independence from Spain,[42] but the Catalan Republic is not recognised by the Spanish government or any other sovereign nation.[43]
• 2018 – China's National People's Congress approves a constitutional change that removes term limits for its leaders, granting Xi Jinping the status of "leader for life". Xi is the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (de facto leader).

China's Xi Jinping has been the leader for life since 2018.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, parents, and others march in the March for Our Lives protest in Parkland, FL in 2018.

• 2018
  • 24 March: 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.
  • 9 May: 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 since independence in 1957.
  • 19 May: The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, England, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.
  • 12 June: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attend a summit in Singapore, the first time leaders of their two countries had met in person.
  • 28 October: Jair Bolsonaro is elected as the 38th president of Brazil, after having been stabbed during the election campaign and undergone three surgeries.
• 2019
  • 10 January: Venezuela enters into a presidential crisis after the disputed results of the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election leads to Juan Guaidó being declared the acting president, opposing Nicolás Maduro.
  • 27–28 February: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet for the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit in Vietnam.
  • 13 March: The Suzano school shooting: In a school in Suzano, São Paulo, Brazil, two ex-students kill 8 people and injure 11 others before committing suicide.
  • 15 March:
    • The Christchurch mosque shootings: Australian terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant kills 51 people and injures 40 at two mosques in New Zealand.
    • Over 2 million people in Hong Kong start protesting against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China.
  • 23 March: the Islamic State terror organization's territory 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.
  • 30 April: 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 the throne on 1 May.
  • 16 July: The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen as the new president of the European Commission.
  • 24 July: Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
  • 10 December: 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.
  • 18 December: President Donald Trump is impeached by the United States House of Representatives.
  • 31 December: China reported the first known case of COVID-19 in Wuhan; the disease would rapidly proliferate into a global pandemic throughout the next three months.[44][45]

George Floyd protests in Miami during the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020.[46]

Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States.[47]

• 2020
  • 3 January: A U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Five days later, Iran carries out retaliatory missile strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq, while Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by the IRGC after being mistaken for an American cruise missile.
  • 31 January: The United Kingdom becomes the first member state to leave the European Union.
  • March: Beginning of the worldwide pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. Widespread economic disruption, including a stock market crash, occurred during the pandemic.
  • 26 May: Protests caused by the murder of George Floyd break out across hundreds of cities in the United States and around the world. Derek Chauvin, the officer who murdered Floyd, would ultimately be convicted on two counts of murder and one of manslaughter in the wake of the protests.
  • 30 June: China passes the controversial Hong Kong national security law, allowing China to crack down on opposition to Beijing at home or abroad.
  • 11 August: 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.
  • 18 August: 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.
  • 4 September: Kosovo and Serbia announce that they will normalize economic relations.
  • Israel, Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain sign agreements to formally normalise diplomatic relations.
  • Azerbaijan launches a successful military campaign against Armenian forces to take back the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkey sends Syrian mercenaries to assist in this endeavor, and Russia ends the conflict by deploying peacekeepers.
  • 3 November: 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.
  • 15 November: 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.
  • Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM–N), sign an agreement to transition the country into a secular state.
  • A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission formally accuses the Venezuelan government of crimes against humanity, including cases of killings, torture, violence against political opposition and disappearances since 2014. President Nicolás Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials are among those implicated in the charges.
  • France, Germany, and the United Kingdom issue a joint note verbale to the United Nations rejecting China's claims to the South China Sea, and supporting the ruling in Philippines v. China that said the historic rights per the nine-dash line ran counter to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. However the statement says that on "territorial sovereignty" they "take no position."
• 2021
  • 6 January: 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.
  • 1 February: A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.[48]
  • 18 February: NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.[49]
  • 30 April to 13 June: 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.
  • 7 July: President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, is assassinated in a midnight attack by unknown mercenaries.
  • 15 August: 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.[50]
  • 30 November: Barbados becomes a republic by replacing Elizabeth II as Queen with Sandra Mason as president in the role of head of state.
  • 16 December: Typhoon Rai lashes into Visayas and Mindanao, leaving 409 people dead.
  • 25 December: 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
  • 4 February: China and Russia issue a joint statement opposing further NATO expansion, expressing "serious concerns" about the AUKUS security pact, and pledging to cooperate with each other on a range of issues.[51]
  • 4 – 20 February: The 2022 Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China, making it the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics.[52]
  • 24 February: After a prolonged military buildup, Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine.
  • 24 May: The Robb Elementary School shooting is perpetrated by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers and wounded seventeen other people in Uvalde, Texas, United States. The shooting was the third-deadliest school shooting in the United States, after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, and the deadliest in Texas. In the shooting's wake, the most significant gun safety reform legislation in the U.S. in 30 years is enacted.
  • 8 September: Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch and longest reining female monarch dies, and is succeeded by Charles III, her eldest child, upon her death.

Some territories 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.

Celebration of the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo

• East Timor (Timor-Leste)[53] 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.

• Union of the 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)
• Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in May 2014 (partially recognized). Founded by separatists from Ukraine in the War in Donbas. The states briefly confederated as Novorossiya, which was dissolved in 2015.

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.

These terrorities 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, surrendered by Armenia to Azerbaijan at the end of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

NASA successfully lands the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.

Artist's impression of New Horizons' close encounter with the Pluto–Charon system.

• 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 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.[54]
• 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 droning 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.[55]
• 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.[56]
• 2019 – NASA concludes the 15-year Opportunity rover mission after being unable to wake the rover from hibernation.[57]
• 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.[58]
• 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.[59]

• 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.[60]
• 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.

• 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.

• 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.
• 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.

Steve Jobs discussing the iPhone, an early smartphone, in 2008

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.

Social networking emerged in the mid-2000s as a popular social communication, largely replacing much of the function of email, message boards and instant messaging services. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are all major examples of social media to gain widespread popularity. The use of webcams and front-facing cameras on PCs and related devices, and services such as Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime have made video calling and video conferencing widespread. Their use hugely increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tsunami striking Ao Nang in Thailand on 26 December 2004.

New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

2000s

• 2001 Gujarat earthquake – An earthquake in Gujarat, India on 26 January 2001, killed approximately 20,000 people.
• January 2001 El Salvador earthquake – A 7.9 earthquake in El Salvador shook the whole country on 13 January 2001, causing a major devastating landslide, hundreds dead, thousands injured and many homeless. A month later, on 13 February 2001, the country suffered a second earthquake – 6.7
• 2003 European heat wave – Approximately up to 70,000 people were killed across Europe in a summer long heat wave.
• 2003 Bam earthquake – An earthquake in Bam, Iran on 27 December 2003, killed more than 26,000.
• 2004 Hurricane Jeanne – Over 3,000 people are killed by Hurricane Jeanne in Haiti in September 2004.
• 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami – On 26 December 2004, a massive undersea earthquake resulted in a massive tsunami striking southeast Asia killing approximately 230,000.
• 2005 Hurricane Katrina – The hurricane killed 1,836 in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi (mostly in New Orleans) and South Florida. A significant portion of the city, most of which sits below sea level, was submerged. Damages reached US$81.5 billion, making Katrina the costliest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the U.S.
• 2005 Kashmir earthquake – An earthquake in Kashmir on 8 October 2005, killed at least 74,500 in India and Pakistan.
• 2008 Cyclone Nargis – lead to catastrophic storm surge, leading to a death toll in excess of 100,000 and making millions homeless.
• 2008 Sichuan earthquake – An earthquake between 7.9 and 8.0-magnitude struck Sichuan, China, on 12 May 2008, killing 68,712, with 17,921 missing.
• 2009 Black Saturday bushfires – The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria, Australia on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire; 173 people died and 414 were injured.
• 2009 L'Aquila earthquake – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila (Italy) on 6 April 2009, one of the worst in Italian history. 308 were pronounced dead and more than 65,000 were made homeless.
• 2009 flu pandemic – A worldwide outbreak of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 spread around the world forming a pandemic by June 2009.

2010s

Damaged buildings in Port-au-Prince as a result of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

Hurricane Maria destruction in Dominica in 2017.

• 2010 Haiti earthquake – At least 230,000 are killed in Haiti after a massive earthquake on 12 January 2010. Three million people were made homeless.
• 2010 Chile earthquake – A massive earthquake, magnitude 8.8, strikes the central Chilean coast on 27 February 2010.
• 2010 Yushu earthquake – A large 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Yushu region of China in Qinghai near Tibet, on 14 April 2010, killing over 2,200 people.
• 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull – A massive ash cloud is formed by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, on 14 April 2010, grounding flights across northwest Europe. Scientists began recording volcanic activity there in 2009 which increased through March 2010 culminating in the second phase eruption in April.
• 2010 Pakistan floods – Began in July 2010 after record heavy monsoon rains. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan was worst affected. At least 1,600 people were killed, thousands were rendered homeless, and more than thirteen million people were affected.[64][65][66][67][68] Estimates from rescue service officials suggest the death toll may reach 3,000 victims.[69]
• 2011 Queensland floods – Began in December 2010 primarily in Queensland. The flood causes thousands of people to evacuate. At least 200,000 people were affected by the flood. The flood continued throughout January 2011 in Queensland, and the estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion.
• Cyclone Yasi – A category 5 (Australian Scale) cyclone hits North Queensland with winds as strong as 290 km/hr (197 miles/hr) and devastates the residents of North Queensland.
• February 2011 Christchurch earthquake – 185 people died in New Zealand after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch on 22 February 2011, making it New Zealand's second-deadliest natural disaster after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
• 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami – On 11 March 2011, a catastrophic undersea earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred offshore of eastern Japan, the greatest in the country's history and created a massive tsunami which killed 15,894; it also triggered the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. The overall cost for the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accidents reached up to US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster on record.
• 2011 Super Outbreak – Regarded as the deadliest tornado outbreak ever recorded and dubbed the 2011 Super Outbreak, a catastrophic tornado outbreak on 25–28 April affected the Southern United States and killed over 330 people, most of whom were in or from Alabama. Damages are expected to be near or over $10 billion.
• 2011 Joplin tornado – On 22 May 2011, a devastating EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri resulting in 159 casualties, making it the deadliest tornado to hit the United States since 1947.
• Tropical Storm Washi – Locally known as Sendong, it caused catastrophic flooding in the Philippine island of Mindanao on the night of 16 December 2011. The hardest hits were in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. Almost 1000 people perished, most of whom were sleeping, and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of calamity four days later.
• Hurricane Sandy – 24–30 October 2012 – kills at least 185 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption to the eastern seaboard of the United States.[70][71][72]
• 2013 Bohol earthquake - An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 that killed 22 people and destroyed a total worth of ₱2.25 billion,
• Typhoon Haiyan 2013 – kills more than 6,000 people in central Philippines. Considered to be one of the strongest storms ever, it brought major damage and loss of life to the Philippines, especially the islands of Leyte and Samar. A worldwide humanitarian effort began in the aftermath of the typhoon.
• 2014 Southeast Europe floods – kill at least 80 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Floodwaters caused over 2,000 landslides across the Balkan region, spreading damage across many towns and villages.
• April 2015 Nepal earthquake – An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills almost 9,000 people, injures another 22,000 and leaves nearly 3 million people homeless in Central Nepal. The earthquake was so strong it was felt in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• 2016 Taiwan earthquake – An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude kills 117 people, injures 550, and 4 people were left missing. The earthquake resulted in 3 executives of the Weiguan developer being arrested under charges of professional negligence resulting in death.
• August 2016 Central Italy earthquake – A 6.2 magnitude earthquake killed 299 people and severely damaged Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto.

2020s

• Unprecedented flooding displaces millions and threatens famine in Sudan and South Sudan in 2020–2021.[73][74]
• On 12 July 2020, Taal volcano eurpted after 43 years since the previous Taal eruption in 1977.
• The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, the most active regional season on record with 30 total named storms, results in over 400 fatalities across parts of the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.
• At least 20 people are killed in 2021 Henan floods in China after heavy rainfall (at least 20c per hour) exacerbated by the approach of Typhoon In-fa breaks existing records.
• The 2021 European floods kill over 188 people and devastates Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy and Luxemburg. Floods in Germany prove to be the deadliest since the North Sea Flood of 1962.
• In September of 2022 Hurricane Ian hit the west coast of Florida as a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane and is the deadliest hurricane to hit Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.
• On 27 July 2022, an eathquake that had magnitude of 7.0 that hit Luzon that cause of 11 people killed and ₱1.88 billion of buidlings that were destroyed or damaged.

Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit in the Gulf of Mexico on fire in 2010

• On 27 July 2002, a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 77 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history.
• On 1 February 2003, at the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.
• The Black Saturday bushfires – the deadliest bushfires in Australian history took place across the Australian state of Victoria on 7 February 2009, during extreme bushfire-weather conditions, resulting in 173 people killed, more than 500 injured, and around 7,500 homeless. The fires came after Melbourne recorded the highest-ever temperature (46.4 °C, 115 °F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires were ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
• On 10 April 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and 94 other people, including dozens of government officials, are killed in a plane crash.
• On 20 April 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, operating in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, left eleven crewmen dead and resulted in a fire that sank the rig and caused a massive-scale oil spill[75] that may become one of the worst environmental disasters in United States history.[76] On 18 June 2010, oceanographer John Kessler said that the crude gushing from the well contains 40 percent methane, compared to about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits. Methane is a natural gas that could potentially suffocate marine life and create "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives. "This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said.[77] On 20 June an internal BP document was released by Congress revealing that BP estimated the flow could be as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000 cubic metres) per day under the circumstances that existed since the 20 April blowout.[78][79]

• The 2002 FIFA World Cup – host South Korea and Japan – was won by Brazil
• The 2006 FIFA World Cup – host Germany – was won by Italy
• The 2010 FIFA World Cup – host South Africa – was won by Spain
• The 2014 FIFA World Cup – host Brazil – was won by Germany
• The 2018 FIFA World Cup – host Russia – was won by France

• Following their 1999 victory, the Australian cricket team would go on to win three out of five Cricket World Cups played between 2003 and 2019. Two of these, 2003 and 2007, were consecutive.

Quarterback Tom Brady led the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his career, appearing in 10 Super Bowls himself, the most ever.

• In the National Football League, the New England Patriots were the dominant franchise of the first two decades of the 21st century, winning 6 Super Bowls between their first, in 2001, and their most recent, in 2018 and appearing in an additional three others. Head Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady led the team during the stretch, with Brady also leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an additional Super Bowl following the 2020 season. Other teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances over that time period include the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers. Besides Brady, who also won three Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), other highly recognized players include quarterback Peyton Manning, who won 5 MVP awards, the most in history, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers who won three MVPs, who in 2011 set the NFL record for season passer rating. Successful offensive players at other positions include wide receiver Randy Moss, who set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season with 23 in 2007, wide receiver Michael Thomas, who set the NFL record for most receptions in a season with 149 in 2019, tight end Rob Gronkowski, who became the first tight end to lead the league in receiving touchdowns in 2011, and running back Adrian Peterson, who set the all-time NFL record for rushing yards in a game with 296 in 2007, his rookie year. Key defensive players of the century include safety Ed Reed, who led the league in interceptions three times, linebacker Ray Lewis, who set the career tackles record when he retired in 2012, and linebacker J. J. Watt, who is the only player to record more than 20 quarterback sacks in two different seasons.
• In American college football, the sport saw the creation of the College Football Playoff, the first playoff for NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football in the U.S. The series was dominated by two teams, the Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide, at least one of which has played in every Playoff since its inception in 2014 and between them have won all but one of said championships. Prior to 2014, the method of determining the champion was done via the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a single championship game that attempted to match the top two teams in the country using a series of polls and computer rankings to choose the top two teams. In the BCS era, the top teams were Alabama, which won three BCS Championships, and Florida State, LSU, and Oklahoma, which won two BCS Championships each. Nick Saban, who led both LSU and Alabama to one and seven national championships respectively, was the most dominant coach of his era, while quarterbacks dominated the Heisman Trophy, winning 16 of 20 during the first two decades of the 21st century. Several controversies over the payment of athletes dominated the sport, with Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush being forced to return his award over receiving improper benefits while maintaining amateur status, while officials and media continued to debate the possibility of paying athletes at all levels of college athletics.
• In Canadian football, the league opened the 21st century facing an uncertain financial future, suffering from the failures of the experiment of trying to field Canadian football teams in the United States and having to contract a large number of teams at the end of the 20th century. The league fluctuated between 8 and 9 teams as two different Ottawa-based franchises failed during the first decade of the 21st century. The league found stability during the 2010s, and showed surprising parity between the teams, with all 9 teams appearing in at least one Grey Cup during the 2000s and 2010s, and with only the Montreal Alouettes winning back-to-back titles during those two decades, in 2009 and 2010. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo of the Alouettes was the face of the league during his career, winning three Most Outstanding Player Awards and setting several passing records in the process.

Tiger Woods was the most successful male golfer of the first two decades of the 21st century.

• The 2002 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 15 and a half to USA's 12 and a half.
• The 2004 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 18 and a half to USA's 9 and a half.
• The 2006 Ryder Cup was won by Europe again 18 and a half to USA's 9 and a half.
• The 2008 Ryder Cup was won by USA 16 and a half to Europe's 11 and a half.
• The 2010 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 14 and a half to USA's 13 and a half.
• The 2012 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 14 and a half to USA's 13 and a half.
• The 2014 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 16 and a half to USA's 11 and a half
• The 2016 Ryder Cup was won by USA 17 to Europe's 11.

The start of a race during the 2016 Supercars Championship in Australia

• Dale Earnhardt died after a last-lap crash during the Daytona 500 in February 2001.
• Michael Schumacher broke many records in the first few years of the century, including the record for most races won (91), most World Championships (7), and most pole positions (68) by the time he retired in 2006. In 2010, he announced his comeback to Formula One after three years out of the sport, retiring again in 2012.
• Sebastian Vettel broke numerous records on his way to becoming Formula One's youngest ever world champion, in 2010 at age 23, and then the youngest ever double world champion, in 2011 at age 24.
• Sébastien Loeb became the most successful rally driver ever, winning the World Rally Championship a record 9 consecutive times between 2004 and 2012. He also set new records for the most wins, podium finishes and points scored.
• Casey Stoner won his second MotoGP world title (2007 and 2011), and announced his retirement from the sport at just 27 years of age, citing disagreement with the direction of the sport and a desire to spend more time with his family. His retirement became effective at the end of the 2012 MotoGP season. Stoner has won every MotoGP-branded race at least once.
• Craig Lowndes became the first driver to reach 100 race wins in the V8 Supercars Championship.
• Lewis Hamilton broke the record for most career pole positions in Formula One in 2019, and the record for most career wins in 2020.

• 2003 Rugby World Cup – host Australia – was won by England
• 2007 Rugby World Cup – host France – was won by South Africa
• 2011 Rugby World Cup – host New Zealand – was won by New Zealand
• 2015 Rugby World Cup – host England – was won by New Zealand
• 2019 Rugby World Cup – host Japan – was won by South Africa

• Roger Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles (6 Australian Opens, 1 French Open, 8 Wimbledons, and 5 US Opens) to surpass Pete Sampras' record of 14.
• Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic each completed a Career Grand Slam, winning the singles championships in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open; Nadal also won the Olympic Singles gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics to complete a Golden Career Slam.
• At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut completed the longest tennis match ever. Isner won 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68.
• In 2019, Rafael Nadal became the first male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament (French Open) 12 times.

• Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles (7 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Opens) in the 21st century, to add to her 1999 US Open title.
• Maria Sharapova became the first female Russian player to reach No.1 on 22 August 2005. She also retired in 2020.
• China's Li Na won the 2011 French Open, becoming the first player, male or female, from that country to win a Grand Slam.
• Belarusian Victoria Azarenka won the 2012 Australian Open, becoming the first player, male or female, from that country to win a Grand Slam, and also hold the No.1 ranking (taking over from Caroline Wozniacki).

• Art:21 - Art in the 21st Century (2001–2018), a PBS series

A. R. Rahman, an Indian composer, became the first-ever from the sub-continent to have won double Oscars for his original score and soundtrack in 2009.

At the beginning of the century, the compact disc (CD) was the standard form of music media, but alternative forms of music media started to take it place such as music downloading and online streaming. A resurgence in sales of vinyl records in the 2010s was driven by record collectors and audiophiles who prefer the sound of analog vinyl records to digital recordings. In 2020, for the first time since the 1980s, vinyl surpassed CDs as the primary form of physical media for consumers of music, though both were still surpassed by online streaming, which by the 2020s became the predominant way that people consumed music.[82] As of 2020, the most active music streaming services were YouTube (1 billion monthly music users, 20 million premium subscribers), Tencent Music (657 million monthly users, 42.7 million premium subscribers), 130 million premium subscribers), SoundCloud (175 million monthly users), Gaana (152 million monthly users), JioSaavn (104 million monthly users), Spotify (286 million monthly users), Pandora (60.9 million monthly users), and Apple Music (60 million subscribers).[83]

As with music, the story of the first two decades of the 21st century was the growth of streaming television services in competition with older forms of television, such as Terrestrial television, cable television, and satellite television. The first major company to dominate the streaming service market was Netflix, which began as a DVD-delivery service in the late 1990s, transitioned into an online media streaming platform initially focused on delivering content produced by studios, then began to produce its own content, beginning with the popular and critically acclaimed series House of Cards in 2013. Netflix's success encouraged the creation of numerous other streaming services, such as Hulu, YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, which within a year of its launch overtook Netflix as the most downloaded television streaming application.[84]