2020s

The **2020s** (pronounced "twenty-twenties", shortened to "**the '20s**") is the current decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on 1 January 2020, and will end on 31 December 2029.

As the decade began, the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, causing widespread social and economic disruption, all while global ecological crises continue to escalate.

## Politics and conflicts

Main articles: 2020s in political history
### Conflicts and peace

Main articles: List of wars: 2003–present
The prominent wars of the decade include:

#### Civil wars

Main articles: List of protests in the 21st century

### Terrorist attacks

Main articles: List of terrorist incidents#1970–present
*Note: To be included, entries must be notable (have a stand-alone article) and described by a consensus of reliable sources as "terrorism". They also must have 100 or more fatalities reported.*

### Political trends

Further information:  2020s in political history

#### Deaths

Former leaders Hosni Mubarak, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, John Turner, Daniel arap Moi, Pranab Mukherjee and Carlos Menem. Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said died on January 10, 2020.

### Prominent political events

#### Africa

Further information: Category:2020s in Africa, 2020 in West Africa, 2020 in North Africa, 2020 in Middle Africa, 2020 in East Africa, 2020 in Southern Africa

#### Americas

Further information: Category:2020s in North America, Category:2020s in South America

#### Asia

Further information: Category:2020s in Asia

 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes |       | 5 May 2020

#### Europe

Further information:  Category:2020s in Europe

## Assassinations and attempts

Further information: List of assassinations
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:

 27 November 2020
 22 February 2021
 6 May 2021

## Disasters

### Natural disasters

See also: Category:2020s natural disasters
#### Earthquakes and tsunamis

Main articles: List of earthquakes in 2020
*Note: This table is a chronological list of earthquakes reported with 7.5 or greater or that have reported at least 100 fatalities.*

#### Tropical cyclones

 Hurricane Laura | 20–29 August 2020
 Typhoon Vamco (Ulysses) | 8–15 November 2020
 Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota | 31 October–18 November 2020

#### Floods, avalanches, and mudslides

*Note: This section reports only floods with 200 or more deaths and avalanches and landslides involving 30 or more deaths.*

#### Droughts, heat waves, and wildfires

Main articles: Category:2020s wildfires

 2020 Western U.S. Wildfires | March 2020 – December 2020
 2020–21 Argentine wildfires | July 2020 – Ongoing

#### Other natural events

In 2020, a huge swarm of desert locusts threatened to engulf massive portions of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic, the swarms posed major hazards to billions of people who might be affected by famine brought on by the locusts. Although experts had thought the insects would die out during the dry season in December 2019, unseasonal rains caused the incursion to reach unanticipated and hazardous levels.

## Economics

Main articles: 2020s in economic history
See also: List of countries by Human Development Index, List of countries by GDP (nominal), List of countries by GDP (PPP)
### Trade

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%). Regional trade agreements were found to be increasing.

The Brexit withdrawal agreement went into effect at the end of January 2020 with the UK completing its economic withdrawal from the EU at the end of that year. The United States, Mexico, and Canada signed the USMCA agreement, which came into effect on 1 July 2020.

## Cybersecurity and hacking

See also: Category:Hacking in the 2020s

 Colonial Pipeline cyberattack | 6 May 2021

## Science and technology

Template:Science decade nav

Main articles: 2020s in science and technology
### Space

See also: 2020s in spaceflight
* Space company SpaceX sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on 30 May 2020, marking the first time a private company completed a crewed orbital spaceflight mission.
* NASA launched the *Perseverance* rover and *Ingenuity* helicopter drone on 30 July 2020 as part of their Mars 2020 mission to search for signs of ancient life on Mars. On 19 April 2021, the *Ingenuity* helicopter drone performed the first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet other than Earth.
* The Royal Astronomical Society announced the detection of phosphine gas in Venus' atmosphere on 14 September 2020, which is known to be a strong predictor for the presence of microbial life.

### Artificial Intelligence

* Deepmind solves the protein folding problem to 90 percent accuracy, a 50-year-old grand challenge, at CASP14 in 2020.

### Communications and electronics

* 5G became increasingly widespread in 2020.

### Software and electronic platforms

* Support for Adobe Flash Player ended on 31 December 2020.

### Social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Main articles: Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Medical experts advised, and local authorities often mandated stay-at-home orders to prevent gatherings of any size. Such gatherings could be replaced by teleconferencing, or in some cases with unconventional attempts to maintain social distancing with activities such as a balcony sing-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 the low skill jobs, such as supermarkets and elder care, which were deemed essential during the crisis. In the United States, millions of low-income people may lack access to health care due to being uninsured or underinsured. Millions of Americans lost their health insurance after losing their jobs. Many low income workers in service jobs became unemployed.

The coronavirus pandemic was followed by a concern for a potential spike in suicides, exacerbated by social isolation due to quarantine and social-distancing guidelines, fear, and unemployment and financial factors. Many countries reported an increase in domestic violence and intimate partner violence attributed to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial insecurity, stress, and uncertainty led to increased aggression at home, with abusers able to control large amounts of their victims' daily life. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for a domestic violence "ceasefire".

### Population

* The population of Egypt reached 100 million in February 2020.

### Race

The murder of George Floyd led to many protest and riots across the United States and internationally in 2020. The stated goal of the protest has been to end police brutality and racial inequality, and is closely linked with the Black Lives Matter movement.

### Gender

See also: Women in government
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. Katerina Sakellaropoulou became the first female president of Greece in January 2020, and Kamala Harris became the first female Vice President of the United States in 2021.

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.

### Environmentalism

The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season devastated the environment of Australia.

### LGBT rights

* A law allowing third gender option on driver licenses took effect in New Hampshire.
* Switzerland banned discrimination based on sexuality based on a referendum, putting into effect a law previously introduced in 2018, that was subsequently blocked by the government that requested a referendum to be held on the matter first.
* In Northern Ireland, the first same-sex marriage, after legislation to allow this took effect in January 2020.
* In Costa Rica, same-sex marriage and joint adoption by same-sex couples became legal on 26 May 2020.
* In the United States, the Supreme Court ruled that job discrimination against workers for their sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal.
* The Trump Administration passed a law on 12 June 2020 removing protections against discrimination from LGBTQ people in terms of health care and health insurance in the United States.
* The Equality Act passed in the House of Representatives on 25 February 2021 in the United States.

## Culture

The PlayStation 5 was released in 2020.The coronavirus (COVID-19) was deemed a pandemic in the year 2020. Wearing a decorative mask to prevent COVID-19 from spreading was common in 2020.Decorative masks. Wearing a mask in settings such as shops, bars, airports and on public transport was mandatory in 2020 in many countries, in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.Xbox Series X was released in 2020.
### Fashion

Main articles: 2020s in fashion
Fashion trends of the early 2020s have been largely inspired by the 2000s. Wearing a decorative mask to prevent the disease COVID-19 from spreading was a fashion trend in the early 2020s.

### Film

Main articles: 2020s in film
Several films and other upcoming movies were released on streaming platforms instead of theatres due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though few films were also released simultaneously on both theatrically and streaming platforms.

### Television

Main articles: 2020s in television
The 2020s started off with the primary streaming services being Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu and Disney+. Additional streaming services such as Discovery+, Paramount+, and Peacock were being developed as well. Cable television and satellite television continued to fall out of popularity, and were no longer as prevalent as they were once in the 2010s and decades prior. In the 2020s, rebooting and reunion episodes of older shows became widespread, including *Animaniacs*, *The Conners*, *Saved By The Bell*, HBO Max's *Friends: The Reunion* and *The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Reunion*, Paramount+'s new *Frasier*, *iCarly*, and *Rugrats*.

### Timeline

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

2020 • 2021