The 1980s was the decade that started on January 1, 1980 and ended on December 31, 1989.

This decade (group of ten years) is sometimes called the "Greed decade" in English speaking countries. Unlike the 1960s and 1970s, this is when the word yuppie was used to describe "young urban professionals" – young adults who lived in cities and started to get good jobs. This was also the rise of a more conservative period in these countries – Ronald Reagan was president for most of this time in the United States, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister of Canada.

This decade also saw the Soviet Union fight a war that seemed endless in Afghanistan, civil war in Ethiopia, and the fall of the Berlin Wall which started the end of the Cold War and of Communism in Eastern Europe.

The "eighties" are also well known for their extreme fashions, such as "big hair", New Wave, punk rock, funk, or preppies.  Rap music first started to get big in the 80s, and often went with breakdancing in what is now called the "old school" days. Many developments were also made in computer technology during these years, and video games became popular.

In sports, Italy and Argentina won the FIFA World Cup. The Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics won the World Series. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders, Chicago Bears and New York Giants won the Super Bowl. Finally, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the NBA, with only the Houston Rockets winning a title.

Important events 
 1980 - 1988 – Iran-Iraq War
 Solidarity movement in Poland.
 Glasnost and Perestroika reforms in the Soviet Union.
 1981 – AIDS is discovered for the first time.
 1981 – Assassination attempts are made on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
 1982 – Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
 1979 - 1989 – Soviet-Afghan War
 1984 - Sikh Genocide
 1986 – Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated
 1986 – The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes.
 1986 – End of Marcos regime in the Philippines
 1986 – The Chernobyl accident happens in Ukraine because of a test that went wrong. It is the second-largest known nuclear accident, after the Mayak accident in 1957. It is also one of the biggest disasters for the environment. Many people died.
 1987 – President Ronald Reagan travels to Berlin to deliver his "Tear down this wall!" speech.
 1989 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies.
 1989 – Tiananmen Square massacre
 1989 – The Berlin Wall is torn down.

Important people 
 Pope John Paul II, Pope in the 1980s
 Elizabeth II, British queen since 1952
 Hirohito, Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989
 Akihito, Emperor of Japan since 1989
 Kim Il-Sung, dictator of North Korea
 Deng Xiaoping, leader in China from 1978 to 1990
 Jimmy Carter, President of the United States from 1977 to 1981
 Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 to 1989
George H.W. Bush, President of the United States from 1989 to 1993, Vice-President of the United States from 1981 to 1989
 Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990
 Helmut Schmidt, German chancellor until 1982
 Helmut Kohl, German chancellor from 1982 to 1998
 François Mitterrand, French President from 1981 to 1995
 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq
 Muammar al-Gaddafi, Libyan dictator
 Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt
 Yitzhak Shamir, Prime minister of Israel
 Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
 Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian actor
 Sylvester Stallone, American actor
 Michael Jordan, American basketball-player
 Tom Cruise, American actor
 Eddie Murphy, American actor
 Duran Duran, English band
 Eurythmics, music band
 Prince, American singer
 Madonna, American singer
 Michael Jackson, American singer
 Bob Geldof, musician and fundraiser
 Iron Maiden, British heavy metal band
 N.W.A, hip hop group
 Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines
 Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines
 Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India until 1984
 Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989
 Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba
 Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator
 Jorge Rafael Videla, dictator of Argentina until 1981
 Leopoldo Galtieri, dictator of Argentina from 1981 to 1982
 Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator until 1989
 Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish communist leader
 Lech Walesa, leader of Polish Solidarity movement
 Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran
 Mikhail Gorbachev, the last chairman of the communist party of the Soviet Union.
 Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, from Arizona.
 Terry Fox, running across most of Canada in his Marathon of Hope.
 Hulk Hogan, American pro-wrestler and actor
Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple Inc.