2000

2000 (MM) was a century leap year starting on Saturday in the Gregorian calendar.  It was the last year of the 2nd millennium and the 20th century.  

2000 was designated the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematical Year.

Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium.  There is a tendency to group the years according to decimal values, as if the nonexistent year zero were counted.  According to the Gregorian calendar, these distinctions fall to the year 2001.  The 1st century back then was also retroactively said to start with year AD 1.  Since the Gregorian calendar doesn't have year zero, its first millennium spanned from years 1 to 1000 inclusively and its second millennium from years 1001 to 2000. For more information, see century and millennium. 

The year 2000 is sometimes abbreviated as Y2K.  The Y stands for year, and the K stands for kilo which means "thousand." 

The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns, which were fears that computers wouldn't shift from 1999 to 2000 correctly. However, by the end of 1999, many companies had already converted to new, or upgraded, existing software. Some even obtained Y2K certification. As a result of massive effort, relatively few problems occurred.

 Events 

 January 

January 1 - To most people, it was the first day of the 21st century and 3rd millennium. However, there are some people who argue that both distinctions happened a year later, on January 1, 2001.
January 3–10 – Israel and Syria hold inconclusive peace talks.
January 4 – Alan Greenspan is nominated for a fourth term as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman.
January 5–8 – The 2000 al-Qaeda Summit of several high-level al-Qaeda members (including 2 9/11 American Airlines hijackers) is held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
January 6 – The last natural pyrenean ibex is found dead apparently killed by a falling tree.
January 10 – America Online announces an agreement to purchase Time Warner for $162 billion (the largest-ever corporate merger).
January 11 – The armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria
January 11 – The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.BBC News | SCOTLAND | Solway Harvester: A tale of tragedy. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
January 12 – 9/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah read their wills in the Martyrdom Video.
January 14 – A United Nations tribunal sentences 5 Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.CNN.com – World – War crimes tribunal hands Croat general lengthy sentence – March 3, 2000 . Retrieved 19 November 2007.
January 14 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 11,722.98 (at the peak of the Dot-com bubble).
January 16 – In Sacramento, California, a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the State Capitol building, killing the driver.
January 18 – The Tagish Lake meteorite hits the Earth.
January 24 – God's Army, a Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, takes 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.
January 26 – The rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine plays in front of Wall Street, prompting an early closing of trading due to the crowds.
January 30 – Super Bowl XXXIV: The St. Louis Rams win the NFL Championship for the first time since 1951, defeating the Tennessee Titans 23–16.
January 30 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
January 31 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
January 31 – Dr. Harold Shipman is found guilty of murdering 15 patients between 1995 and 1998. He is sentenced to life imprisonment.

 February 

 February 4 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion, in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
 February 6 – Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland.
 February 7 – Stipe Mesic is elected president of Croatia.
 February 9 – Torrential rains in Africa lead to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasts until March and kills 800 people.
 February 11 – A blast from an improvised explosive device in front of a Barclay's Bank, across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, wounds dozens but kills none.
 February 13 – The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles Schulz.
 February 21 – UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.

 March 

 March 1 – The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
 March 2 – Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
 March 7 – George W. Bush and Al Gore emerge victorious in the Republican and Democratic caucuses and primaries of the United States presidential election.
 March 8
 A Feminist group called World March of Women started marching from Quebec, Canada with the theme of eliminating world poverty and the stopping of violence towards women.
 Tokyo train disaster: A sideswipe collision of 2 Tokyo Metro trains kills 5 people.
 March 9 – The FBI arrests art forgery suspect Ely Sakhai in New York City.
 March 9 – Nupedia, predecessor to Wikipedia, is created.
 March 10 – The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5,048.Fifth Anniversary: Nasdaq's record all-time closing high 5,048.62. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
 March 12 – Pope John Paul II apologises for the wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages.
 March 18 – Republic of China presidential election, 2000: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan); the Democratic Progressive Party ends Kuomintang rule for the first time.
 March 20 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), a former Black Panther, is captured after a gun battle in Atlanta, Georgia that leaves a sheriff's deputy dead.
 March 21 – Pope John Paul II begins the first official visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.
 March 21 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the government lacks authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Bill Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.
 March 26 – Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.
 March 27 – The Phillips explosion of 2000 kills 1 and injured 71 in Pasadena, Texas.
 March 31 – Myra Hindley loses a High Court appeal against her life imprisonment sentence.

 April 

 April 3 – United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
 April 9 - Eduard Shevardnadze won the 2000 Georgian presidental election, defeating Jumber Patiashvili.
 April 16 – Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor, dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest-reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.
 April 17 – Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.
 April 22 – Brazil officially celebrates its 500th anniversary, with protests, especially from native and black populations.
 April 22 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize 6-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history.
 April 25 – The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples.
 April 28 – Richard Baumhammers begins a 2-hour racially motivated shooting spree in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving 5 dead and 1 paralyzed.

 May 

 May 3 – A rare conjunction of 7 celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury–Saturn) occurs on the New Moon.
 May 3 – In San Antonio, Texas, computer pioneer Datapoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
 May 4 – After originating in The Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world.
 May 11 – The billionth living person in India is born.
 May 11 – Effective date of Canada's first modern-day treaty – The Nisga'a Final Agreement
 May 12 – The Tate Modern Gallery opens in London.
 May 13 – A fireworks factory disaster in Enschede Netherlands, kills 23.
 May 16 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elects Ahmet Necdet Sezer as the tenth President of Turkey.
 May 17 – A bomb in Glorietta Mall in Makati City, Philippines injures 13.
 May 20 – Chinese (ROC) president Chen Shui-bian makes the Four Noes and One Without pledge to Taiwan.
 May 25 – Israel withdraws IDF forces from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
 May 28 - American actor Cameron Boyce is born

 June 

 June 5 – 405 The Movie, the first short movie widely distributed on the Internet, is released.
 June 13 – South Korean President Kim Dae Jung visits North Korea to participate in the first North–South presidential summit.
 June 17 – A centennial earthquake (6.5 on Richter scale) hits Iceland on its national day.
 June 21 – Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality, is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
 June 26 – A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished.
 June 28 – Elian Gonzalez returns to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, ending a protracted custody battle.
 June 30 – At the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 die and 26 are injured on a set while the rock group Pearl Jam performs.

 July 

 July 2 – France beats Italy 2–1 to win Euro 2000 with a golden goal.
 July 2 – Vicente Fox is elected President of Mexico, as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party), ending 71 years of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule.
 July 10 – In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.
 July 10 – Bashar al-Assad is confirmed as Syria's leader in a national referendum.
 July 11–25 – Israel's prime minister Ehud Barak and PLO head Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David, but fail to reach an agreement.
 July 14 – A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth.
 July 18 – Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party.
 July 18 – Sussex police launch a murder investigation after the body of a girl found near Pulborough is confirmed to be that of Sarah Payne, who was reported missing on July 1.
 July 21–23 – 26th G8 summit; issues include AIDS, the 'digital divide', and halving world poverty by 2015.
 July 22 – News of the World urges its readers to sign a petition for Sarah's Law, new legislation in response to the murder of Sarah Payne, which would give parents the right to know whether a convicted paedophile was living in their area.
 July 25 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde aircraft, crashes into a hotel in Gonesse just after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and 4 in the hotel.
 July 30 – Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez is reelected with 59% of the vote.
 July 31 – August 3 – The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania nominates George W. Bush for U.S. president and Dick Cheney for vice president.

 August 

 August 3 – Rioting erupts on the Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, after more than 100 people besiege the home of a block of flats allegedly housing a convicted paedophile. This is the latest vigilante violence against suspected sex offenders since the beginning of the "naming and shaming" anti-paedophile campaign by the tabloid newspaper News of the World.
 August 8 – The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
 August 12 – The Russian submarine K-141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
 August 14 – Tsar Nicholas II and his family are canonized by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
 August 14–17 – The Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominates U.S. Vice President Al Gore for president and Senator Joe Lieberman for vice president.
 August 23 – John Anthony Kaiser a Roman Catholic priest was murdered in Morendat, Kenya.
 August 27 – The Ostankino Tower fire in Moscow kills 3.

 September 

 September 5 – Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
 September 5 – The Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry makes its maiden voyage.
 September 6 – In Paragould, Arkansas, Breanna Lynn Bartlett-Stewart is stillborn to Scott Stewart and Lisa Bartlett. Breanna Lynn's stillbirth is notable for being the first stillbirth to be resolved by means of the Kleihauer-Betke test.
 September 6 – The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense.
 September 6–8 – World leaders attend the Millennium Summit at UN Headquarters.
 September 7–14 – The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
 September 8 – Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
 September 14 – Microsoft releases Windows Me.
 September 15 – October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics are held in Sydney, Australia.
 September 16 – Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
 September 16 – Peru's president Alberto Fujimori calls for new elections in which he will not run.
 September 26 – The Greek ferry Express Samina sinks off the coast of the island of Paros; 80 out of more than 500 passengers die in one of Greece's worst sea disasters.
 September 26 – Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
 September 28 – Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount, protected by a several-hundred-strong Israeli police force. Palestinian riots erupt, leading to a full-fledged armed uprising (called the Al-Aqsa Intifada by sympathizers and the Oslo War by opponents).
 September 29 – The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

 October 

 October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics close in Sydney, Australia.
 October 5 – President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia.
 October 6 – The last Mini is produced in Longbridge.
 October 11 – 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky (considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill).
 October 12 – In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
 October 21 – Fifteen Arab leaders convene in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in 4 years; the Libyan delegation walks out, angry over signs the summit will stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.
 October 22 – The Mainichi Shinbun newspaper exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises on his findings.
 October 23 – Madeleine Albright holds talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.
 October 26 – Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a Persian princess in the province of Balochistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery on April 17, 2001.
 October 27 – Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
 October 30 – This is the final date during which there is no human presence in space; on October 31, Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since.
 October 31 – Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, resulting in 83 deaths.

 November 

 November – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals.
 November 2 – The first resident crew enters the International Space Station.
 November 3 – Widespread flooding occurs throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain.
 November 7 – United States presidential election, 2000: Republican candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush defeats Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in history, but the outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
 November 7 – In London, a criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond, but police surveillance catches them in the act.
 November 7 – Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office.
 November 11 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A cable car fire in an Alpine tunnel kills 155 skiers and snowboarders.
 November 15 – A new Indian state called Jharkhand is formed, carving out the South Chhota Nagpur area from Bihar in India.
 November 16 – Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit Vietnam.
 November 17 – A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
 November 17 – Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.
 November 25 – The Rugby League World Cup in England is ended, with Australia winning 40–12 over the New Zealand Kiwis.
 November 27 – Jean Chrétien is re-elected as Prime Minister of Canada, as the Liberal Party increases its majority in the House of Commons.
 November 28 – Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

 December 

 December 1 – Vicente Fox takes office as President of Mexico.
 December 13 – Bush v. Gore: The U.S. Supreme Court stops the Florida presidential recount, effectively giving the state, and the Presidency, to George W. Bush.
 December 13 – The Texas 7 escape from their prison unit in Kenedy, Texas, and start a crime spree.
 December 15 – The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down and the station is shut down completely.
 December 24 – The Texas 7 rob a sports store in Irving, Texas; police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot dead.
 December 24 – Christmas Eve 2000 Indonesia bombings: 18 people are killed in multiple Islamist bomb attacks on churches across Indonesia.
 December 25 – A shopping center fire at Luoyang, Henan, China kills 309.
 December 28 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
 December 30 – Rizal Day bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about 100.
 December 31 – The Millennium Dome closes its doors one year to the day of its opening.
 December 31 – Strictly speaking, it was the last day of the 2nd millennium and 20th century in the Gregorian calendar, but according to Popular Culture, the last day of these two distinctions was December 31, 1999.

Births

January–March

 January 8 – Noah Cyrus, American actress and singer
 January 14 – Jonathan David, Canadian soccer player
 January 19 – Choi Da-bin, South Korean figure skater
 January 20 – Tyler Herro, American basketball player
 January 27 – Aurélien Tchouaméni, French footballer
 January 28 – Dušan Vlahović, Serbian footballer
 January 31 
 Julián Álvarez, Argentine footballer
 Hugo Guillamón, Spanish footballer
 February 10 – Yara Shahidi, American actress
 February 20 – Kristóf Milák, Hungarian swimmer
 February 29 – Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer
 March 2 – Nahida Akter, Bangladeshi cricketer
 March 3 – Harnaaz Sandhu, Indian model, actress and pageant titleholder won Miss Universe 2021
March 9 – Khaby Lame, Senegalese-Italian social media personality
 March 25 – Jadon Sancho, English footballer * March 27 – Sophie Nélisse, Canadian actress
 March 28 – Aleyna Tilki, Turkish singer and songwriter

April–June

 April 6 – Shaheen Afridi, Pakistani cricketer
 April 9 – Jackie Evancho, American sopranoGreenburg, Zack O'Malley. "Jackie Evancho: 14 Questions With the 30 Under 30 Opera Prodigy" , Forbes magazine, November 17, 2017
 April 13 – Rasmus Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
 April 17 – Alexander Blonz, Norwegian handball player
 April 19 – Azzedine Ounahi, Moroccan footballer
 April 23 – Chloe Kim, American snowboarder
 April 25 – Dejan Kulusevski, Swedish footballer
 April 28 – Ellie Carpenter, Australian footballer
 May 11 – Yuki Tsunoda, Japanese racing driver 
 May 15 – Dayana Yastremska, Ukrainian tennis player
 May 27 – Jade Carey, American artistic gymnast
 May 28 – Taylor Ruck, Canadian swimmer
 May 30 – Jared S. Gilmore, American actor
 June 1 – Willow Shields, American actress and dancer
 June 3 – Alison dos Santos, Brazilian hurdler
 June 9 – Laurie Hernandez, American artistic gymnast
 June 13 – Penny Oleksiak, Canadian swimmer
 June 16 – Bianca Andreescu, Canadian tennis player

July–September

 July 1 – Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter
 July 4 – Rikako Ikee, Japanese swimmer
 July 6 – Zion Williamson, American basketball player
 July 12 – Vinícius Júnior, Brazilian footballer
 July 15 – Paulinho, Brazilian footballer
 July 18 – Angelina Melnikova, Russian artistic gymnast
 July 21 – Erling Haaland, Norwegian footballer
 July 26 – Thomasin McKenzie, New Zealand actress
 July 25 – Meg Donnelly, American actress
 August 2 – Mohammed Kudus, Ghanaian footballer
 August 8 – Lauren Hemp, English footballer
 August 8 – Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player
 August 15 – Andreea Dimofte, drummer (Moby Band)
 August 20 – Fátima Ptacek, American actress and model
 August 29 – Julia Grosso, Canadian soccer player
 September 7 – Ariarne Titmus, Australian swimmer
 September 14 – Ethan Ampadu, Welsh footballer
 September 19 – Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian runner
 September 26 – Salma bint Abdullah, Jordanian princess 
 September 28 – Frankie Jonas, American actor
 September 30 – Asunta Basterra Porto, Chinese murder victim (d. 2013).

October–December

 October 1 – Kalle Rovanperä, Finnish professional rally driver
 October 6
 Kyle Pitts, American football player
 Addison Rae, American social media personality, dancer, and singer
 Jazz Jennings, American internet personality
 October 17 – Kim Yu-jin, South Korean taekwondo practitioner
 October 20 – Dominik Szoboszlai, Hungarian footballer
 November 2 – Alphonso Davies, Canadian soccer player
 November 3 – Sergiño Dest, American soccer player
 November 4 – Sun Yingsha, Chinese table tennis player
 November 7 – Callum Hudson-Odoi, English footballerProfile  at the Football Association website
 November 10 – Mackenzie Foy, American model and actress
 November 11 – Arber Bellegu, German-Kosovar professional boxer
 November 20 – Connie Talbot, British singer
 November 22 – Auliʻi Cravalho, American actress, voice actress, and singer
 December 22 – Pauletta Foppa, French handball player
 December 28 – Larissa Manoela, Brazilian actress and singer

Deaths

January

 January 2
 Patrick O'Brian, British writer (b. 1914)
 Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, mother of King Juan Carlos I (b. 1910)
 January 3 – Bernhard Wicki, Austrian actor and director (b. 1919)
 January 4 – Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1909)
 January 6 – Alexey Vyzmanavin, Russian chess Grandmaster (b. 1960)
 January 13 – Thelma Rogers, English actress (b. 1924)
 January 15 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (b. 1952)
 January 19
 Bettino Craxi, Italian politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
 Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1914)
 January 21 – Saeb Salam, Lebanese politician, 20th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1905)
 January 23 – Marat Ospanov, Kazakh politician, 1st Chairman of Mazhilis (b. 1949)
 January 26
 Don Budge, American tennis player (b. 1915)
 A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American science fiction author (b. 1912)

February

 February 5 – Claude Autant-Lara, French film director (b. 1901)
 February 7 – Big Pun, American rapper (b. 1971)
 February 8 – Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Romanian lawyer and politician, 49th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1902)
 February 10 – Jim Varney, American actor and comedian (b. 1949)
 February 11
 Jacqueline Auriol, French aviator (b. 1917)
 Roger Vadim, French film director and producer (b. 1928)
 February 12
 Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (b. 1922)
 Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American rock singer and performer (b. 1929)
 February 19
 Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (b. 1928)
 Djidingar Dono Ngardoum, 2nd Prime Minister of Chad (b. 1928)
 February 23
 Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)
 Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)Sir Stanley Matthews 1915–2000: A Potteries hero; Stanley stayed loyal to his beloved  The Birmingham Post (February 24, 2000)

March

 March 2 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian Olympic curler (b. 1963)
 March 5 – Lolo Ferrari, French actress and dancer (b. 1963)
 March 6 – Abraham Waligo, Ugandan politician, 4th Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1928)
 March 7 – Charles Gray, English actor (b. 1928)
 March 11 – Alfred Schwarzmann, German gymnast (b. 1912)
 March 12 – Mack Robinson, American athlete (b. 1914)
 March 27 – Ian Dury, British rock musician (b. 1942)
 March 28 – Anthony Powell, British author (b. 1905)
 March 30 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian diplomat and 8th President of Austria (b. 1915)

April

 April 2 – Tommaso Buscetta, Italian mafioso informant (b. 1928)
 April 3 – Terence McKenna, American ethnobotanist, writer and public speaker (b. 1946)
 April 5 – Lee Petty, American race-car driver (b. 1914)
 April 6 – Habib Bourguiba, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
 April 8 – Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)
 April 10 – Rabah Bitat, Algerian politician and Interim President of Algeria (b. 1925)
 April 15 – Edward Gorey, American writer and illustrator (b. 1925)
 April 16 – Putra of Perlis, Malaysian King (b. 1920)
 April 28 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English novelist, poet, essayist and biographer (b. 1916)
 April 29 – Phạm Văn Đồng, 2nd Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) (b. 1906)
 April 30 – Poul Hartling, Danish diplomat and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1914)

May

110px|thumbnail|Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
 May 1 – Steve Reeves, American actor and bodybuilder (b. 1926)
 May 7 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., American actor (b. 1909)
 May 8 – Hubert Maga, 1st President of Dahomey (b. 1916)
 May 14 – Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 54th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
 May 19
 Petter Hugsted, Norwegian Olympic ski jumper (b. 1921)
 Yevgeny Khrunov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1933)
 May 21
 Dame Barbara Cartland, British novelist (b. 1901)
 Sir John Gielgud, British actor (b. 1904)
 Erich Mielke, German secret police official (b. 1907)
 May 24 – Oleg Yefremov, Soviet and Russian actor and theater producer (b. 1927)
 May 25 – Francis Lederer, French film and stage actor (b. 1899)
 May 27 – Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (b. 1921)
 May 31 
 Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat and politician, 1st President of Bulgaria (b. 1936)
 Tito Puente, American jazz musician (b. 1923)

June

 June 3 – Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
 June 10 – Hafez al-Assad, Syrian politician and general, 18th President of Syria (b. 1930)
 June 16 – Empress Kōjun of Japan (b. 1903)
 June 18 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (b. 1928)
 June 19 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician, 46th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1924)
 June 24 – David Tomlinson, English actor (b. 1917)
 June 27 – Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, 97th Prime Minister of France (b. 1907)
 June 29 – Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor (b. 1922)

July
 July 1 – Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)
 July 2 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcyclist (b. 1952)
 July 6 – Lazar Koliševski, 2nd President of Yugoslavia (b. 1914)
 July 8 – FM-2030, Transhumanist philosopher (b. 1930)
 July 11 – Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1921)
 July 14 – Sir Mark Oliphant, Australian nuclear physicist and humanitarian (b. 1901)
 July 15 – Kalle Svensson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
 July 28 – Abraham Pais, American physicist (b. 1918)
 July 29 – René Favaloro, Argentinian cardiologist (b. 1923)

August

 August 5 – Sir Alec Guinness, English actor and writer (b. 1914)
 August 9 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist (b. 1920)
 August 12 – Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)
 August 13 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani singer (b. 1965)
 August 21 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
 August 22 – Abulfaz Elchibey, Azerbaijani political figure, 2nd President of Azerbaijan (b. 1938)
 August 24 – Andy Hug, Swiss Seidokaikan karateka and kickboxer (b. 1964) International Kickboxing Federation (August 24, 2000)
 August 25
 Carl Barks, American cartoonist and screenwriter (b. 1901)
 Ivan Stambolić, Serbian politician (b. 1936)
 August 26
Lynden Pindling, Bahamian politician and Prime Minister (b. 1930)
Bunny Austin, English tennis player (b. 1906)

September

 September 6 – Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general (b. 1918)
 September 14 – Beah Richards, American actress (b. 1920)
 September 16 – Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (b. 1969)
 September 17 – Paula Yates, British television presenter (b. 1959)
 September 19 – Ann Doran, American actress (b. 1911)
 September 20 – Gherman Titov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)
 September 22 – Saburō Sakai, Japanese fighter ace (b. 1916)
 September 26 – Richard Mulligan, American actor (b. 1932)
 September 28
 Pote Sarasin, Thai diplomat and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
 Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)

October

 October 1
 Rosie Douglas, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1941)
 Reginald Kray, British gangster and club owner (b. 1933)
 October 4 – Michael Smith, English-born chemist and Nobel laureate (b. 1932)
 October 6 – Richard Farnsworth, American actor (b. 1920)
 October 7 – Walter Krupinski, German fighter ace and general (b. 1920)
 October 10 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 2-time Prime Minister of Ceylon and 2-time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1916)
 October 11 – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (b. 1937)
 October 13 – Jean Peters, American actress (b. 1926)
 October 15 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist (b. 1912)
 October 18
 Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)
 Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (b. 1925)
 October 22 – Jean-Luc Mandaba, 11th Prime Minister of Central African Republic (b. 1943)
 October 23 
 Yokozuna, American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
 Nils Tapp, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier (b. 1917)
 October 27 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
 October 30 – Steve Allen, American comedian and author (b. 1921)
 October 31 – Ring Lardner, Jr., American screenwriter (b. 1915)

November
110px|thumb|Queen Ingrid of Denmark

 November 5
 Jimmie Davis, American singer (b. 1899)
 Roger Peyrefitte, French writer and diplomat (b. 1907)
 November 6 – L. Sprague de Camp, American writer (b. 1907)
 November 7
 C Subramaniam, Indian politician (b. 1910)
 Ingrid of Sweden, Queen consort of Denmark (b. 1910)
 November 8 – Józef Pińkowski, Polish politician, 50th Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1929)
 November 10
 Adamantios Androutsopoulos, Greek lawyer and professor, 168th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
 Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French politician, 102nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1915)
 November 17 – Louis Néel, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
 November 19 – George Cosmas Adyebo, Ugandan economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1947)
 November 22
 Christian Marquand, French actor and director (b. 1927)
 Emil Zátopek, Czechoslovakian Olympic athlete (b. 1922)
 November 28 – Liane Haid, Austrian actress (b. 1895)

December
 December 2 – Gail Fisher, American actress (b. 1935)
 December 3 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American writer (b. 1917)
 December 6 – Werner Klemperer, German-American actor and singer (b. 1920)
 December 8 – Ionatana Ionatana, 5th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (b. 1938)
 December 10 – Marie Windsor, American actress (b. 1919)
 December 11 – Johannes Virolainen, Finnish politician, 30th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1914)
 December 12 – George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)
 December 18 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer (b. 1959)
 December 19 – Son Sann, Cambodian politician, 24th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1911)Former Cambodian Prime Minister Son Sann Dies, People's Daily, December 20, 2000
 December 23 – Victor Borge, Danish-born American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
 December 26 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
 December 30 – Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)

 Nobel Prizes 
 Chemistry – Alan J. Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid, Hideki Shirakawa
 Economics – James Heckman, Daniel McFadden
 Literature – Gao Xingjian
 Peace – Kim Dae Jung
 Physics – Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack Kilby
 Physiology or Medicine – Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R. Kandel

 References