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2020年代（「トゥエンティ・トゥエンティーズ」または「ツー・サウザンド・トゥエンティーズ」と発音）は、グレゴリオ暦とユリウス暦における現在の10年間であり、2020年1月1日に始まり、2029年12月31日に終わります。
2020年代初頭は、新型コロナウイルス感染症のパンデミックとその余波によって特徴づけられ、世界的な経済不況、世界的なインフレの持続的な上昇、サプライチェーンの危機を引き起こしました。パンデミック初期には、世界中の政府が外出自粛命令を発令し、テレビ会議、オンライン学習、電子商取引、食品配達サービスが広く利用されるようになりました 。
政治面では、2020年代には世界中で、政治スペクトルの左右両派でポピュリズムや反体制運動が台頭し、反政府デモや反乱も発生した。この10年間には、 2022年以降のロシアによるウクライナ侵攻、2023年以降のガザ戦争と虐殺、2025年の12日間戦争、2026年の米国によるベネズエラ介入、2026年のイラン戦争など、軍事紛争が激化した。10年半ばまでに、地政学、技術、製造業、経済、文化の分野における中国の絶大な影響力により、多くのジャーナリスト、経済学者、政治学者が中国を超大国と呼ぶようになった。 [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
2020年代も技術は進化を続けている。この10年間で、ChatGPTやDALL-Eなどの生成型人工知能ベースのアプリケーションが広く普及し、ユーザーは洗練されたテキスト、画像、メディアを瞬時に生成できるようになった。暗号通貨と人工知能の成長は、暗号通貨バブルとAIバブルにつながった。[ 7 ] [ 8 ]米国は、 2021年のジェームズ・ウェッブ宇宙望遠鏡とインジェニュイティ火星ヘリコプター、2026年のアルテミスII有人月フライバイなど、宇宙探査をリードしてきた。[ 9 ] [ 10 ]
この10年の初めには、世界の人口は77億人から約80億人に増加しました。2023年には、インドが中国を追い抜き、世界で最も人口の多い国となりました。 [ 11 ] [ 12 ]複数の異常気象や生態系の危機がエスカレートし続ける中、世界の指導者の多くは、2020年代を気候変動対策の「決定的な10年」と呼んでいます。[ 13 ] [ 14 ]
この10年間で特に注目すべき戦争は以下の通りである。
この10年間に成功した革命やその他の主要な抗議活動には、以下のようなものがあるが、これらに限定されない。
この10年間に民間人に対して行われた最も著名なテロ攻撃には、以下のようなものがあるが、これらに限定されない。
2020年代は、特に旧鉄のカーテンの東側、ポスト共産主義の東ヨーロッパにおいて、冷戦後の時代の終焉を告げるものでした。[ 225 ]パソキケ化は、高等教育の増加や民族的多様性といった人口動態の変化、宗教の影響力の低下、アイデンティティ政治の台頭などにより、この10年間で西側世界全体で中道左派と中道右派の政治が衰退したことを示しています。この時期、中道右派政党はリバタリアニズム、右翼ポピュリズム、国家保守主義へと右傾化するか、あるいは新たな極右政党に取って代わられました。[ 226 ]中道左派の政治は、ジョー・バイデン（特に年齢と健康上の懸念）のように衰退した人もいますが、同じ程度には衰退していません。 [ 227 ]ウクライナのウォロディミル・ゼレンスキーも苦境に立たされており、次のウクライナ大統領選挙はロシア・ウクライナ戦争のため無期限に延期されています。[ 228 ] [ 229 ]
米国では深刻な政治的分断が生じており、[ 230 ]人種や民族、教育水準、[ 231 ]および州間の政治的分極化に沿った顕著な分断を伴う、深刻な政治的分極化が見られる。[ 232 ] 2024年の米国大統領選挙は、一般投票の差がわずか1.5%（49.8%対48.3%）で決着し、接戦となった。2024年にはドナルド・トランプがカマラ・ハリスを破ったが、ハリスは2020年に副大統領候補としてトランプを破っており、事実上の再戦となった。[ 233 ]
西ヨーロッパ[ 234 ] 、カナダ[ 235 ]、オセアニア（オーストラリアとニュージーランド）は、民主主義の後退や極右政治の台頭を概ね回避してきたが[ 236 ]、それでも政治的不安定と二極化は増加している[ 237 ] 。英国のキア・スターマーは支持率が急落し、2026年6月に辞任した[ 238 ]。フランスのエマニュエル・マクロンは、議会が過半数を占めない状態になったため、フランスの政治危機に直面した[ 239 ] [ 240 ] 。しかし、2025年のオランダ総選挙では、自由民主党66党が最多議席を獲得した[ 241 ] 。
アジアにおけるZ世代の抗議活動は2024年に始まり、バングラデシュの7月革命は世界初のZ世代革命と評された。[ 242 ] 2026年にバングラデシュとネパールで総選挙が行われ、自由主義的で改革派の野党であるバングラデシュ民族主義党とラシュトリヤ・スワタントラ党が地滑り的勝利を収めた。これらは、混乱を極めたZ世代の抗議活動以降に行われた選挙である。[ 243 ] [ 244 ]
東南アジア（ASEAN）諸国と東アジア諸国では、特にタイ、フィリピン、日本、韓国で政治的不安定が増大している。タイとフィリピンでは、スレッタ・タウィシン首相とペートンターン・シナワット首相の弾劾と解任[ 245 ] [ 246 ] [ 247 ]、サラ・ドゥテルテの弾劾とロドリゴ・ドゥテルテの逮捕など、重大な政治危機が発生した。[ 248 ] [ 249 ]韓国では2024年に戒厳令危機が発生し、2017年の朴槿恵以来8年間、尹錫烈大統領が弾劾された。[ 250 ] [ 251 ] [ 252 ]一方、日本では反政府デモや暴動が発生し、自民党は国会両院で過半数を失い、 2021年から4年間の選挙復帰を果たして2026年に過半数を回復した。[ 253 ] [ 254 ]バンコク・マニラ・ソウル・東京戦線は、イランからの脅威、ロシア・ウクライナ戦争への報復、中国による台湾侵攻、南シナ海紛争を防ぐことに焦点を当てたNATOと米国の防衛イニシアチブとして、アヌティン・チャーンヴィラクル、ボンボン・マルコス、イ・ジェミョン、高市早苗によって主導された。[ 255 ] [ 256 ]このイニシアチブは、激動の政治危機の後に実施され、米国防長官ピート・ヘグセスは、オーストラリア、インド、カナダの太平洋部隊のメンバーとともに戦線に肯定的な見解を示した。[ 257 ]
ゾーラン・マムダニは2025年に34歳でニューヨーク市長に選出され、ニューヨーク州知事だったアンドリュー・クオモを破った。マムダニはニューヨーク市初のイスラム教徒、インド系ウガンダ人、そして初のミレニアル世代の市長となった。 [ 258 ] [ 259 ]
2021年から2023年にかけてのインフレの急騰は、イデオロギーの枠を超えて、2020年代初頭のほぼすべての政権党と指導者の信用を失墜させたり弱体化させたりした。[ 260 ] 2025年、トランプは世界的な貿易戦争を引き起こし、新自由主義と自由貿易を否定し、[ 261 ] [ 262 ]重商主義と保護主義を支持した。これは共和党のイデオロギーにおける大きな転換であり、関税は1930年のスムート・ホーレー関税法以来最高水準に引き上げられた。[ 263 ] [ 264 ]
資本主義国であるにもかかわらず、教育の二極化により、2024年に米国では所得と有権者の支持の関係が逆転した。カマラ・ハリスは年収10万ドル以上と20万ドル以上の有権者の支持を得たが、選挙には敗れた。 [ 265 ]中道左派政党が大学の学位を持たない人々の支持を失うにつれて、カナダと英国でも同様の傾向が見られ、 [ 266 ] [ 267 ]低所得者層も多く含まれる。[ 235 ]右派ポピュリスト政党である改革党は、高齢で大学を卒業しておらず、男性である傾向のある低所得者層の有権者を引き付けている。[ 268 ]フランスの経済学者トマ・ピケティは、2018年にはすでに、中道左派政党が低所得者層ではなく、女性、高学歴で高所得者、[ 269 ]そして少数民族を代表するようになると予測していた。[ 270 ]カマラ・ハリスの最も強力な支持者は、大学院の学位を持つ女性と黒人女性であり、彼女自身も法務博士号を持つ黒人女性である。[ 265 ]
共和党の支持層は、ヒスパニック系男性を含む大卒資格を持たない男性が中心の政党へと変化した。 [ 231 ] [ 271 ]民主党の支持層は、大卒資格を持つ女性と黒人女性が中心の政党へと変化した。2024年には、ヒスパニック系男性は白人女性よりも右派に投票した。[ 271 ]大卒資格を持たない女性と大卒資格を持つ男性は、ほぼ均等に分かれた。[ 231 ]
旧共産主義国、特に旧東側諸国は、国家保守主義と極右政治へと転換した。これには、ウラジーミル・プーチンの独裁政権下のロシア自身も含まれる。プーチンは、領土回復主義とプーチン主義の動機で2022年のロシアによるウクライナ侵攻を開始した。[ 272 ] [ 273 ]ロシア・ウクライナ戦争（2022年～現在）は、第二次世界大戦の東部戦線とロシア内戦以来、東ヨーロッパで最も死者数の多い戦争となっている。[ 274 ]しかし、この傾向はより広範であり、ハンガリーのヴィクトル・オルバン、ポーランドの法と正義党、そしてかつて東ドイツを構成していた新ドイツ諸邦で最も強い極右政党「ドイツのための選択肢」も含まれる。[ 275 ]
大不況後の数年間で衰退した中道左派政治と1990年代の政治モデル（進歩主義、自由主義、社会民主主義政策など）は、2020年代初頭にヨーロッパと英語圏で復活を遂げ、ニュー・ステイツマン誌は、選挙サイクルの自然な変化や、大学卒業生や40歳未満の有権者の間で保守派の人気が低いことなど、さまざまな原因を挙げている。[ 277 ]
2020年の米国大統領選挙では、カマラ・ハリスが副大統領に選出され、女性として、また多文化（アフリカ系アメリカ人とアジア系アメリカ人）出身者として初めて副大統領に就任したことは、アメリカの政治、文化、社会における多様性と代表性の向上というより広範な傾向を反映した歴史的な節目として広く認識された。 [ 278 ]彼女は2024年の米国大統領選挙でドナルド・トランプに敗北を認めた。[ 279 ]
2024年の米国大統領選挙でドナルド・トランプが当選した後、2020年代半ばには右翼ポピュリズムと1980年代の政治モデル（保守主義、社会保守主義、反共産主義政策といったトランプ主義のイデオロギーなど）が復活した。[ 280 ] [ 281 ]
政治的分極化は米国だけでなく他の西側諸国でも高まっている。[ 282 ]一方、反対政党に対して非常に否定的な意見を持つ人は2022年時点で過去最高となっている。[ 283 ]ニューヨーク・タイムズはこのことを、国家保守主義、社会保守主義、右翼ポピュリズムと、社会民主主義、自由主義、親欧州主義（ヨーロッパ）またはアフリカ系アメリカ人などの少数民族（米国）との間の「新たな世界的分断」の一部であると特徴づけた。 [ 275 ] 2020年代には、カナダ人民党、ブラジル自由党、国民連合（フランス） 、ドイツのための選択肢、改革党（英国）、改革党（韓国）、三政党（日本）、そして場合によっては共和党のトランプ派など、西側陣営とC12加盟国で極右、超国家主義、自由主義、または右翼ポピュリスト政党が台頭した。[ 284 ] 2024年に選挙を行った10の主要国すべてで現職政党が敗北し、これは1905年以来初めてのことだった。2024年の米国大統領選挙では、50州とコロンビア特別区すべてが共和党に傾いた。[ 285 ]
オマーンのカブース・ビン・サイド、ブルンジのピエール・ンクルンジザ、コートジボワールのアマドゥ・ゴン・クリバリ、クウェートのサバ・アル・アフマド・アル・ジャベル・アル・サバ、バーレーンのハリファ・ビン・サルマン・アル・ハリファ、タンザニアのジョン・マグフリ、チャドのイドリス・デビ、ハイチのホベネル・モイーズ、ハリファなどの現職指導者が亡くなった。アラブ首長国連邦のビン・ザイード・アル・ナヒヤーン、英国のエリザベス２世、クウェートのナワフ・アル・アハマド・アル・ジャベル・アル・サバ、ナミビアのハーゲ・ガインゴブ、イランのエブラヒム・ライシ、ベトナムのグエン・フー・チャン、モナコのディディエ・ギヨーム、フランシスコ法王、イランのアリ・ハメネイ。[ 286 ] [ 287 ] [ 288 ] [ 289 ] [ 290 ] [ 291 ] [ 292 ]
この10年間に起きた政権に対するクーデターには以下のようなものがある。
著名な暗殺事件、標的殺害事件、暗殺未遂事件には以下のようなものがある。
Note: This section reports rail disasters involving at least 15 fatalities.
Note: This table is a chronological list of earthquakes reported with 7.5Mw or greater or that have reported at least 100 fatalities.
Note: This section reports only floods with 200 or more deaths and avalanches and landslides involving 30 or more deaths.
Beginning in 2019 until 2022, a huge swarm of desert locusts threatened to engulf massive portions of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.[815][816][817][818][819][820]
The 2020s were marked by economic troubles, beginning from the COVID-19 recession was a major global economic crisis which has caused both a recession in some nations, and in others a depression. The economic crisis began due to the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first major sign of a recession was the collapse of markets during the 2020 stock market crash, which began in late February and lasted through March.[823][824][825] As of September 2020, every advanced economy is in a recession or depression, whilst all emerging economies are in recession.[826][827][828] Modeling by the World Bank suggests that in some regions a full recovery will not be achieved until 2025 or beyond.[829][830]
Due to the 2021–2023 inflation surge, many countries reported the highest inflation rates in decades. The inflation surge has been attributed to various causes, including pandemic-related economic dislocation; the fiscal and monetary stimulus provided in 2020 and 2021 by governments and central banks around the world in response to the pandemic were also instrumental.[831][832] The effect of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on global oil prices, natural gas, fertilizer, and food prices further exacerbated the situation.[832] Higher gasoline prices were a major contributor to inflation as oil producers saw record profits.[833] Debate arose over whether inflationary pressures were transitory or persistent, and to what extent price gouging was a factor.[834][835] The closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the 2026 Iran war caused the largest oil price increases since 2022.[836][837] Stock markets experienced declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling over 400 points on 2 March.[838] Broader economic forecasts warned of inflationary pressures and slowed global growth if the conflict prolonged.[839]
American technology billionaires are largely the wealthiest individuals in the world, including Elon Musk (the wealthiest person as of 2026), Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Jensen Huang. Jensen Huang is the CEO of Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, and the wealthiest person of Asian descent. Alice Walton is the wealthiest woman in the world. In 2026, Elon Musk became the first person to reach a net worth of $1 trillion.[840]Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay plan for Musk in November 2025, provided Tesla achieves certain financial milestones.[841]
Several countries from the Balkans have now reached the status of developed countries with high-income economies, such as Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. All three of them have joined the open-borders Schengen Area this decade, with Bulgaria and Croatia also joining the Eurozone, thus adopting the Euro as their sole legal currency. The economy of Greece has also been slowly recovering from the Greek government-debt crisis of the 2010s, with its economy being reclassified as a developed market in 2025. The recent economic advancements from this region now mean that every single country in the European Union is now considered developed.
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%).[842]Regional trade agreements were also found to be increasing.[843]
United States President Donald Trump announced 2 April 2025 to be "liberation day", beginning to enforce tariffs on numerous nations in the following week. This triggered an ongoing economic trade war as well as the 2025 stock market crash. It is currently the largest decline in the global stock market since the 2020 stock market crash, which was part of a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[844][845][846] From January to April 2025, the average applied US tariff rate rose from 2.5% to an estimated 27%—the highest level in over a century.[847] The Supreme Court of the United States heard the case Learning Resources v. Trump on 5 November 2025 to determine the legality of some of Trump's tariffs. On 20 February 2026, the Supreme Court struck down many of Trump's tariffs.[848][849]
Trump's tariffs represented a repudiation of neoliberalism and free trade, instead returning to mercantilism and protectionism.[850] Tariffs have a long history in the United States, dating back to the Import-Export Clause of the U.S. Constitution and even the Navigation Acts when the United States was a British colony.[851]
The Israeli–United States war against Iran in 2026 caused the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to maritime shipping, impacting about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas production.[852] It became the largest energy market disruption since the 1970s energy crisis,[853] and the largest disruption of the global oil market in history, surpassing the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[854]
Below are the most significant scientific developments of each year, based on the annual Breakthrough of the Year award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal Science.
The AI boom[865][866] is an ongoing period of rapid progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that started in the late 2010s before gaining international prominence throughout the 2020s with the public release of consumer-facing chatbots such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek.[867] Examples include large language models and generative AI applications developed by OpenAI as well as protein folding prediction led by Google DeepMind. This period is sometimes referred to as an AI spring, to contrast it with previous AI winters.[868][869]
The trend towards cost reduction in access to orbit is expected to continue. Vulcan is replacing its more expensive predecessors.[875] Since 2023, SpaceX is testing its fully reusable Starship with orbital missions.[876] In 2025, Blue Origin conducted the maiden flight of New Glenn with a reusable first stage and Ariane 6 replaced the, retired more expensive, Ariane 5.[877]
Mars stays a focus for missions to other planets, with three missions launched in 2020 (by China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) and at least one mission planned for 2024, 2026 and 2028.[878]
In 2028, as part of the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission, NASA plans to launch a Sample Retrieval Lander. In 2027, ESA plans to launch the Earth Return Orbiter, which will transport the retrieved samples from Mars to Earth by 2033. China is also planning to retrieve samples from Mars by 2031.[879]
NASA plans a return of humans to the Moon by 2028. The first uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System happened in 2022.[880]The first crewed launch, a lunar flyby, occurred in April 2026.[881] NASA is aiming toward a 2028 lunar landing.
India plans to launch its first crewed flight with a spacecraft called Gaganyaan on a home-grown GSLV Mark III rocket in 2025. The mission would make India the fourth nation to launch a crewed spaceflight after Russia, the US and China. India also plans to launch its second Mars probe, Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (Mangalyaan 2).[882]
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021. NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will have a field of view 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, no earlier than September 2026.[883][884][885][886]
NASA's NEO Surveyor, scheduled to launch no later than June 2028,[887] is expected to be capable of detecting at least 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters (460 ft), a goal mandated by the US Congress in 2005.[888]
The number of small satellites launched annually was expected to grow to around one thousand (2018 estimate), mainly communication satellites in large constellations[889] but launches quickly exceeded this estimate, mainly due to the rapid deployment of the Starlink and OneWeb constellations. From 2020 to 2022, around 3500 Starlink satellites[890] and 500 satellites by OneWeb[891] were launched.
The number of total satellites reached 10,000 for the first time in 2024.[892]
Medical experts advised, and local authorities often mandated stay-at-home orders to prevent gatherings of any size. Such gatherings would be replaced by teleconferencing, or in some cases with unconventional attempts to maintain social distancing with activities such as a balconysing-along for a concert, or a "birthday parade" for a birthday party. Replacements for gatherings were seen as significant to mental health during the crisis. Social isolation among alcohol users also adopted a trend towards Kalsarikänni or "pantsdrunking", a Finnish antisocial drinking culture.
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 jobs deemed essential during the crisis, such as supermarkets and elder care. 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. Midlife crisis is a major concern in domestic violence, social implications and suicides for middle-aged adults amid the pandemic. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a domestic violence and midlife crisis "ceasefire".
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.[905]
Many states swore in their first female leaders during the 2020s, including Presidents Katerina Sakellaropoulou (Greece), Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania), Sandra Mason (Barbados), Xiomara Castro (Honduras), Katalin Novák (Hungary), Dina Boluarte (Peru), Nataša Pirc Musar (Slovenia), Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova (North Macedonia) and Prime Ministers Rose Christiane Raponda (Gabon), Victoire Tomegah Dogbé (Togo), Kaja Kallas (Estonia), Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa (Samoa), Robinah Nabbanja (Uganda), Najla Bouden (Tunisia), Magdalena Andersson (Sweden), Giorgia Meloni (Italy), Judith Suminwa (DRC), Chairwoman Borjana Krišto (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Sanae Takaichi (Japan).[906]
Despite this, nearly all of the world's wealthiest individuals (mostly American technology billionaires) are male, as are the heads of state of most countries.[840]
The effects of climate change manifested in 2020 with a record 30 named Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes; the highest heat in 80-years recorded at 54.4 Celsius; massive wildfires in Australia, the Western United States, and the Arctic; and the second-lowest annual Arctic sea ice coverage.[909] The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative—involving 30 fund management companies managing $9 trillion—pledged investment portfolios to be carbon-neutral by 2050.[910]
In July 2024, in each month in a 12-month period (through June 2024), Earth's average temperature exceeded 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial baseline,[911] and the highest daily global average temperature is recorded at 17.09 °C (62.76 °F), surpassing the previous record of 17.08 °C (62.74 °F) on 6 July 2023.[912]
Development in global goals and issues—including goals or progress related to the largest causes of human death—during the decade, according to reports that systematically track, quantify or review associated progress.
As of 2022:
The fashion of the early 2020s was characterized by a variety of styles and influences from different eras. During this period, the trend towards individuality and self-expression in clothing continued. Young millennials and Generation Z has witnessed and enjoyed a notable resurgence of fashion styles from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the fashion industry. A prominent example of this is the revival of trends such as crop tops, baggy jeans, and elements from the Y2K aesthetic.[963][964]
In the 2020s, many companies, including current fast fashion giants such as Shein and Temu, began using social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram as a marketing tool.[965] Marketing strategies involving third parties, particularly influencers and celebrities, have become prominent tactics. E-commerce platforms that promote small businesses, such as Depop and Etsy, grew by offering vintage, homemade, or resold clothing from individual sellers.[966]Thrifting also exploded in popularity because of the potential to find valuable pieces of clothing at cheaper prices.[967]
The COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted film releases especially early in the decade, resulting in a drastic drop in box office revenue as well as many films postponing their release or shifting it to a streaming services. Avatar: The Way of Water is the highest-grossing film of the decade so far, and currently the third-highest-grossing film of all time. Other financially successful films at the box office include Top Gun: Maverick, Dune and its sequel Dune: Part Two, and Wicked. Superhero films mostly continued to do well financially, such as most successes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, continuing with its "Multiverse Saga" (accompanied with a series of shows and specials created exclusively on Disney+ which interconnect with the films). Several successful horror films included M3GAN, the X trilogy, Barbarian, and Sinners.[969]
In 2023, the films Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released on the same day, which led to the creation of the double feature phenomenon known as "Barbenheimer". Both films became critically and commercially successful with both receiving a nomination for Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards, and the latter winning both the award and nabbing Christopher Nolan's first Best Director award.
2025 became the year of highest-grossing animated films in Asia, such as Ne Zha 2 and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, to gross $3 billion in a successful box office of the year, Japanese anime films became dominant for 15 years since Arrietty (2010).[970][971]
The 2020s started off with streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Showtime, Crunchyroll, Hayu, Peacock, DAZN, and Disney+. Ad-supported streaming televisions such as Pluto TV and YouTube TV also became more popular.
During a live broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards in 2022, audiences across the auditorium and at home watched in shock as actor and musician Will Smith, who was nominated for, and won, Best Actor that evening for his performance in the biographical film King Richard, slapped comedian and actor Chris Rock, who was presenting Best Documentary Feature, across the face after making a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Following that ceremony's incident, after receiving his Oscar, Smith was suspended from the academy for ten years.
Billions of people watched the death and state funeral of Elizabeth II in 2022 and the 2024 Summer Olympics coverage in Paris speculated to be the most watched special television events in history.[972][973]
Japanese anime continued to rise in global popularity and appeal during the decade,[974][975] with works such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Beastars, Chainsaw Man, Spy × Family, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku, Oshi no Ko, Baki, Delicious in Dungeon, Record of Ragnarok, Frieren, Dandadan, Solo Leveling, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Tokyo Revengers, Vinland Saga, Witch Watch, Kaiju No. 8, Gachiakuta, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Sakamoto Days, Attack on Titan, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and One Piece reaching large international audiences.
New and critically acclaimed teen and adult animated shows like Harley Quinn, Hazbin Hotel, Primal, Love, Death & Robots, Blood of Zeus, Invincible, Arcane, Devil May Cry, and Smiling Friends, as well as the web series The Amazing Digital Circus, were launched in the 2020s, along with other animated shows such as Bluey, Batwheels, Hilda, The Owl House, Kiff, X-Men '97, Amphibia, and Star Wars: Visions.[976]
A variety of shows on streaming services such as Squid Game, Severance, Never Have I Ever, Tulsa King, Ted Lasso, Beef, The Boys, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Only Murders in the Building, Wednesday, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Euphoria, Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Heartstopper, Love, Victor, The Pitt, Shōgun, The Witcher, The White Lotus, Alice in Borderland, Hacks, The Diplomat, Yellowstone, The Last of Us, Succession, Heated Rivalry and Tiger King gained popularity. Many different shows on many different competing streaming services resulted in what has been called the "streaming wars" of the early 2020s. Miniseries also gained popularity such as The Queen's Gambit, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Daisy Jones & the Six, Beef, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Mrs. America, Mare of Easttown, and Pam & Tommy.[977]
Also released in the 2020s, the reality game show The Traitors achieved popularity and became a global success.[978][979]
Several TV shows based on films include American Gigolo, The Penguin, live-action Star Wars series (such as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Andor), Peacemaker, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Ted.
By 2020, TikTok, an online video service, had become extremely popular as a music platform on social media.[980] Users on streaming platforms such as Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, and Apple Music have 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.[981][982]
The 2020s saw the continued impact of streaming on the record industry, a trend that began in the 2010s. Platforms like Spotify played a central role in shaping music trends, driving the success of both mainstream and emerging genres. Social media, particularly TikTok, further amplified music with viral trends, while popular genres like pop, hip-hop, R&B, rock music including pop punk and shoegaze, country, K-pop and indie music dominated the Billboard Hot 100 charts. At the same time, underground genres like hyperpop, plugg, jersey club, phonk and rage thrived in niche communities.[983][984][985][986][987]
Pop, hip-hop, rock music including pop punk and shoegaze, Eurodance, indies, K-pop, R&B,[988]trance, and synth-pop[989] all dominated the early part of the decade, with the most popular artists being Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, Charli XCX, the Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Playboi Carti, Morgan Wallen, Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Jelly Roll, and more.[990] The early 20s also saw the one-off return of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones with a new song and album, respectively, which topped out the charts immediately upon release.[991] 2022 saw a revival in Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill", due to its appearance in the Netflix series Stranger Things.[992] Starting around 2023, country music has seen a rise in popularity with artists such as Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen topping the charts along with artists such as Beyoncé and Post Malone releasing country albums.
The ninth generation of consoles began in 2020. The industry remains dominated by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft with the release of the Xbox Series X/S and the PlayStation 5, while the Nintendo Switch continues to be popular from the previous decade. Technological advancements in consoles included support for real-time ray tracing graphics and output for 4K or even 8K resolution. Physical media continued to be replaced by online distribution of games, with the Xbox Series S and the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition lacking an optical drive.[13] The Steam Deck was released in 2022 as Valve's attempt to bring PC-level gaming to a Nintendo Switch-style handheld format.[993][994]
During the decade PC gaming would continue growing rapidly with the console gaming market remaining more stagnant.[995] The growing majority of video game developers would also primarily focus on developing their projects for PC.[996]Mobile gaming remained the largest sector of the video game industry during the decade, accounting for roughly half of the industry's revenue.[997]
Critically successful games such as Elden Ring, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War Ragnarök, Baldur's Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong, Astro Bot, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Cyberpunk 2077, and The Last of Us Part II were released and won multiple best game of the year awards, signaling a shift towards narrative-driven and single-played focused gaming compared with the end of the 2010s where popularity of multiplayer gaming dominated.[998] Nonetheless, widely successful multiplayer games includes Among Us, EA Sports FC, Call of Duty: Warzone, Fall Guys, Fate/Grand Order, Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, It Takes Two, Counter-Strike 2, Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Minecraft, Terraria, Roblox, Tetris Effect, Dead by Daylight, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, and Valorant surged in popularity in the decade and became a global sensation since the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]
There is a revival in expressionist architecture. The SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome were completed in September 2020 and August 2024, there are a component of Hollywood Park, a master-planned neighborhood in development in Inglewood, California. The venue serves as a home to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Rams, and the Chargers. Both they hosted the Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, the 2026 NBA All-Star Game in February 2026, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June 2026.[999][1000] The stadium and arena is also set to host the opening and closing ceremonies, aquatic events (swimming and diving), and basketball events for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be hosted in Los Angeles, California, United States.[1001]
The developments in Port Melbourne, Victoria of the West Gate Tunnel continued from 2020, which is designed to provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, it is expected to be completed in 2025.[1002][1003]
The Unity Tower in Kraków 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.[1004]
Several developments in Saudi Arabia to achieve the Saudi Vision 2030, such as the 2034 FIFA World Cup stadiums, Qiddiya City, Neom's The Line, Jeddah Tower, Roshn, and Riyadh's Expo 2030 site.[1005][1006][1007] The Jeddah Tower would become the world's tallest building or structure, after a long-delayed construction progress and resumed in 2025, standing at least 180 metres (590 ft) taller than the Burj Khalifa.[1008][1009]
The Grand Ring was built and designed by the Japanese firms Tohata Architects and Azusa Sekkei, the building became the symbol of the famous Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan.[1010][1011] It was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's largest architectural structure (certified area: 61,035.55 m2).[1012][1013][1010][1014][1015]
Between October 2025 and February 2026, the Sagrada Família became the world's tallest church when a part of its central tower was lifted into place and reached 162.91 m, surpassing Ulm Minster (161.53 m),[1016][1017] and the cathedral reached its final height of 172.5 metres (566 ft).[1018] The cathedral also became the longest period of construction history since 1882, and reached its maximum height though the magnum opus of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí's legacy remains years away from completion.[1019]
Since the COVID-19 pandemic impacted major sporting events led to the postponement and cancellations in the early-2020s, technological advances growing popularity throughout the decade like digital live broadcasts from the successful 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Football, horse racing, basketball, athletics, tennis, volleyball, baseball, and cricket became more popular for digital audiences during the decade.[1020]
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation or rescheduling of numerous sporting events globally. The 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo were postponed to July–August 2021. This was the first Olympic Games to be postponed rather than cancelled in history since World War II.[1021]
Zimbabwean sports administrator and politician Kirsty Coventry became the first woman, the first multicultural, and the first African President of the International Olympic Committee, following the resignation of Thomas Bach.[1022][1023] She is also the second youngest person and second Olympic medallist to be elected to the position since Pierre de Coubertin and Thomas Bach, her achievements are focused on feminism and gender equality in sports.
The International Olympic Committee has begun a new policy of authorizing up to 5 additional sports per edition of the Olympic Games, and this rule applies to both the Summer and Winter Games. This rule came into effect starting with the 2020 Summer Olympics.[1024]
Football's popularity has continued global dominance, while also undergoing significant shifts due to various factors, Argentina and Spain won the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup by defeating France and England,[1025][1026] with Lionel Messi and Aitana Bonmatí winning the Golden Balls,[1027][1028] while Hinata Miyazawa and Kylian Mbappé winning the Golden Boots.[1029][1030]
The 2026 FIFA World Cup was the first since 2002 to be hosted by multiple nations. Mexico became the first country to host the World Cup three times, having hosted the 1970 and 1986 tournaments.[1031] The United States previously hosted the World Cup in 1994, while it was Canada's first time hosting the tournament. Spain won the finals over Argentina and returned to football domination of victories at the UEFA Euro 2024 and the Paris 2024 Olympic football matches, it was their second FIFA World Cup title and first World Cup victory since 2010.[1032][1033] Spain became the first country to simultaneously hold the men's and women's World Cup, having won the latter in 2023.[1034]
Baseball had a notable resurgence, particularly within its traditional strongholds, Japan and the United States. Japan defeated the United States in the 2023 World Baseball Classic with a score of 3–2, winning their 3rd title in the event.[1035][1036] Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani was named the MVP of the tournament. He became the first player in MLB history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season and was unanimously named the 2024 National League MVP. Rivaling Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Ohtani led the Los AngelesDodgers to victory in the 2024 World Series, and again in 2025 over Toronto Blue Jays.[1037][1038][1039]
Venezuela had landslide victories over Japan and Italy in the quarterfinal and semifinal and won this year's World Baseball Classic tournament, beating the United States 3–2 in the 2026 World Baseball Classic championship, with Eugenio Suarez hitting a go-ahead double in the top of the 9th to clinch their first title. It was the first major international sporting competition won by Venezuela since the 1945 Amateur World Series, and the second time in Latin America since 2013.[1040]Maikel García of Venezuela was named the MVP of the tournament.[1041]
The tournament has hit new high levels in attendance and US Television viewership: the 2023 attendance record was broken before the pool play was ended, and US viewership of the final hit 10 million viewers for the first time ever.[1042][1043]
Shohei Otani and Mookie Betts met with US presidentDonald Trump at the White House in April 2025.[1044]
Shortly into the decade, on January 26, 2020, 5-time NBA champion, 2008 NBA MVP, two-time Olympic gold medallist and Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, died in a California helicopter crash along with seven other people.[1045][1046][1047] A number of tributes and memorials subsequently followed, and the All-Star Game MVP Award was renamed in Bryant's honour.[1048]
Basketball has been characterized by significant global growth and dominance in strong youth engagement, the 2023 FIBA World Cup followed by Germany won by defeating Serbia.[1049]
On February 7, 2023, LeBron James, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, scored his 38,388th career point in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the all-time leading scorer in NBA history.
On the night of February 1–2, 2025, Luka Dončić was traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a three-team deal facilitated by the Utah Jazz.[1050]
Food delivery apps such as Deliveroo, DoorDash, Instacart, Menulog, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Bolt Food, Wolt, and Just Eat Takeaway became more popular since to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1051][1052] Indoor dining was also closed in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and upon re-opening the usage of QR codes and other technologies in the restaurant industry increased compared to the 2010s in order to comply with pandemic restrictions.[1053][1054]
Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, online grocery shopping has substantially grown and in the first few months of the pandemic, online grocery shopping increased by 300%.[1055] Before the pandemic occurred, food shopping activity accounted for 9% of the market, now 63% of consumers worldwide have purchased more groceries online after the outbreak than they did before they were socially isolated.[1056]
Books published throughout the decade 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, Wikipedia @ 20 by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. and Jackie Koerner, and The Candy House.[1057][1058]
The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) condemned the strike, which it said had been carried out by Pakistani forces on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital.
A Black man beaten by a mob, an Asian man stabbed at a train station and mosques under siege – just some of the horrifying racist incidents carried out by far-right thugs in England this week. The country has been engulfed by racist riots over the past few days, in the wake of the killings of three young girls in Southport on Monday.
Before Labour entered power, shadow cabinet ministers spoke of the prospect of a "progressive moment". The hope was that Keir Starmer and other centre-left leaders would unite in a quasi-reenactment of the late 1990s. That dream died on 6 November 2024 when Donald Trump comfortably defeated Kamala Harris. But it is not only Mr. Trump's victory that is evocative of a reactionary moment. Germany's Olaf Scholz – a close ally of Mr Starmer – lost a vote of confidence last year and [was] defeated by the Christian Democrats in next month's general election. The Social Democrats are not only polling behind their traditional rival but also the far-right AfD.
New NBC News polling data illustrates the cultural and political gulf separating white men without college degrees and white women with college degrees. ... On one end are white men without four-year college degrees. This is a generally blue-collar demographic that is now deeply aligned with Trump and opposed to progressive politics. On the other end are white women with at least four-year college degrees. This is a more affluent demographic that has been racing leftward, particularly on cultural issues, and is squarely opposed to Trump. ... Of course, there are plenty of white voters who do not fall into either of these categories. As groups, college-educated white men and non-college-educated white women lack similarly sharp political definition and cohesion.
News organizations covering political upheaval in Europe have turned to the 2024 Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) for a deeper understanding of nations' capacity to meet the needs of their people. PA Media cited the index's finding that "long-term scars" caused by austerity and Brexit have stifled economic growth and undermined social cohesion in Britain.
Just as in the United States, working-class and immigrant voters swung right. ... The two best predictors of the margin shift between the major parties are education and immigration. Holding all else constant, the Liberals gained ground relative to the Conservatives in ridings with more university graduates and native-born voters. Conversely, they fell back in places with more foreign-born residents and voters who lack degrees.
This is not to deny that voters care about material concerns. It's obvious that inflation was a central reason for Trump's 2024 victory. ... This is a fundamentally post material account of far-right politics. It argues that the right wins not by channeling people's displaced economic anger, but by articulating ideas that match their deeply held beliefs, values, and identities.
In fact, the Brexit referendum of 2016 accelerated a trend in which age and education, rather than class, are the best predictors of voting behavior. ... This is splitting left-leaning young graduates from right-leaning pensioners.
Four years after the pandemic, governing dysfunction is the story of almost every democracy on the planet, with few examples defying the trend. On nearly every continent, opposition movements have charged ahead in polls, unseated incumbents or lodged in-some-cases historic election gains against a global backdrop of inflation and agitation.
The most sweeping account of how neoliberalism came to dominate American politics for nearly a half century before crashing against the forces of Trumpism on the right and a new progressivism on the left.
Donald Trump's global tariffs took effect at 12.01am in Washington on Thursday, pushing American import duties to their highest level in a century as the US president launched a new era of trade rivalry.
By 2024, the realignment of income and political party was complete. Americans with more money voted for Kamala Harris while Donald Trump won among the working class.
The theory that populist economic policies can win back the working class for Democrats has been tried, and it has failed.
This is the first such study conducted since [the] hard-right Reform UK party surged into first place in polls earlier this year. ... The party is particularly popular with older voters and those who did not attend university. Less than one in 20 supporters are non-white ... and 57% are men.
Here are the 25 counties that have moved toward the Republican Party by the largest margins during the Trump era. ... Starr and Elliott both embody one of the two demographic features common to all 25 of those GOP-trending counties. [Ten] counties on the list also have majority-Hispanic populations, with concentrations from 51% to 95%. That basic profile also fits [fifteen] other counties on the list — heavily white and blue-collar. ... At the other end of the spectrum, there are the 25 areas that have moved the most decisively toward Democrats during the Trump era. ... The remaining 16 counties on the list stand out for two reasons. One is their wealth. Eleven of them feature six-figure median household incomes. ... Those 16 places also have large populations of white residents with four-year college degrees.
High-education & high-income voters might also unite in the future, giving rise to a complete realignment of the party system: globalists (high-education, high-income) vs nativists (low-education, low-income). Like in post-communist Europe?
On February 24, 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, expanding dramatically the war against Ukraine he began in 2014 and starting the largest war in Europe since World War II.
The country's government is centrist, with deep ties to Brussels. Its new president is a Trump-backed nationalist. That reflects a broader struggle. ... Battles have raged over divisive issues like migration, abortion, and LGBT rights. ... No longer united by faith in a single model, Poland and other countries on the European Union's eastern flank now find themselves caught between the populist nationalism of Mr. Trump and defenders of the old post-Cold War liberal order.
But its rise illustrates something vitally important: That Germany, of all countries, could fail to prevent a surge in reactionary and antidemocratic politics suggests there's something eternal and enduring about the reactionary spirit.
That different politicians, different parties, different policies and different rhetoric deployed in different countries have all met similar fortunes suggests that a large part of Tuesday's American result was locked in regardless of the messenger or the message. The wide variety of places and people who swung towards Trump also suggests an outcome that was more inevitable than contingent.
It had already been clear for months that Venezuela's presidential election on Sunday, would not be free or fair, as the government jailed opposition leaders or disqualified them from running for office, and prevented millions of Venezuelans abroad from voting.
Many observers say her proposals are more in line with the center-left, reformist agenda embraced by Mr. Boric. She has promised to make pensions more generous, lower electricity bills and build tens of thousands of new homes.
Veteran far-right politician José Antonio Kast is the favourite to win Chile's presidency after 70 per cent of voters backed right-leaning candidates in a first-round election
News of the request comes as US President Donald Trump barrels into Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, where he is likely to use the World Economic Forum to escalate his push for acquiring Greenland despite European protests in the biggest fraying of transatlantic ties in decades.
... was also the deadliest nightclub fire in Europe since 2015, when 64 people were killed in a Bucharest, Romania venue where pyrotechnics also caused a fire
Stakes in private companies. Handshake deals with chiefs executives. The president's economic policy has drifted far from the principles that long defined the Republican Party. Is it capitalism at all?
IEA. CC BY 4.0.● Source for data through 2016: "Renewable Energy Market Update / Outlook for 2021 and 2022"(PDF). IEA.org. International Energy Agency. May 2021. p. 8. Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 March 2023.
IEA. Licence: CC BY 4.0
In the context of the carbon budget consistent with 50 per cent likelihood of limiting warming to 1.5 °C (500 Gt CO2), cumulative CO2 emissions in 2020–2030 based on the latest NDCs would likely use up 86 per cent of the remaining carbon budget, leaving a post-2030 carbon budget of around 70 Gt CO2, which is equivalent to approximately two years of projected total global CO2 emissions by 2030.
Media related to 2020s at Wikimedia Commons
