| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | |
| Decades: | |
| Years: |
| 1900 in topic |
|---|
| Humanities |
|
Archaeology – Architecture – Art Film - Literature – Music - (jazz) |
| By country |
| Australia – Belgium – Brazil – Bulgaria – Canada – Denmark – France – Germany – Mexico – New Zealand – Norway – Philippines – Portugal – Russia – South Africa – Spain – Sweden – United Kingdom – United States – Venezuela |
| Other topics |
| Rail transport – Science – Sports |
| Lists of leaders |
| Sovereign states – State leaders – Territorial governors – Religious leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Births – Deaths |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Establishments – Disestablishments |
| Works category |
| Works |
| Gregorian calendar | 1900 MCM |
| Ab urbe condita | 2653 |
| Armenian calendar | 1349 ԹՎ ՌՅԽԹ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6650 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 56–57 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1821–1822 |
| Bengali calendar | 1307 |
| Berber calendar | 2850 |
| British Regnal year | 63 Vict. 1 – 64 Vict. 1 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2444 |
| Burmese calendar | 1262 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7408–7409 |
| Chinese calendar | 己亥年 (Earth Pig) 4596 or 4536 — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 4597 or 4537 |
| Coptic calendar | 1616–1617 |
| Discordian calendar | 3066 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1892–1893 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5660–5661 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1956–1957 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1821–1822 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5000–5001 |
| Holocene calendar | 11900 |
| Igbo calendar | 900–901 |
| Iranian calendar | 1278–1279 |
| Islamic calendar | 1317–1318 |
| Japanese calendar | Meiji 33 (明治３３年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1829–1830 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 12 or 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4233 |
| Minguo calendar | 12 before ROC 民前12年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 432 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2442–2443 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阴土猪年 (female Earth-Pig) 2026 or 1645 or 873 — to — 阳金鼠年 (male Iron-Rat) 2027 or 1646 or 874 |
1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1900th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 900th year of the 2nd millennium, the 100th and last year of the 19th century, and the 1st year of the 1900s decade. As of the start of 1900, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
As of March 1 (O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 (O.S. February 15), 2100. The year 1900 also marked the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar.
Events
January
- January 2 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy, to promote American trade with China.
- January 3 – The United States Census estimates the country's population to be about 70 million people.
- January 5 – Dr. Henry A. Rowland of Johns Hopkins University announces a theory about the cause of the Earth's magnetism.
- January 6 – Second Boer War: Boers attempt to end the Siege of Ladysmith, which leads to the Battle of Platrand.
- January 9 - The first through passenger train goes from Cairo to Khartoum.
- January 14
- Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome, Italy.
- The U.S. Senate accepts the British-German Treaty of 1899, in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the American Samoa portion of the Samoan Islands.
- January 24 – Second Boer War – Battle of Spion Kop: Boer troops defeat the British Army.
- January 27 – Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, Qing Dynasty China, demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
- January 31 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of the Mat Salleh Rebellion in North Borneo, is shot dead in Tambunan.
February
- February 5 – The United Kingdom and the United States sign a treaty for the building of a Central American shipping canal across Central America in Nicaragua.
- February 6 – The International Arbitration Court at The Hague is created, when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
- February 8 – Second Boer War: British troops defeat the Boers at Ladysmith, South Africa.
- February 14 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg – 20,000 British troops invade the Orange Free State.
- February 15 – Second Boer War: The Siege of Kimberley is lifted.
- February 16 – The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.[1]
- February 17 – Second Boer War: Battle of Paardeberg – British troops defeat the Boers.
- February 27
- The British Labour Party is officially established, at a meeting in the Congregational Memorial Hall in London, and Ramsay MacDonald is appointed as its first secretary.
- Second Boer War: British military leaders accept the unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronjé.
- FC Bayern, Germany's most successful football club, is founded in Munich.
March
- March 5 – Two U.S. Navy cruisers are sent to Central America to protect American interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
- March 6 – A coal mine explosion in West Virginia, United States, kills 50 miners.
- March 14
- Botanist Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's Laws of Heredity.
- The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.[2]
- March 16 – British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land on Crete on which the ruins of the Palace of Knossos stand. He begins to unearth some of the palace three days later.
- March 18 – AFC Ajax, a successful football club in Netherlands, is founded in Amsterdam.[3]
- March 23 – Dr. Karl Landsteiner first reports his discovery of an accurate means for classifying a system of blood type, which will universally be referred to as the ABO blood group system[4] and for which he will be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930.
- March 27 – The arrival of a Russian naval fleet in Korea causes concern to the Imperial Japanese government.
April
- April 14 – The Exposition Universelle, a world's fair, opens in Paris.
- April 22 – Battle of Kousséri: French forces secure their domination of Chad. Warlord Rabih az-Zubayr is defeated and killed.
May
- May – American explorer Robert Peary is the first person to sight Kaffeklubben Island.[5]
- May 1 – Scofield Mine disaster: An explosion of blasting powder in a coal mine in Scofield, Utah, United States, kills 200 people.
- May 14 – The second Olympic Games, Paris 1900, open (as part of the Paris World Exhibition).
- May 17
- Second Boer War: The British Army relieves the Siege of Mafeking.
- Boxer Rebellion: Boxers destroy three villages near Peking, and kill 60 Chinese Christians.
- L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published in Chicago, the first of Baum's Oz books, chronicling the fictional Land of Oz for children.
- May 18 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.[6]
- May 21 – Russia invades Manchuria.
- May 24 – Second Boer War: The British annex the Orange Free State, as the Orange River Colony.
- May 28 – Boxer Rebellion: The Boxers attack Belgians, in the Fengtai railway station.
- May 29 – N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, is founded as Fort-Lamy, by French commander Émile Gentil.
- May 31 – Boxer Rebellion: Peacekeepers from various European countries arrive in China, where they join with Japanese forces.
June
- June 1 – American temperance agitator Carrie Nation begins her crusade to demolish saloons.
- June 5 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.
- June 14 – The Reichstag approves the second of the German Naval Laws allowing expansion of the Imperial German Navy.
- June 17 – Boxer Rebellion – Battle of Dagu Forts: Naval forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture the Taku Forts, on the Hai River estuary in China.
- June 20 – Boxer Rebellion: Boxers gather about 20,000 people near Peking, and kill hundreds of European citizens, including the German ambassador.
- June 25 – The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, where they have been sealed since the early 11th century.
- June 30 – Hoboken Docks fire: A wharf fire at the docks in Hoboken, New Jersey, owned by the North German Lloyd Steamship line, spreads to German passenger ships Saale, Main, and Bremen. The fire engulfs the adjacent piers and nearby ships, killing 326 people.
July
- July 2 – The first zeppelin flight is carried out over Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
- July 12 – A German cruise liner, the SS Deutschland, breaks the record for the Blue Riband for the first time with an average speed of 22.4 knots (41.5 km/h).
- July 23–25 – The First Pan-African Conference is held in London.
- July 29 – King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci in Monza.
August
- August — The first Michelin Guide is published in France.[7][8]
- August 14 – Boxer Rebellion: An international contingent of troops, under British command, invades Peking and frees the European hostages.
September
- September 8 – The 1900 Galveston hurricane kills about 6,000–12,000 people.
- September 12 – Admiral Fredrik von Otter becomes Prime Minister of Sweden.
- September 13 – Philippine–American War – Battle of Pulang Lupa: Filipino resistance fighters defeat a detachment of American soldiers.
- September 17 – Philippine–American War – Battle of Mabitac: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat the Americans, under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham.
October
- October 9 – The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom.
- October 19 – Max Planck discovers the law of black-body radiation (Planck's law), by introducing the notion of light quanta, leading in 1905 to Albert Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect and beginning the Quantum Revolution.[9]
- October 25 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
November
- November 6 – 1900 United States presidential election: Republican incumbent William McKinley is reelected by defeating Democratic challenger William Jennings Bryan in a rematch.
- November 29 – Herbert Kitchener succeeds Frederick Roberts as commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa and implements a scorched earth strategy.[10]
December
- December 14 – Max Planck announces his discovery of the law of black body emission, marking the birth of quantum physics.
- December 19 – Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government, and is forced to resign.
- December 27 – British human rights activist Emily Hobhouse arrives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Date unknown
- Australasian prospector Albert Fuller Ellis identifies phosphate deposits on the Pacific Islands of Nauru and Banaba Island (Ocean Island).
- In New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., Louis Lassen of Louis' Lunch makes the first modern-day hamburger sandwich.
- Four out of every 1,000 residents of British India die of cholera each year.[11]
Births
| Content |
|---|
| January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · November · December · Date unknown |
January
- January 1
- Mieczysław Batsch, Polish footballer (d. 1977)
- Paola Borboni, Italian film actress (d. 1995)[12]
- Xavier Cugat, Cuban bandleader (d. 1990)[13]
- Hub van Doorne, Dutch businessman (d. 1979)
- Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat, saved Jewish WWII refugees (d. 1986)[14]
- January 2
- William Haines, American actor (d. 1973)
- Mansaku Itami, Japanese film director (tuberculosis) (d. 1946)
- Józef Klotz, Polish footballer (d. 1941)
- Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)[15]
- January 3
- Maurice Jaubert, French composer and soldier (d. 1940)
- Ernst Neubach, Austrian screenwriter, producer, and director (d. 1968)
- January 4
- James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
- William Young, British World War I veteran (d. 2007)
- January 5
- George Magrill, American film actor (d. 1952)
- Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)
- January 6
- Queen Maria of Yugoslavia (1922-1934) (d. 1961)[16]
- John Sinclair, American actor (d. 1945)
- Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie, French journalist and politician (d. 1969)
- January 8
- Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)[17]
- François de Menthon, French politician, professor of law (d. 1984)
- January 9 – Richard Halliburton, American adventurer and writer (d. 1939)
- January 10 – Jean Gehret, Swedish actor and director (d. 1956)
- January 11 – Lloyd French, American film director (d. 1950)
- January 13 – Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1967)
- January 16
- Kiku Amino, Japanese author, translator (d. 1978)[18]
- Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)[19]
- January 18 – Wan Laiming, Chinese animator (d. 1997)
- January 20
- Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (d. 1983)
- Colin Clive, British actor (d. 1937)
- January 22
- Ernst Busch, German singer and actor (d. 1980)
- René Pellos, French artist (d. 1998)
- January 23 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor, organist (d. 1988)
- January 24 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist, evolutionary biologist (d. 1975)
- January 26 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
- January 27 – Hyman G. Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
- January 28 – Rajagopala Tondaiman, King of Pudukkottai (d. 1950)
- January 30 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)[20]
- January 31 – Betty Parsons, American artist, art dealer and collector (d. 1982)[21]
February
- February 2
- Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)[22]
- Józef Kowalski, Polish supercentenarian, one of the last surviving veterans of the Polish–Soviet War (d. 2013)
- February 4 – Jacques Prévert, French lyricist and author (d. 1977)
- February 5 – Adlai Stevenson, American politician (d. 1965)
- February 11
- Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (d. 1994)[23]
- Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (d. 2002)
- Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (d. 1958)
- February 12
- Vasily Chuikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union during WWII (d. 1982)
- Roger J. Traynor, American judge (d. 1983)
- February 13 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (d. 1979)
- February 21
- Józef Adamek, Polish footballer (d. 1974)
- Jeanne Aubert, French singer and actress (d. 1988)[24]
- February 22 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (d. 1983)
- February 24 – Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer, physical therapist and leading pioneer of dance therapy (d. 1981)
- February 25
- Richard Hollingshead, American inventor of the drive-in theatre (d. 1975)
- Illa Martin, German dendrologist, botanist, conservationist and dentist (d. 1988)
- Madame Satã, Brazilian drag performer and capoeirista (d. 1976)
- February 26 – Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)[25]
- February 28 – Wolfram Hirth, German pilot and aircraft designer (d. 1959)
March
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- March 2 – Kurt Weill, German-American composer (d. 1950)
- March 3
- Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi, veteran Indian Independence activist (d. 1966)[26]
- Edna Best, British stage and film actress, appeared on early television in 1938 (d. 1974)[27]
- Ruby Dandridge, African-American film, radio actress (d. 1987)
- March 4 – Herbert Biberman, American screenwriter, film director (d. 1971)
- March 5
- Lilli Jahn, German-Jewish doctor (d. 1944)[28]
- Johanna Langefeld, German guard, supervisor of three Nazi concentration camps (d. 1974)
- March 7
- Lorimer Dods, Australian medical pioneer (d. 1981)
- Leslie Hutchinson, Grenada-born cabaret singer (d. 1969)
- Fritz London, German-Jewish physicist (d. 1954)
- Carel Willink, Dutch painter (d. 1983)
- March 8
- Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
- Henry Abel Smith, 17th Governor of Queensland (d. 1993)
- March 9 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, Italian prince (d. 1948)
- March 10 – Violet Brown, Jamaican supercentenarian, oldest Jamaican ever (d. 2017)[29]
- March 11
- Hanna Bergas, German teacher who helped rescue Jewish children during WWII (d. 1987)
- Alfredo Dinale, Italian Olympic cyclist (d. 1976)
- March 12
- Rinus van den Berge, Dutch athlete (d. 1972)
- Sylvi Kekkonen, Finnish writer and wife of President of Finland Urho Kekkonen (d. 1974)[30]
- Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 19th President of Colombia (d. 1975)
- March 13
- Queen Sālote Tupou III of Tonga, (d. 1965)[31]
- Andrée Bosquet, Belgian painter (d. 1980)[32]
- Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1971)
- March 16 – Mencha Karnicheva, Macedonian revolutionary, assassin (d. 1964)[33]
- March 17 – Manuel Plaza, Chilean athlete (d. 1969)
- March 18 – Hanne Sobek, German footballer (d. 1989)
- March 19
- Carmen Carbonell, Spanish stage, film actress (d. 1988)[34]
- Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1958)[35]
- March 20 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia's first female physician (d. 1942)[36]
- March 23 – Erich Fromm, German-born psychologist, philosopher who lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico (d. 1980)[37]
- March 26 – Angela Maria Autsch, German nun, died in Auschwitz helping Jewish prisoners (d. 1941)[38]
- March 29
- Sir John McEwen, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)[39]
- Oscar Elton Sette, American fisheries scientist (d. 1972)
- March 30 – Santos Urdinarán, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1979)
- March 31 – Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1974)
April
- April 1 – Stefanie Clausen, Danish Olympic diver (d. 1981)[40]
- April 3
- Camille Chamoun, 7th president of Lebanon (d. 1987)
- Albert Ingham, English mathematician (d. 1967)
- Albert Walsh, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
- April 5
- Josefina Passadori, Argentinian writer and poet (d. 1987)
- Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
- April 8 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979)[41]
- April 10
- Arnold Orville Beckman, American chemist and investor (d. 2004)
- Jean Duvieusart, Belgian politician (d. 1977)
- April 11 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian writer and journalist (d. 1989)
- April 13 – Sorcha Boru, American potter, ceramic sculptor (d. 2006)
- April 14 – Salvatore Baccaloni, Italian operatic bass, buffo artist, and actor. (d. 1969)
- April 16 – Polly Adler, Russian-American author, madam (d. 1962)[42]
- April 18 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women's rights activist (d. 1997)[43]
- April 19
- Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (d. 1978)
- Rhea Silberta, Yiddish songwriter, singing teacher (d. 1959)
- April 20 – Fred Raymond, Austrian composer (d. 1954)
- April 21 – Hans Fritzsche, German Nazi official (d. 1953)
- April 22 – Nellie Beer, British politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (1966–67) (d. 1988)[44]
- April 24 – Elizabeth Goudge, English writer (d. 1984)[45][46]
- April 25 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- April 26
- Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (d. 1942)
- Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder, calligrapher (d. 1969)[47]
- Charles Francis Richter, American geophysicist, inventor (d. 1985)
- April 27 – August Koern, Estonian statesman, diplomat (d. 1989)
- April 28
- Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)[48]
- Maurice Thorez, French Communist leader (d. 1964)
- April 29
- Concha de Albornoz, Spanish feminist, intellectual, exiled during the Spanish Civil War (d. 1972)
- Amelia Best, Australian politician, one of the first women elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly (d. 1979)[49]
- April 30
- David Manners, Canadian-American actor (d. 1998)
- Cecily Lefort, English World War II heroine, spy for the SOE (d. 1945)[50][self-published source?]
May
- May 1 – Ignazio Silone, Italian author (d. 1978)
- May 2 – A. W. Lawrence, British leading authority on classical sculpture and architecture (d. 1991)
- May 5
- Helen Redfield, American geneticist (d. 1988)[51]
- Harold Tamblyn-Watts, British cartoonist (d. 1999)
- May 6 – Zheng Ji, Chinese nutritionist, biochemist (d. 2010)
- May 9 – Maria Malicka, Polish stage, film actress (d. 1992)[52]
- May 10
- Beryl May Dent, English mathematical physicist (d. 1977)[53]
- Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, British-American astronomer, astrophysicist (d. 1979)[54]
- May 11 – Thomas H. Robbins Jr., American admiral (d. 1972)
- May 12 – Helene Weigel, Austrian actress (d. 1971)[55]
- May 13 – Karl Wolff, German SS functionary and war criminal (d. 1984)
- May 14 – Cai Chang, Chinese politician, women's rights activist (d. 1990)[56]
- May 15 – Ida Rhodes, American mathematician, pioneer in computer programming (d. 1986)[57]
- May 22
- Juan Arvizu, Mexican operatic tenor and bolero vocalist (d. 1985)
- Vina Bovy, Belgian operatic soprano (d. 1983)
- May 23 – Hans Frank, German Nazi official (executed 1946)
- May 24 – Sonia Rosemary Keppel, British baroness, grandmother of Queen Camilla (d. 1986)Sonia Rosemary Keppel
- May 26 – Karin Juel, Swedish singer, actor and writer (d. 1976)
- May 27
- Lotte Toberentz, German overseer of the Nazi Uckermark concentration camp (d. unknown)[58]
- Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet (d. 1933)
- May 28 – Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1939)
- May 29 – David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir, British politician, lawyer and judge (d. 1967)
- May 31 – Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (d. 1981)[59]
June
- June 3
- Adelaide Ames, American astronomer (d. 1932)[60]
- Leo Picard, German-born Israeli geologist (d. 1997)
- June 4 – George Watkins, American baseball player (d. 1970)
- June 5 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- June 7
- Glen Gray, American saxophonist (d. 1963)
- Frederick Terman, American electrical engineer, professor (d. 1982)
- June 8 – Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, pardoned posthumously (d. 1945)[61]
- June 11
- Leopoldo Marechal, Argentine writer (d. 1970)
- Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás, widow of Francisco Franco (d. 1988)
- June 14
- Ruth Nanda Anshen, American writer, editor and philosopher (d. 2003)[62]
- June Walker, American stage, film actress (d. 1966)
- June 15 – Paul Mares, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1949)
- June 17
- Martin Bormann, German Nazi official (d. 1945)
- Evelyn Irons, Scottish journalist, war correspondent (d. 2000)[63]
- June 18 – Vlasta Vraz, Czech-American relief worker, editor and fundraiser (d. 1989)
- June 21 – Choi Yong-kun, North Korean general, defense minister (d. 1976)
- June 22
- Russell Vis, American wrestler (d. 1990)
- Henriette Alimen, French paleontologist, geologist (d. 1996)[64]
- June 23 – Blanche Noyes, American aviator, winner of the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race (d. 1981)[65]
- June 24
- Juan Carlos Caballero Vega, Mexican revolutionary (d. 2010)
- Raphael Lemkin, Polish-born international lawyer (d. 1959)
- Bernard D. H. Tellegen, Dutch electrical engineer (d. 1990)
- June 25
- Marta Abba, Italian actress (d. 1988)[66]
- Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer (d. 1969)
- Georgia Hale, American silent film actress, real estate investor (d. 1985)[67]
- Philip D'Arcy Hart, British medical researcher, pioneer in tuberculosis treatment (d. 2006)
- Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, born Prince Louis of Battenberg, English naval officer and last Viceroy of India (assassinated) (d. 1979)
- June 26
- John Benham, British long-distance runner (d. 1990)
- Jo Spier, Dutch artist and illustrator (d. 1978)
- June 27 – Dixie Brown, St Lucian-born British boxer (d. 1957)
- June 29 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot, writer (d. 1944)
- June 30 – Alf Ihlen, Norwegian industrialist (d. 2006)
July
- July 2
- Joe Bennett, American baseball player (d. 1987)
- Sophie Harris, English costume, scenic designer for theatre and opera (d. 1966)
- July 3
- Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
- Gordon MacQuarrie, American author and journalist (d. 1956)
- July 4
- Belinda Dann, indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007)[68][69]
- Robert Desnos, French poet (d. 1945)
- Nellie Mae Rowe, African-American folk artist (d. 1982)[70]
- July 5
- Richard K. Webel, American landscape architect (d. 2000)
- Reed Howes, American model (d. 1964)
- July 6
- Frederica Sagor Maas, American playwright, essayist, and author (d. 2012)[71]
- Paul Métivier, Canadian World War I veteran (d. 2004)
- Elfriede Wever, German Olympic runner (d. 1941)
- July 7
- Maria Bard, German stage, silent film actress (d. 1944)
- Frank W. Cyr, American educator, author (d. 1995)
- Earle E. Partridge, American general (d. 1990)
- July 9 – Joseph LaShelle, American cinematographer (d. 1989)
- July 10 – Evelyn Laye, English actress (d. 1996)[72]
- July 11 – Lily Eberwein, Sarawakian nationalist, women's rights activist (d. 1980)[73]
- July 13
- Cornelius Keefe, American actor (d. 1972)
- George Lewis, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1968)
- July 15 – Enrique Cadícamo, Argentine tango lyricist, poet and novelist (d. 1999)
- July 16 – Mumon Yamada, Japanese Rinzai religious leader (d. 1988)
- July 20 – Hunter Lane, American baseball player (d. 1994)
- July 21 – Isadora Bennett, American theatre manager, modern dance publicity agent (d. 1980)
- July 23
- Julia Davis Adams, American author, journalist (d. 1993)[74]
- John Babcock, last surviving Canadian World War I veteran (d. 2010)
- Inger Margrethe Boberg, Danish folklore researcher, writer (d. 1957)[75]
- Prince Kaya Tsunenori (d. 1978)
- July 26 – Sarah Kafrit, Israeli politician, teacher (d. 1983)[76]
- July 28 – Lady Dorothy Macmillan, spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1966)
- July 29
- Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker, political activist (d. 1986)[77]
- Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (d. 1980)[78]
August
- August 3 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist (d. 1945)
- August 4
- Arturo Umberto Illia, 34th President of Argentina (d. 1983)
- Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, queen consort of George VI (d. 2002)[79]
- Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian, last surviving person born in the 19th century[80] (d. 2018)
- August 6
- Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist, businessman (d. 2003)
- Grigori Shtern, Soviet general (d. 1941)
- August 8 – Alexis Minotis, Greek actor, stage director (d. 1990)
- August 9 – Charles Farrell, American actor (d. 1990)
- August 10 – Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician, athlete (d. 1994)
- August 11
- Alexander Mosolov, Russian composer (d. 1973)
- Charley Paddock, American sprinter (d. 1943)
- Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (d. 1994)
- August 14
- Margret Boveri, German journalist, recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1975)[81]
- Benita von Falkenhayn, German baroness, spy for the Second Polish Republic pre-WWII (d. 1935)
- August 15 – Estelle Brody, American silent film actress (d. 1995)[82]
- August 16 – Ida Browne, Australian geologist, palaeontologist (d. 1976)[83]
- August 17
- Mary Paik Lee, Korean-American writer (d. 1995)[84]
- Vivienne de Watteville, British travel writer and adventurer (d. 1957)[85]
- August 18
- Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (d. 1964)
- Ruth Norman, American religious leader (d. 1993)[86]
- August 19
- Colleen Moore, American actress (d. 1988)[87]
- Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (d. 1976)
- Dorothy Burr Thompson, American archaeologist, art historian (d. 2001)[88]
- August 22
- Lisy Fischer, Swiss-born pianist, child prodigy (d. 1999)[89]
- Sergey Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
- August 23
- Frances Adaskin, Canadian pianist (d. 2001)[90]
- Ernst Krenek, Austrian-American composer (d. 1991)
- August 25
- Isobel Hogg Kerr Beattie, Scottish architect (d. 1970)[91]
- Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician, biochemist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1981)
- August 26
- Margaret Utinsky, American nurse, recipient of the Medal of Freedom (d. 1970)[92]
- Hellmuth Walter, German engineer, inventor (d. 1980)
September
- September 3 – Urho Kekkonen, 8th President of Finland (d. 1986)
- September 5 – Grace Eldering, American public health scientist, co-developed vaccine for whooping cough (d. 1988)[93]
- September 6 – W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian politician (d. 1979)
- September 8 – Tilly Devine, English-Australian organised crime boss (d. 1970)[94]
- September 17
- J. Willard Marriott, American entrepreneur and founder of Marriott International (d. 1985)
- Lena Frances Edwards, African-American physician, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (d. 1986)[95]
- Martha Ostenso, Canadian screenwriter, novelist (d. 1963)[96]
- Hedwig Ross, New Zealand-born educator, political activist and founding member of the Communist Party of New Zealand (d. 1971)[97]
- September 18
- Thomas Darden, American rear admiral, 37th Governor of American Samoa (d. 1961)
- Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 1st prime minister of Mauritius (d. 1985)
- September 20 – Uuno Klami, Finnish composer (d. 1961)
- September 22 – Paul Hugh Emmett, American chemical engineer (d. 1985)
- September 23 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-born American sculptor (d. 1988)
- September 26 – Suzanne Belperron, French jewellery designer (d. 1983)[98]
- September 27 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, 46th President of Mexico, 1946-1952 (d. 1983)[99]
October
- October 1 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (d. 1966)
- October 2 – Olive Ann Alcorn, American dancer, model, and silent film actress (d. 1975)[100]
- October 5
- October 6
- Vivion Brewer, American activist, desegregationist (d. 1991)[103]
- Stan Nichols, English cricketer (d. 1961)
- October 7 – Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi official, SS head (d. 1945)
- October 10 – Helen Hayes, American actress (d. 1993)[104]
- October 11 - Boris Yefimov, Soviet political cartoonist (d. 2008)
- October 16 – Edward Ardizzone, English painter, printmaker and author (d. 1979)
- October 17 – Jean Arthur, American actress (d. 1991)[105]
- October 18
- Sarah Bavly, Dutch-Israeli nutritionist, author and educator (d. 1993)[106]
- Evelyn Berckman, American author, known for her detective and Gothic horror novels (d. 1978)[107][108]
- October 19
- Erna Berger, German coloratura lyric soprano (d. 1990)
- Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
- October 20 – Ismail al-Azhari, 2nd Prime Minister of Sudan, 3rd President of Sudan (d. 1969)
- October 21
- Andrée Boisson, French Olympic fencer (d. 1973)
- Princess Mother Srinagarindra of Thailand (d. 1995)
- October 23 – Douglas Jardine, British cricketeer (d. 1958)
- October 25 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian suffragist and women's rights activist (d. 1978)
- October 26
- Ibrahim Abboud, 4th prime minister, 1st president of Sudan (d. 1983)
- Karin Boye, Swedish poet, novelist, known for her dystopian sci-fi novel Kallocain (d. 1941)[109]
- October 30
- Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1991)
- Agustín Lara, Mexican composer and interpreter of songs and boleros (d. 1970)[110]
- October 31 – Asbjørg Borgfelt, Norwegian sculptor (d. 1976)
November
- November 2 – Carola Neher, German actress and singer (d. 1942)
- November 3 - Adolf Dassler, Cobbler, entrepreneur and inventor who founded Adidas (d. 1978)
- November 4 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian communist activist, sociologist (d. 1954)
- November 5
- Martin Dies Jr., American politician (d. 1972)
- Natalie Schafer, American actress (d. 1991)
- Ethelwynn Trewavas, British ichthyologist, over a dozen fish species named in her honor (d. 1993)[111]
- November 6
- Ida Lou Anderson, American orator, professor and radio broadcasting pioneer (d. 1941)[112]
- Hugh Prosser, American actor (d. 1952)
- November 8 – Margaret Mitchell, American writer (Gone With The Wind) (d. 1949)[113]
- November 10 – Rudolf Vogel, German film and television actor (d. 1967)
- November 11
- Maria Babanova, Russian stage, film actress (d. 1983)
- Frederick Lawton, 9th Director of the Office of Management and Budget (d. 1975)
- November 13
- David Marshall Williams, American inventor (d. 1975)
- Samuel King Allison, American physicist (d. 1965)
- November 14 – Aaron Copland, American composer (d. 1990)
- November 16
- Eliška Junková, Czechoslovakian automobile racer (d. 1994)[114]
- Nikolai Pogodin, Soviet playwright (d. 1962)
- November 19 – Anna Seghers, German writer (d. 1983)[115]
- November 20
- Florieda Batson, American hurdler, captain of the United States team at the 1922 Women's Olympics (d. 1996)
- Helen Bradley, English painter (d. 1979)[116]
- November 21 – Bettina Warburg, German-American psychiatrist, professor (d. 1990)
- November 22 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist, novelist (d. 1980)
- November 25 – Rudolf Höß, German Nazi official (d. 1947)
- November 26 – Anna Maurizio, Swiss biologist, known for her study of bees (d. 1993)[117]
- November 27 – Jovette Bernier, Canadian journalist, author, and radio show host (d. 1981)[118]
- November 28 – Mary Bothwell, Canadian classical vocalist, painter (d. 1985)[119]
- November 29
- Mildred Gillars, American broadcaster (Axis Sally), employed by Nazi Germany to disseminate propaganda during WWII (d. 1988)[120]
- Håkan Malmrot, Swedish swimmer (d. 1987)
- November 30 – Luigi Stipa, Italian aeronautical, hydraulic, and civil engineer and aircraft designer (d. 1992)
December
- December 2
- Elisa Godínez Gómez de Batista, First Lady of Cuba (1940-1944) (d. 1993)
- Herta Hammerbacher, German landscape architect, professor (d. 1985)[121]
- December 3
- Karna Maria Birmingham, Australian artist, illustrator and print maker (d. 1987)[122]
- Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountain guide (d. 2004)
- Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)[123]
- December 6 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress, best known for her role in Bewitched (d. 1974)[124]
- December 7
- Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur, Ukrainian folk artist (d. 1961)[125]
- Christian Matras, Faroese linguist, poet (d. 1988)
- December 10 – Dominic Costa, Australian politician (d. 1976)
- December 11 – Hermína Týrlová, Czechoslovakian animator, screenwriter, and film director (d. 1993)[126]
- December 12 – Sammy Davis Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)
- December 16 – Rudolf Diels, German Nazi civil servant, Gestapo chief (d. 1957)
- December 17
- Mary Cartwright, British mathematician, one of the first people to analyze a dynamical system with chaos (d. 1998)[127]
- Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (d. 1973)[128]
- December 19 – Margaret Brundage, American illustrator, known for illustrating the pulp magazine Weird Tales (d. 1976)[129]
- December 20
- Lissy Arna, German film actress (d. 1964)
- Marinus van der Goes van Naters, Dutch politician (d. 2005)
- December 22
- Alan Bush, British composer, pianist and conductor (d. 1995)
- Ofelia Uribe de Acosta, Colombian author, editor, and suffragist (d. 1988)[130]
- December 23
- Merle Barwis, American-Canadian supercentenarian (d. 2014)[80]
- Marie Bell, French actress, stage director (d. 1985)
- José de León Toral, assassin of Mexican President Álvaro Obregón (d. 1929)
- December 24
- Joey Smallwood, first Premier of Newfoundland & Labrador (d. 1991)
- Hussein Al Oweini, 18th prime minister of Lebanon (d. 1971)
- Hawayo Takata, Japanese-American teacher, master practitioner of Reiki (d. 1980)
- December 25 – Antoni Zygmund, Polish mathematician (d. 1992)
- December 26 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (d. 1993)[131]
Date unknown
- Robina Addis, early British professional psychiatric social worker (d. 1986)[132]
- Margaret Altmann, German-American biologist, specialist in animal husbandry and psychobiology (d. 1984)[133]
- Juanita Ángeles, Filipina silent film actress (d. unknown)
- Hattie Moseley Austin, African-American entrepreneur, restaurateur (d. 1998)[134]
- Louella Ballerino, American fashion designer, known for her work in sportswear (d. 1978)[135]
- Natalya Bilikhodze, Russian Romanov impostor falsely claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 2000)[136]
- Ruth Bonner, Soviet Communist activist, sentenced to labor camp during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge (d. 1987)[137][138]
- Anna Borkowska (Sister Bertranda), Polish nun, prioress who hid 17 Jews in her monastery during WWII (d. 1988)
- Grace Hartman, Canadian social activist, politician, and first female mayor of Sudbury, Ontario (d. 1998)[139]
- Rubén Jaramillo, Mexican peasant leader (d. 1962)[140]
- Daudo Okelo, Ugandan Roman Catholic martyr and saint (b. ca. 1900; d. 1918)
- Bella Reay, English footballer (d. unknown)
- Virginia Frances Sterrett, American artist, illustrator (d. 1931)[141]
- Yung Fung-shee, Hong Kong philanthropist (d. 1972)
Deaths
January–June
- January 5 – William A. Hammond, American military physician, neurologist, and 11th Surgeon General of the United States Army (1862–1864) (b. 1828)
- January 11 – James Martineau, English religious philosopher (b. 1805)[142]
- January 16 – S. M. I. Henry, American evangelist (b. 1839)
- January 20 – John Ruskin, English writer, artist, and social critic (b. 1819)
- January 31 – John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman, boxer (b. 1844)
- February 18 – Clinton L. Merriam, American politician (b. 1824)
- February 23 – William Butterfield, British architect (b. 1814)
- March 6
- Carl Bechstein, German piano maker (b. 1826)[143]
- Gottlieb Daimler, German inventor, automotive pioneer (b. 1834)
- March 7 – Rachel Lloyd, American chemist (b. 1839)
- March 10 – Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, Danish composer (b. 1805)
- March 18 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (b. 1835)
- March 28 – Piet Joubert, Boer politician, military commander (b. 1834)
- March 29 – Cyrus K. Holliday, cofounder of Topeka, Kansas, 1st president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (b. 1826)
- April 2 – Gustaf Åkerhielm, 6th prime minister of Sweden (b. 1833)
- April 5
- Joseph Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)
- Maria Louise Eve, American author (b. 1848)
- Osman Nuri Pasha, Ottoman military leader (b. 1832)
- April 7 – Frederic Edwin Church, American landscape painter (b. 1826)
- April 12 – James Richard Cocke, American physician, homeopath, and pioneer hypnotherapist (b. 1863)
- April 17 – George Curry, Wild West robber (Wild Bunch) (shot) (b. 1871)
- April 19 – James Dawson, Australian activist (b. 1806)
- April 21 – Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (b. 1819)
- April 22 – Amédée-François Lamy, French soldier (b. 1858) (killed in battle)
- April 24 – George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, British politician (b. 1823)
- April 30 – Casey Jones, American railway engineer (b. 1864)
- May 1 – Mihály Munkácsy, Hungarian painter (b. 1844)
- May 2 – Seweryn Morawski, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1819)
- May 9 – Carit Etlar (Carl Brosbøll), Danish author (b. 1816)
- May 18 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
- May 28 – Sir George Grove, English music writer (b. 1820)
- June 2 – Samori Ture, West African empire-builder (b. 1830)
- June 3 – Mary Kingsley, English explorer, writer (b. 1862)[144]
- June 5 – Stephen Crane, American author (b. 1871)
- June 11 – Belle Boyd, American Confederate spy, actress (b. 1843)
- June 19 – Princess Josephine of Baden (b. 1813)
July–December
- July 5 – Henry Barnard, American educationalist (b. 1811)
- July 8 – Henry D. Cogswell, American philanthropist (b. 1820)
- July 9 – Gregorio Grassi, Italian Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic martyr and saint (b. 1833)
- July 26 – Nicolae Crețulescu, 2-time prime minister of Romania (b. 1812)
- July 29 – King Umberto I of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1844)
- July 30 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria (b. 1844)[145]
- August 1 – Rafael Molina Sanchez, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1841)
- August 4 – Étienne Lenoir, Belgian engineer (b. 1822)
- August 7 – Wilhelm Liebknecht, German Social Democratic politician (b. 1826)[146]
- August 8
- Emil Škoda, Czech engineer and industrialist (b. 1839)
- József Szlávy, 6th prime minister of Hungary (b. 1818)
- August 10 – Charles Russell, Baron Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1832)
- August 12 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player, first undisputed World Champion (b. 1836)
- August 13 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher and poet (b. 1853)
- August 16 – José Maria de Eça de Queirós, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
- August 23 – Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1840)
- August 25 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, writer (b. 1844)
- September 5 – Arthur Sewall, American politician, industrialist (b. 1835)
- September 19 – Belle Archer, American actress (b. 1859)
- September 23
- William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist, university founder (b. 1816)
- Arsenio Martínez-Campos, Spanish general, revolutionary, and Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1831)
- September 29 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American politician (b. 1814)
- October 15 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer (b. 1850)
- October 19 – Sir Roderick Cameron, Canadian shipping magnate (b. 1825)
- October 22 – John Sherman, American politician (b.1823)
- October 28 – Max Müller, German philologist, Orientalist (b. 1823)
- November 22 – Sir Arthur Sullivan, English composer (b. 1842)
- November 26 – Méry Laurent, French artist's muse, model (b. 1849)
- November 30 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)[147]
- December 4 – Aquileo Parra, 11th President of Colombia (b. 1825)
- December 14 – Paddy Ryan, Irish-American boxer, former world's heavyweight champion (b. 1851)
- December 21 – Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, Prussian field marshal (b. 1810)
World population
- World population: 1,640,000,000
- Africa: 133,000,000
- Asia: 947,000,000
- Japan: c. 45,000,000
- Europe: 408,000,000
- Latin America: 74,000,000
- Northern America: 82,000,000
- Oceania: 6,000,000
References
- "Oscar Wilde". www.bl.uk. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
Further reading
- Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events...1900 (1901), vast compendium of data; global coverage online edition
- Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century 1900-1933, Vol. 1 (1997) pp 7–35; global coverage of politics, diplomacy and warfare.
- Herbert C. Fyfe, Pearson's Magazine, July 1900: "How Will The World End?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900
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The 21st (twenty-first) century is the current century in the Anno Domini or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 (MMI) and will end on 31 December 2100 (MMC).[1]
The rise of a global economy and Third World consumerism marked the beginning of the century, along with increased private enterprise and deepening global concern over terrorism after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[2][3][4] The NATO interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 2000s, and the overthrow of several regimes during the Arab Spring in the early 2010s, led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world, resulting in several civil wars and political instability.[5] The United States has remained the sole global superpower while China is now considered an emerging superpower.
In 2022, 45.3% of the world's population lived in "some form of democracy", though only 8% lived in "full democracies".[6] The United Nations estimates that by 2050, two thirds of the world's population will be urbanized.
The European Union was greatly expanded in the 21st century, adding 13 member states, but the United Kingdom withdrew. Most European Union member states introduced a common currency, the Euro. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was also greatly expanded, adding 11 member states.
The world economy expanded at high rates from $42.29 trillion in 2000 to $94.10 trillion in 2021, although many economies rose at greater levels, some gradually contracted.[a]
Effects of global warming and rising sea levels exacerbated the ecological crises, with eight islands disappearing between 2007 and 2014.[7][8][9]
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to rapidly spread worldwide, killing over 6.9 million people around the globe and causing severe global economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression.
Due to the sudden proliferation of internet-accessible mobile devices, such as smartphones becoming ubiquitous worldwide beginning in the early 2010s, more than half of the world's population obtained access to the Internet by 2018.[10] After the success of the Human Genome Project, DNA sequencing services became available and affordable.[11][12]
Pronunciation
There is a lack of general agreement over how to pronounce specific years of the 21st century in English. Academics have pointed out that the early years of previous centuries were commonly pronounced as, for example, "eighteen oh five" (for 1805) and "nineteen oh five" (for 1905).[13] Generally, the early years of the 21st century were pronounced as in "two-thousand (and) five", with a change taking place around 2010, when pronunciations often shifted between the early-years form of "two-thousand and ten" and the traditionally more concise form of "twenty-ten".
The Vancouver Olympics, which took place in 2010, was being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as "the twenty-ten Olympics".
Society
Advances in technology such as ultrasound, prenatal genetic testing and genetic engineering are changing the demographics and has the potential to change the genetic makeup of the human population. Because of sex-selective abortion, fewer girls have been born in the 21st century (and since the early 1980s) compared to past centuries, mostly because of son preference in East and South Asia. In 2014, only 47 percent of Indian births were of girls.[14] This has led to an increase in bachelors in countries such as China and India. The first genetically modified children were born in November 2018 in China, beginning a new biological era for the human species and raising great controversy.
Anxiety[15] and depression[16] rates have risen in the United States and many other parts of the world. However, suicide rates have fallen in Europe and most of the rest of the world so far this century, declining 29% globally between 2000 and 2018, despite rising 18% in the United States in the same period. The decline in suicide has been most notable among Chinese and Indian women, the elderly, and middle-aged Russian men.[17][18]
Knowledge and information
The entire written works of humanity, from the beginning of recorded history to 2003, in all known languages, are estimated to be at five exabytes of data.[19][20] Since 2003, with the beginning of social media and "user-generated content", the same amount of data is created every two days.[21] The growth of human knowledge and information continues at an exponential rate.
Telecommunications in the early 21st century are much more advanced and universal than they were in the late 20th century. Only a few percent of the world's population were Internet users and cellular phone owners in the late 1990s; as of 2023, 64.4% of the world's population is online, and as of 2019, an estimated 67% own a cell phone.[22] In the 2010s, artificial intelligence, mainly in the form of deep learning and machine learning, became more prevalent and is prominently used in Gmail and Google's search engine, in banking, with the military and other areas. In 2020, 9% of the world's population still lacked access to electricity.[23]
In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist, beginning the era of commercial spaceflight. Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Richard Branson are working towards commercial space exploration, colonization and tourism, while China and India have made substantial strides in their space programs. On 3 January 2019, China landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first to do so.[24]
Culture and politics
War and violence have declined considerably compared to the 20th century, continuing the post-World War II trend called Long Peace. Malnourishment and poverty are still widespread globally, but fewer people live in the most extreme forms of poverty. In 1990, approximately one-in-four people were malnourished, and nearly 36% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty; by 2015, these numbers had dropped to approximately one-in-eight and 10%, respectively.
The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal drew international attention to the possible adverse effects of social media in influencing citizen's views, particularly regarding the 2016 United States presidential election.
Population and urbanization
The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and reached 8 billion by November 2022. It is estimated to reach nearly 8.6 billion by 2030,[25] and 9.8 billion by 2050. According to the United Nations World Urbanization prospects, a 60% projection of the world's human population is to live in megacities and megalopolises by 2030, 70% by 2050, and 90% by 2080. It is expected by 2040, the investing of more than 5 times the current global gross domestic product is expected to be in urban infrastructure.[26]
Life expectancy has increased as child mortality continues to decline. A baby born in 2019, for example, will, on average (globally), live to 73 years—27 years longer than the global average of someone born in 1950.[27] Ten million Britons (16% of the United Kingdom population) will, on average, live to 100 or older.[28]
Climate change remains a serious concern; UN Chief António Guterres, for instance, has described it as an "existential threat" to humanity.[29] Furthermore, the Holocene extinction event, the sixth most significant extinction event in the Earth's history, continues with the widespread degradation of highly biodiverse habitats as a by-product of human activity.[30]
Economics, education and retirement
Economically and politically, the United States and Western Europe were dominant at the beginning of the century; by the 2010s, China became an emerging global superpower and, by some measures, the world's largest economy. In terms of purchasing power parity, India's economy became more significant than Japan's around 2011.[31]
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are decentralized currencies that are not controlled by any central bank. These currencies are increasing in popularity worldwide due to the expanding availability of the internet and are mainly used as a store of value.
There is an ongoing impact of technological unemployment due to automation and computerization: the rate at which jobs are disappearing—due to machines replacing them—is expected to escalate.[32] Automation alters the number of jobs and the skills demands of industries. As of 2019, the production output of first world nations' manufacturing sectors was doubled when compared to 1984 output; but it is now produced with one-third fewer workers and at significantly reduced operating costs.[33] Half of all jobs with requirements lower than a bachelor's degree are currently in the process of being replaced with partial- or full-automation.[34]
The World Economic Forum forecast that 65% of children entering primary school will end up in jobs or careers that currently do not yet exist.[35]
A rise in the retirement age has been called for in view of an increase in life expectancy and has been put in place in many jurisdictions.[36][37]
Linguistic diversity
As of 2009, Ethnologue catalogued 6,909 living human languages.[38] The exact number of known living languages will vary from 5,000 to 10,000, generally depending on the precision of one's definition of "language", and in particular, on how one classifies dialects.
Estimates vary depending on many factors, but the general consensus is that there are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages currently spoken. Between 50 and 90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100.[39]
The top 20 languages spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population. In contrast, many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with fewer than 10,000 speakers.[39]
Events
2000s
.jpg)
- 1998–2003 – The Second Congo War continued into the early 21st century. A 1999 ceasefire quickly broke down and a UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, was unable to control the fighting. Troops from Rwanda and Uganda continued to support rebel groups against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and rifts also grew between Rwanda and Uganda as they accused each other of supporting rival rebel groups as well. Laurent Kabila, president of the DRC, was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took power. Throughout 2002 steps were made towards peace and Rwanda and Uganda both removed their troops from the country. On December 17, 2002, a massive treaty officially ended the war. However, the DRC only holds power in less than half of the country, with most of the eastern and northern portions still controlled by rebel groups, where there is still significant infighting. In addition, Rwanda still supports anti-DRC rebels and anti-Rwandan rebels continue to operate from the DRC. The war killed an estimated 3.9 million people, displaced nearly 5.5 million, and led to a widespread and ongoing famine that continues to result in deaths. Severe human rights violations continue to be reported.[40]
- 2000–2005 – The Second Intifada, a major Palestinian uprising against Israel, is estimated to have led to the deaths of approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis.
- 2001
- January 20:
- George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States. He is the second president from the Bush family, after his father.
- Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo becomes the second woman President of the Philippines and the first to be the child of a previous President, Diosdado Macapagal.
- April 1 – The Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
- May 13 – Conservative media magnate Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election in Italy, becoming the country's Prime Minister. Berlusconi would go on to dominate Italian politics for the rest of the decade.
- June 1 – The Nepalese royal massacre occurs at a house on the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, the residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Ten members of the family were killed during a party or monthly reunion dinner of the royal family in the house. The dead included King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aishwarya.
- July 20–22 – More than 200,000 anti-globalization protesters march in Genoa, during the 27th G8 summit. Two demonstrators are killed by the Italian police. On July 21, a group of Carabinieri attacked the school Armando Diaz, critically injuring many peaceful protesters. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi insisted that police used the minimum amount of force necessary to achieve their goals.
- September 11 – September 11 attacks – Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four commercial airliners and crash two of them into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania of the United States on 11 September, killing nearly 3,000 people. The president George W. Bush subsequently declares the War on Terror.
- December 11 – After 15 years of negotiations, the People's Republic of China becomes a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- January 20:
- 2001–2014 – The Northern Alliance and NATO-led ISAF invades Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and overthrows the Al-Qaeda-supportive Taliban government. Troops remained to install a democratic government, fight a slowly escalating insurgency, and to hunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who would be killed by American troops nearly 10 years later, on May 2, 2011. On December 24, 2014, NATO forces officially ended combat operations in Afghanistan, but forces remained until August 30, 2021, followed by a quick withdrawal of all troops.
- 2002
- May 20 – After a long period of occupation by Indonesia, East Timor's independence is recognized by Portugal and the UN.
- July 1 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established.
- September 10 – Switzerland, a neutral country, becomes a member of the United Nations.
- October 12 – Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, claims responsibility for the detonation of three bombs in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people and left 209 people injured.
- November 15 – Hu Jintao becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Jiang Zemin.
- 2003–present – In February 2003, a conflict in Darfur, Sudan begins and escalates into full-scale war. By 2008 it was believed that up to 400,000 people had been killed and over 2.5 million displaced. In 2005, the ICC decided that Darfur war criminals would be tried, and on July 14, 2008, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was charged with 5 accounts of crimes against humanity and 2 accounts of war crimes, even though the ICC had no power to enforce such charges.
- 2003–2010 – The U.S.-led coalition invades Iraq on March 20, 2003, and overthrows the government of Saddam Hussein (who is executed by the Iraqi government on December 30, 2006). Coalition troops remain in the country to install a democratic government and fight an escalating insurgency. In addition to an insurgency against the American presence, Iraq also suffered from a civil war for several years. The war was soon seen as the central front of the War on Terror by many governments, despite growing international dissatisfaction with the war. The total death toll has been estimated at near 150,000 but these estimations are highly disputed, with one highly disputed study guessing even over 1 million.[41] After the U.S.-led coalition initiated a troop surge in 2007, casualty numbers have decreased significantly. Combat ended, at least officially, in August 2010.
- 2003–2005 – A series of nonviolent revolutions known as the colour revolutions overthrow governments in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Lebanon.
- 2003
- December – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announces that Libya would voluntarily eliminate all weapons of mass destruction.
- 2004
- March 11 – Ten explosions occur at the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring around 2,000.
- May 1 – The European Union expands by 10 countries (including 8 former communist countries, plus Malta and Cyprus).
- May 10 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is re-elected as President of the Philippines, marking the first time a woman was re-elected to the position in the country.
- June 5 – Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan dies at the age of 93, after suffering nearly a decade from Alzheimer's disease.
- September 1 – A group of Chechen rebels invades a school in Beslan, keeping thousands of hostages during three days. A series of shootings and bombings kills 334 people and injured 750.
- November 11 – Palestinian leader and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat dies in France, at the age of 75, from hemorrhagic stroke.
- November 18 – Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage.
- 2005
- April 19 – After the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany is elected as Pope Benedict XVI.
- July 7 – Four Islamic extremist suicide bombers set off three bombs in London; 56 people are killed, including the four suicide bombers.
- November 22 – Angela Merkel becomes the first elected female Chancellor of Germany.
- 2006–2008 – The dismantling of former Yugoslavia continues after Montenegro gains independence on June 3, 2006, and Kosovo declares independence on February 17, 2008. Kosovo's independence is disputed by Russia and many of its allies and remains partially recognized to this day.
- 2006
- July 12 – Hezbollah crosses the border of Lebanon and captures two Israeli soldiers. Israel responds by sending troops across the border and bombing Hezbollah strongholds, while Hezbollah fires missiles on towns in northern Israel, approximately 6 each day. At the end of the war 1,200 Lebanese civilians, 500 Hezbollah fighteres, 44 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers die. A ceasefire is signed on August 14, after which Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon.
- October 9 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.[42] This was preceded by years of political wrangling with the U.S. over the status of their nuclear program.
- 2007–2008 – Nepal's centuries-old monarchy is disestablished, and the country becomes a republic.
- 2007
- January 1 – Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
- January 25 – A civil war escalates in the Gaza Strip throughout June, which would result in the Hamas driving most Fatah-loyal forces out from the Strip. In reaction, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas dismisses Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and dissolves the Hamas-ruled parliament. Scattered conflict continues.
- July 25 – Pratibha Patil becomes the first woman to be elected President of India.
- December 13 – 27 EU member states sign the Treaty of Lisbon, with the treaty coming into effect on December 1, 2009.
- 2007–2008 – Crisis follows the Kenyan presidential election of 2007, leading to the formation of a coalition government, with Mwai Kibaki as president and Raila Odinga as prime minister.
- 2008
- February 16 – Kosovo unilaterally declares independence from Serbia. Serbia refuses to recognize it and considers Kosovo as part of its territory.
- April 1 – Some cadres of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) attack Senior leader of Nepali Congress, Bal Chandra Poudel, during an electoral period in Rasuwa, Nepal.
- August 1–12 – An armed conflict is fought between Georgia and the Russian Federation together with Ossetian and Abkhazian separatists on the other. Russia officially recognizes independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- November 4 – Barack Obama is elected as the first African-American president of the United States. He is sworn into office in January 20, 2009. He is awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which cited "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," and accepted the award the following year with "deep gratitude and great humility".
- 2009
- June 13 – Protests erupt in Iran, following the presidential election against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
- August 1 – Filipina politician and the first female President of the Philippines and in Asia Corazon Aquino dies at the age of 76.[43]
2010s
- 2010
- February 25 – Kamla Persad-Bissessar becomes the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
- April 10 – Polish President Lech Kaczyński dies in an airplane crash near the city of Smolensk, Russia, along with his wife and 94 other people on board.
- May 10 – Benigno Simeon Aquino III is the first bachelor President of the Philippines and the second to be the child of a previous president.
- June 11–July 11 – South Africa becomes the first country in Africa to host the FIFA World Cup.
- June 24 – Julia Gillard becomes the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
- October 3 – Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female president of Brazil. She serves as the president until her impeachment and removal from office on August 31, 2016.
- November 13 – Burmese opposition leader and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest, after being incarcerated since 1989.
- December 17 – The Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave, begins in Tunisia, and eventually spreads across the Middle East and the Arab world, with widespread protests, demonstrations, riots and civil wars for free elections and human rights.
- 2011
- March 11 – The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan leave 15,899 dead.
- April 29 – An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.
- May 2 – Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, is killed in a raid at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU).
- July 10 – Britain's largest tabloid newspaper, the News of the World, shuts down after 168 years in print due to the 2009 phone hacking scandal.
- July 14 – South Sudan, following the January 2011 independence referendum, becomes a member of the United Nations.
- July 22 – Anders Behring Breivik perpetrates two terrorist attacks in Norway, the first being a bombing targeting government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a mass shooting at a youth camp on the island of Utøya. It was the deadliest attack in Norway since the Second World War, with 77 people killed and 319 injuries.
- September 17 – The Occupy movement, an international protest movement against social and economic inequality, takes shape. It is partially inspired by the Arab Spring and is one of the first significant global protest movements to occur in the age of social media.
- October 20 – Deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed by the National Liberation Army of Libya, during the Libyan Civil War.
- November 16 – Italy's long-term Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns amid public protests, financial crisis and sexual scandals.
- December 15 – The Iraq War is formally declared over.
- December 17 – Kim Jong-il, supreme leader of North Korea, dies. He is succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un.
- 2012
- January 12 – Civil unrest breaks out in Romania in January 2012, partially due to the introduction of a new health reform legislation, but also due to the unpopularity of Băsescu-backed Boc government. The unrest continues until Victor Ponta's resignation in November 2015, in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire.
- September 11–12 – In Benghazi, Libya, an attack is coordinated against two United States government facilities, by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.
- November 15 – Xi Jinping becomes the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, making him the paramount leader of China after Hu Jintao.
- December 10 – Séléka rebels seize power in the Central African Republic, ousting the President and government and beginning a civil war.
- December 14 – The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting takes place, the deadliest mass shooting in an elementary school in US history, with 27 deaths.
- December 19 – Park Geun-hye is elected President of South Korea, the first woman to hold the position.
- 2013
- January 11 – France intervenes with its army in the Northern Mali conflict, defeating the Islamists who had taken control of the country.
- February 28 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415. Benedict takes the title pope emeritus. At the subsequent papal conclave, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected pope on March 13, becoming the first Latin American pope. Bergoglio takes the name of Pope Francis.
- March 5 – President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez dies due to prostate cancer and is succeeded by Nicolás Maduro.
- March 21 – Convicted Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan puts an end to the armed revolt against Turkey.
- April 8 – British politician and first female Prime Minister of the UK Margaret Thatcher dies at the age of 87, from a stroke.
- July 1 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.
- September 14 – Syria avoids an American intervention on its soil during the Syrian Civil War, accepting to destroy all chemical weapons stocks owned.
- November – China declares an "Air Defense Identification Zone" in the East China Sea, including over the Senkaku Islands, a group of islands held by Japan, but claimed by both Japan and China, and the Socotra Rock, claimed by both China and South Korea.
- December 5 – South African political and civil leader Nelson Mandela dies at the age of 95, from natural causes.
- December 15 – The South Sudanese Civil War breaks out.
- Iran allows international inspections on its nuclear policy in exchange of the removal of the sanctions and the right to produce a small amount of low-grade enriched uranium, thus marking an apparent new policy towards the United Nations under Hassan Rohani's presidency.
- 2013–2014 – A political crisis in Thailand breaks out and the government declares martial law.
- 2014
- February 22 – Pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich is ousted amidst the Euromaidan revolution. The Russian Federation annexes Crimea in response, and a "low intensity" war in Donbas breaks out between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists.
- May 26 – Narendra Modi becomes 14th Prime Minister of India, winning a clear majority in the election.
- July 8–August 26 – In Israel, tensions rise again between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the State of Israel. Hamas fire hundreds of missiles into civilian cities in Israel, and the IDF retaliates and conducts airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for more than a month, with high casualties on both sides.
- July 17 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a civilian commercial aircraft, is shot down in pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Eastern Ukraine.
- September 18 – Scotland votes to remain part of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
- September–October – During the Syrian civil war, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant rises and seizes territories in northern Iraq and Syria, near the border with Turkey. The United States lead a coalition of more than 30 countries to destroy ISIL. Meanwhile, Russia leads its own coalition, along with Syria, Iraq and Iran, and Russia's military action begins on September 30, 2015.
- October 31 – In Burkina Faso, President Blaise Compaoré resigns amidst widespread protests, ending 27 years of leadership.
- November 16 – In Romania, Klaus Iohannis wins the November 2014 election, becoming the first Romanian president of an ethnic minority.
- December 17 – United States President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announce the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the two nations. Meanwhile, on July 20, 2015, with full diplomatic relations, the embassies of both countries are opened after five decades.
- 2015
- January 7 – Two gunmen, brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, commit a mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people. Following the attack, about two million people, including more than 40 world leaders, met in Paris for a rally of national unity, and 3.7 million people joined demonstrations across the country. The phrase Je suis Charlie became a common slogan of support at the rallies and in social media.
- March 23 – Singaporean politician and the 1st Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew dies at the age of 91.
- June 26 – The Supreme Court of the United States determines that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in a landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges.
- July 14 – Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US + Germany) agree on final provisions of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in regards to the latter's nuclear program.
- October – The Chinese Communist Party announces the end of one-child policy after 35 years.
- November 13 – ISIL claims responsibility of the November 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 137 and left 416 injured.
- November 24 – Turkey shoots down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft. This is the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the attack on the Sui-ho Dam (during the Korean War).
- November 30–December 12 – During the UN summit on Climate Change, 193 nations agree to reduce carbon emissions starting in 2020.
- During the 2015 European migrant crisis, around 1.3 million people, most notably refugees of the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, flee to Europe to claim asylum, leading to considerable political upheaval in the European Union. Germany ultimately takes in the majority of the asylum seekers.
- 2016
- May 9 – Rodrigo Duterte becomes the first Mindanaoan President of the Philippines and the oldest person ever elected to the presidency.
- June 5 – Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the United States, making her the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party.
- June 12 – In Orlando, Florida, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, kills 49 people and wounds 53 others in a terrorist attack inside Pulse, a gay nightclub.
- June 23 – The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union in the June 2016 membership referendum.
- July 13 – After 6 years of leadership, British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns and is succeeded by Theresa May.
- July 15–16 – A coup d'état is attempted in Turkey against state institutions, including but not limited to the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attempt is carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council.
- September 2 – 1st President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov dies at age of 78, after 25 years of leadership.
- November 8 – Donald Trump is elected as the 45th president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton.
- December 19:
- Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, is killed by Turkish police officer Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş.
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the 2016 Berlin truck attack in Germany, in which 12 were killed and 49 others injured.
- Cuban political and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro dies at the age of 90.
- Former President of Israel and 1994 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres dies at the age of 93, from a massive stroke.
- Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest-reigning Thai monarch dies at the age of 88, from a long illness.
- 2017
- January 21–22 – In opposition to Donald Trump's inauguration, millions of people in the US and worldwide join the Women's March.
- January 27 – U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order restricting travel and immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. This order was blocked by the U.S. federal courts; a second, related order issued by Trump was also blocked by the federal courts. The block of second order was partially removed, by the Supreme Court, in June. The Supreme Court stated they would reconsider the order in October.
- April 6 – In response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, the U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat Airbase in Syria.
- May 23 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao, following an attack in Marawi by the Maute group. This would last until October 23.
- August 17–18 – In the 2017 Barcelona attacks, a terrorist drives into more than 100 people in Barcelona, Spain, killing 13 and injuring many.
- October 27 – Catalonia declares independence from Spain,[44] but the declaration is not recognized by the Spanish government or any other sovereign nation.[45]
- 2018
- March 19 – Paula-Mae Weekes becomes the first female President of Trinidad and Tobago.
- March 24 – In over 900 cities internationally, people participate in demonstrations against gun violence and mass shootings, calling for stronger gun control in the March for Our Lives, which was a student-led demonstration in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida that took place in February 14.
- May 9 – The opposition-led Pakatan Harapan coalition, led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, secures a parliamentary majority in the Malaysian Parliament, ending the 61-year rule of the Barisan Nasional coalition in Malaysia since independence in 1957.
- May 19 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, England, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.
- June 12 – President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attend a summit in Singapore, the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries.
- October 28 – Jair Bolsonaro is elected as the 38th president of Brazil, after having been stabbed during the election campaign and undergone three surgeries.
- December 17 – Catriona Gray from the Philippines is crowned Miss Universe 2018 at the IMPACT Arena in Thailand.[46]
- The National People's Congress of China approves a constitutional change removing term limits for its leaders, granting Xi Jinping the status of "leader for life". Xi is the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (de facto leader).
- 2019
- January 10 – Venezuela enters a presidential crisis after the disputed results of the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election leads to Juan Guaidó being declared the acting president, disputing Nicolás Maduro.
- February 27–28 – President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet for the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit in Vietnam.
- March 13 – The Suzano school shooting: In a school in Suzano, São Paulo, Brazil, two ex-students kill 8 people and injure 11 others before committing suicide.
- March 15:
- The Christchurch mosque shootings: Australian terrorist Brenton Harrison Tarrant kills 51 people and injures 40 at two mosques in New Zealand.
- Over 2 million people in Hong Kong protest against proposed legislation regarding extradition to China.
- March 23 – Most of the territory formerly held by the Islamic State in Syria collapses amidst the Syrian Civil War. After years of global push back, the extremist group transitions from a proto-state into an insurgency as it retains offshoots and influence in regions across the globe.
- April 30 – Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates from his throne, the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in almost two centuries. The abdication ends the Heisei era of Japan and ushers in the Reiwa era with new emperor Naruhito ascending to the throne on May 1.
- July 16 – The European Parliament elects Ursula von der Leyen as the new president of the European Commission.
- July 24 – Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
- December 10 – Sanna Marin, at the age of 34, becomes the world's youngest serving prime minister after being selected to lead Finland's Social Democratic Party.
- December 18 – President Donald Trump is impeached by the United States House of Representatives.
- December 31 – The first known case of COVID-19 is reported in Wuhan, China; the disease would rapidly proliferate into a global pandemic throughout the next three months.[47][48]
2020s
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- 2020
- January 2 – The Royal Australian Air Force and Navy are deployed to New South Wales and Victoria to assist mass evacuation efforts amidst the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.[51][52]
- January 3 – A U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Five days later, Iran carries out retaliatory missile strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq, while Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by the IRGC after being mistaken for an American cruise missile.
- January 31 – The United Kingdom becomes the first member state to leave the European Union.
- March – Beginning of the worldwide pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. Widespread economic disruption, including a stock market crash, occurred during the pandemic.
- May 5 – The National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines issues a cease and desist order to the broadcasting operations of ABS-CBN, the country's largest media network, as Congress fails to renew its franchise granted in 1995. The network signed off at 7:52 p.m (PST). The last time the network was shut down was upon the declaration of martial law by the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1972. On July 10, Members of the Philippine House Committee on Legislative Franchises vote against the franchise renewal of the said network.[53]
- May 26 – Protests break out following the murder of George Floyd across hundreds of cities in the United States and even smaller ones outside the US. Derek Chauvin, the officer responsible for Floyd's murder, would ultimately be convicted on two counts of murder and one of manslaughter in the wake of the protests.
- June 15 – Maria Ressa, CEO of Philippine news site Rappler, is found guilty of cyberlibel by a Manila court over a 2012 story linking a businessman to various crimes. She faces up to six years in prison.
- June 30 – China passes the controversial Hong Kong national security law, allowing China to crack down on opposition to Beijing at home or abroad.
- August 11 – Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for vice-president of the United States, making her the first African-American, the first Asian-American and the third female vice presidential running mate on a major party ticket.
- August 18 – A mutiny in a military base by soldiers of the Malian Armed Forces develops into a coup d'état. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé, among other senior governmental and military officers, are forced to resign.
- September 4 – Kosovo and Serbia announce that they will normalize economic relations.
- November 3 – Joe Biden is elected as the 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris is elected as vice-president. Biden is the oldest person elected to a first term.
- November 15:
- President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigns from office after weeks of massive protests in the wake of the October 2020 parliamentary election; opposition leader Sadyr Japarov assumes office as both the acting president and Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.
- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries to form the world's largest free-trade bloc, covering a third of the world's population.
- Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM–N), sign an agreement to transition the country into a secular state.
- A United Nations Human Rights Council fact-finding mission formally accuses the Venezuelan government of crimes against humanity, including cases of killings, torture, violence against political opposition and disappearances since 2014. President Nicolás Maduro and other senior Venezuelan officials are among those implicated in the charges.
- France, Germany, and the United Kingdom issue a joint note verbale to the United Nations rejecting China's claims to the South China Sea, and supporting the ruling in Philippines v. China that said the historic rights per the nine-dash line ran counter to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. However the statement says that on "territorial sovereignty" they "take no position."
- Israel, Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain sign agreements to formally normalise diplomatic relations.
- Azerbaijan launches a successful military campaign against Armenian forces to take back the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkey sends Syrian mercenaries to assist in this endeavor, and Russia ends the conflict by deploying peacekeepers.
- North Korea demolishes the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong, established in 2018 to improve relations.
- The Special Tribunal for Lebanon convicts in absentia Salim Ayyash, a senior member of Hezbollah, for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Japan, announces his pending resignation from office, citing ill health, he was replaced by Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida.
- The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah dies at the age of 91. Crown Prince Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is named his successor.
- The EU launches legal action against the UK, accusing it of breaking international law by overriding sections of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
- In the 2020 New Caledonian independence referendum, New Caledonia votes against independence from France.
- Massive protests breakout in Kyrgyzstan following accusations that the parliamentary election was "unfair".
- 2021
- January 1 – Christine Dacera, a 23-year-old Philippine Airlines flight attendant, was found unconscious in a bathtub in City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati City. She was declared dead on arrival after she was rushed to Makati Medical Center due to ruptured aortic aneurysm.[54]
- January 6 – Pro-Trump rioters storm the US Capitol, disrupting the Congressional certification of United States President-elect Joe Biden. Trump is impeached a second time a week later for his role in the storming, making him the first US federal official to be impeached more than once and the first president to have his trial occur after his tenure expired.
- January 15 – Wikipedia's 20th anniversary is noted in the media.[55][56][57][58]
- February 1 – A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.[59]
- February 18 – NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.[60]
- April 30–June 13 – A crush during a pilgrimage on Lag BaOmer, renewed violence during the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis and continuing problems with the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel precede the 2021 Israeli presidential election. Amidst the election, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid agree to a rotation government, first headed by Bennett, in order to oust Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister as the month of crises is the culmination of scandals and corruption, including financial criminal charges, during Netanyahu's record long tenure.
- June 24 – Filipino politician and the 15th President of the Philippines Benigno Aquino III dies at the age of 61.[61]
- July 7 – President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, is assassinated in a midnight attack by unknown mercenaries.
- August 15 – The Taliban regain control of Kabul after US forces and the republican government flee Afghanistan, marking the end of the War in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years.[62]
- November 30 – Barbados becomes a republic by replacing Elizabeth II as Queen with Sandra Mason as president in the role of head of state.
- December 16 – Typhoon Rai lashes into Visayas and Mindanao, leaving about 409 people dead.[63]
- December 25 – NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Space Telescope Science Institute launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 2022
- February 4 – China and Russia issue a joint statement opposing further NATO expansion, expressing "serious concerns" about the AUKUS security pact, and pledging to cooperate with each other on a range of issues.[64]
- February 4–20 – The 2022 Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China, making it the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics.[65]
- February 24 – After a prolonged military buildup, Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine.
- March 31 – The Philippine Air Force (PAF) introduces 1Lt. Jul Laiza Mae Camposano-Beran as the first female fighter pilot at the Basa Air Base, Floridablanca, Pampanga.[66]
- May 9 – Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte are elected the 17th President and 15th Vice President of the Philippines in a landslide victory.
- May 24 – The Robb Elementary School shooting is perpetrated by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers and wounded seventeen other people in Uvalde, Texas, United States. The shooting was the third-deadliest school shooting in the United States, after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, and the deadliest in Texas. In the shooting's wake, the most significant gun safety reform legislation in the U.S. in 30 years is enacted.
- June 24 – The Supreme Court rules that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion, thus overruling the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, and its related 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Protests erupt across nearly every major city in the United States.
- July 8 – Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe is assassinated while giving a public speech in the city of Nara, Japan.
- July 31 – Filipino politician and the 12th President of the Philippines Fidel V. Ramos dies at the age of 94.[67]
- September 8 – Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch and longest reigning female monarch dies, and is succeeded by Charles III, her eldest child.
- October 29 – At least 158 people are killed and another 197 injured in a crowd crush during Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Korea.
- October 30 – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as the 39th president of Brazil, after defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, becoming the first Brazilian president to be elected for a third term.
- November 24 – Long-time opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is appointed by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
- December 7 – The Congress of Peru removes President Pedro Castillo from office and arrests him after he tries to dissolve congress in a coup attempt, Vice President Dina Boluarte succeeds him, leading to large protests against Boluarte and in favor of Castillo to erupt.
- December 31 – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who served from 2005 until his resignation in 2013, dies at the age of 95.
- 2023
- January 7:
- After four days and fifteen ballots, Representative Kevin McCarthy is elected the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
- Five black police officers of the Memphis Police Department, severely beat Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop. Nichols dies due to his injuries on January 10, and his death causes outrage and protests across the country.
- January 8 – Supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian National Congress, the Supreme Federal Court and the Presidential Palace of Planalto.
- January 14 – R'Bonney Gabriel from the United States is crowned Miss Universe 2022 at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana.[68]
- January 17 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc resigns as President of Vietnam amid several recent scandals in the government, he was later replaced by Võ Văn Thưởng who was elected on March 2.
- January 18 – The Court of Tax Appeals acquits online news website Rappler as well as its founder, Maria Ressa, in a tax evasion case filed against them by the Philippine government in 2018.
- January 25 – Chris Hipkins succeeds Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister of New Zealand, six days after she announced her resignation.
- January 27 – Widespread unrest erupts in Israel following an Israeli military raid in Jenin which left nine Palestinians dead. Incendiary air balloons are launched into Israeli populated areas following it. Israel responds with targeted airstrikes. Later the same day, seven Jewish civilians are shot dead in an East Jerusalem synagogue in a retaliatory attack.
- January 30 – A Jamaat-ul-Ahrar suicide bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, kills at least 101 people and injures over 220 others.
- February 1 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady announces his retirement from the NFL.
- February 2 – The European Central Bank and Bank of England each raise their interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to combat inflation, one day after the US Federal Reserve raises its federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points.
- February 3:
- The US announces it is tracking alleged Chinese spy balloons over the Americas, with one drifting from Yukon to South Carolina before being shot down the next day, and a second hovering over Colombia and Brazil. This event is followed by subsequent detections and shootdowns of high-altitude objects elsewhere.
- A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derails in East Palestine, Ohio. Multiple train cars burned for more than two days, followed by emergency crews conducting a controlled burn of several additional cars, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the atmosphere.
- February 6 – Two earthquakes strike southern Turkey, the first 7.8 (Mww) in Gaziantep Province and the other 7.5 Mww in Kahramanmaraş Province, causing widespread damage and at least 58,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria, with more than 120,000 injured.[69][70]
- February 7 – LeBron James breaks the all time NBA scoring record, scoring 38,388 points. The record was previously held by Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
- February 12 – The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 38–35 to win Super Bowl LVII. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes wins Super Bowl MVP.
- February 13 – A mass shooting takes place at Michigan State University. Three people were killed in the attack, and the shooter later takes his own life.
- February 14 – Republican Nikki Haley announces her 2024 presidential campaign.
- February 16:
- The family of Bruce Willis announce that the actor has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
- Controversial YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki steps down after filling the position for nine years, and is succeeded by Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan. Her departure leaves Big Tech without any female CEOs.
- February 21 – Vladimir Putin announces that Russia is suspending its participation in New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US.
- February 24 – The Philippine Independent Church ordains Wylard Ledama to the diaconate as the first trans woman clergy in the country.[71]
- February 27 – The United Kingdom and the European Union reach a new agreement surrounding modifications to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
- February 28 – A train crash in Thessaly, Greece, kills 57 people and injures dozens. The crash leads to nationwide protests and strikes against the condition of Greek railways and their mismanagement by the government.
- March 2 – Alex Murdaugh is convicted by a jury and sentenced to life in prison without parole the next day for the murders of both his wife and son as well as two gun charges.
- March 4:
- Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, along with nine others, dies in an attack by gunmen in his home in Pamplona.[72]
- UN member states agree on a legal framework for the High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030.
- March 10:
- The National People's Congress unanimously re-elects Xi Jinping as the President of the People's Republic of China to an unprecedented third term.
- Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to resume diplomatic relations which were severed in 2016 at talks meditated by China.
- Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest bank in the United States, fails, creating the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, affecting companies around the world.
- March 17 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin, the first against a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
- March 19 – In a deal brokered by the Swiss government, investment bank UBS agrees to buy Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion (US$3.2 billion) in an all-stock deal.
- March 20 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the synthesis report of its Sixth Assessment Report on climate change.
- March 24–27 – A tornado outbreak kills at least 26 people in Mississippi and Alabama.
- March 27 – Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
- March 26 – Large-scale spontaneous protests erupt across Israel in the wake of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firing his defence minister who spoke against the government's judicial overhaul plan.
- March 30 – Former U.S. president Donald Trump is indicted by a New York City grand jury, the first such indictment of a former President in U.S. history.
- April 2:
- Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announces his 2024 presidential campaign.
- Russian pro-government war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky is killed by a bombing at a café in Saint Petersburg owned by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Sixteen others are injured.
- April 4 – Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling the Western alliance's border with Russia.
- April 5:
- Attorney and author Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces his presidential campaign.
- Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police happen at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
- April 10 – Two document leaks from the Pentagon detailing foreign military aid relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine are leaked onto the Internet.
- April 11 – In the village of Pazigyi, at least 165 people are killed by the Myanmar Air Force during the opening celebrations of a People's Defence Force administration office.
- April 14 – Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to search for life in the Jovian system, with an expected arrival date of 2031.
- April 15:
- Nuclear power in Germany ends after the closure of the final power plants and nuclear being a power source for the country for over 50 years.
- Fighting breaks out across Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The RSF captures Khartoum International Airport, and the presidential palace in Khartoum.
- April 18 – Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems reach a $787.5 million settlement in the defamation lawsuit.
- April 24 – Fox News and CNN fires Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon respectively. Carlson's firing was a result of the Dominion lawsuit settlement, while Lemon's was because of numerous misogynistic comments made in the past.
- April 25 – President Biden formally announces his campaign for reelection in the 2024 United States presidential election.
- May 1 – San Francisco-based First Republic Bank fails and is auctioned off by the US FDIC to JPMorgan Chase for $10.7 billion The collapse surpasses March's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to become the second largest in US history.
- May 2 – The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike begins due to unsuccessful pay raise negotiations. The strike halts the production of most movies and TV shows.
- May 5 – World Health Organization declares end of the COVID-19 pandemic global health emergency.
- May 6:
- The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
- Nine people are killed, including the perpetrator, after a mass shooting at a mall in Allen, Texas.
- May 7 – Syria is readmitted into the Arab League after being suspended since 2011.
- May 9:
- A Manhattan-based federal civil jury finds that former President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in damages.
- U.S. Representative George Santos is indicted by federal prosecutors and charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of private funds.
- May 12 – The Title 42 expulsion policy expires at midnight, creating a question about whether a new immigration policy would be formed as a replacement. This comes as a surge of migrants gather at the U.S southern border.
- January 7:
Politics, wars and states
New countries and territorial changes
Some territories and states have gained independence during the 21st century. This is a list of sovereign states that have gained independence in the 21st century and have been recognized by the UN.
East Timor (Timor-Leste)[73] on 20 May 2002.
Montenegro on 3 June 2006.
Serbia on 3 June 2006.
South Sudan on 9 July 2011.
These nations gained sovereignty through government reform.
Union of the Comoros on 23 December 2001.
The Union of the Comoros replaced the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros
Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan on 13 July 2002.
The Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan replaced the Islamic State of Afghanistan.
State Union of Serbia and Montenegro on 4 February 2003.
The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro replaced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 7 December 2004.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan replaced the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on 28 May 2008.
The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal replaced the Kingdom of Nepal.
National Transitional Council of Libya on 20 October 2011.
The National Transitional Council of Libya replaced the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
- State of Libya on 8 August 2012.
The State of Libya replaced the National Transitional Council of Libya.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan replaced the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
These territories have declared independence and secured relative autonomy but they have only been recognized by some UN member states:
Kosovo on 17 February 2008. (partially recognized)
South Ossetia on 26 August 2008. (partially recognized)
Abkhazia on 26 August 2008. (partially recognized)
These territories have declared independence and secured relative autonomy but they have been recognized by no one:
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in June 2014. Had taken over much of Iraq, Syria and Libya. It is considered a terrorist organization and no longer holds any significant territorial control.
Republic of Catalonia on 27 October 2017. The Catalan Parliament proclaimed the Catalan Republic, but the Kingdom of Spain did not recognise this and for a time imposed direct rule. (See 2017 Catalan independence referendum and 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis)
Southern Transitional Council in March 2017. Claimed the majority of the southern part of Yemen and the restoration of South Yemen.
These territories were annexed from a sovereign country, the action has only been recognized by some UN member states:
Crimea annexed from Ukraine into the Russian Federation on 18 March 2014.
Donetsk People's Republic[b], 
Kherson Oblast, 
Luhansk People's Republic[c], and 
Zaporizhzhia Oblast annexed from Ukraine into the Russian Federation on 30 September 2022.
These territories were ceded to another country:
India–Bangladesh enclaves, traded between the two countries in 2015.
Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor, surrendered by Armenia to Azerbaijan at the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Science and technology
Space exploration
- 2001 – Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist by paying $19 million to board the International Space Station.
- 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on 1 February.
- 2003 – The Chinese space program launches its first crewed space flight, Shenzhou 5, on 15 October. This made China the third country in the world to have indigenous crewed space capability.
- 2004 – Mars Exploration Rovers land on Mars; Opportunity discovers evidence that an area of Mars was once covered in water.
- 2004 – SpaceShipOne makes the first privately funded human spaceflight, on 21 June.
- 2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, on 14 January.
- 2006 – The New Horizons probe is launched to Pluto, on 19 January.
- 2006 – Pluto is reclassified from a planet to a dwarf planet, leaving the solar system with eight planets.
- 2007 – China launches its first lunar mission with the Chang'e 1, on 24 October.
- 2008 – India launches its first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 which included a remote sensing orbiter and impactor on 22 October 2008. It made India the third nation to place its flag on Moon.
- 2008 – Chinese space program launches its third crewed space flight carrying its first three-person crew and conducts its first spacewalk that makes China the third nation after Russia and USA to do that, Shenzhou 7, on 25 September.
- 2008 – Phoenix discovers water ice on Mars.
- 2009 – Iran launches its first satellite, Omid, on 2 February.
- 2011 – NASA retires the last Space Shuttle, Atlantis, marking an end to its three-decade shuttle program.
- 2012 – SpaceX successfully delivers cargo to the International Space Station.
- 2012 – NASA successfully lands the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, on 6 August.
- 2014 – India's Mars Orbiter Mission, the nation's first attempt to send a spacecraft to Mars, successfully entered orbit on 24 September, making India the fourth nation in the world to reach that goal.
- 2014 – The European Space Agency robotic spacecraft Philae landed successfully on the comet 67P, the first cometary landing ever.
- 2015 – On 14 July, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft became the first to fly by Pluto, on a mission to photograph and collect data on its planetary system. No other spacecraft has yet performed such a mission so far from Earth.
- 2015 – On 28 September, NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars.[74]
- 2015 - SpaceX launches and lands a Falcon 9 into orbital space on 21 December, becoming the first reusable rocket to do so.
- 2016 - SpaceX lands the first orbital rocket, a CRS-8, on a drone platform at sea on 8 April.
- 2016 – On 4 July, NASA's Juno space probe maneuvered into a polar orbit to study the planet Jupiter.[75]
- 2016 - On 26 July, Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the world.
- 2016 – On 24 August, an Earth-sized exoplanet is discovered around Proxima Centauri, 4.2 light years away, which is potentially habitable.
- 2016 - On 8 September, NASA's ORIRIS-Rex space probe is launched as the first asteroid sample return mission to collect samples from Bennu.
- 2019 – On 3 January, Chinese probe Chang'e 4 becomes the first human-made object to land on the far side of the Moon.[76]
- 2019 – NASA concludes the 15-year Opportunity rover mission after being unable to wake the rover from hibernation.[77]
- 2019 – Israel launched its first spacecraft, Beresheet, towards the Moon on 7 April; after two months of journey, the spacecraft failed to land and crashed on the surface of the Moon, making Israel the seventh country to orbit the Moon.
- 2019 – The first image of the supermassive black hole inside galaxy Messier 87 was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.[78]
- 2021 – NASA's Perseverance rover, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, successfully lands on Mars.
- 2021 – NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is successfully launched into orbit.
- 2022 – The first image of the supermassive black hole inside Milky Way was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope.
- 2022 – The first image from the James Webb Space Telescope is published.[79]
- 2022 – NASA successfully launches the Artemis 1 moon mission on the SLS spacecraft after multiple delays.
Physics
- 2003 – WMAP observations of the cosmic microwave background.
- 2010 – The Large Hadron Collider's first high energy collisions took place in March 2010.
- 2012 – Physicists discover the Higgs boson based on collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, on 4 July. It is the latest particle to be discovered in the Standard Model.[80]
- 2016 – On 11 February, LIGO announces the discovery of bursts of gravitational waves generated by cosmic collisions of black holes on, and was previously predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago.
- 2022 – on 13 December, the US Department of Energy announces that scientists at the National Ignition Facility have achieved the first positive energy gain from a fusion reactor in history.[1]
Mathematics
- 2002 – Grigori Perelman posted the first of a series of eprints to the arXiv, in which he proved the Poincaré conjecture, the first of the Millennium Prize Problems to be solved.
- 2013 – Yitang Zhang publishes a paper in the Annals of Mathematics that established the first finite bound on the least gap between consecutive primes that is attained infinitely often.
Biotechnology and medicine
- 2003 – Completion of the Human Genome Project
- 2005 – The first successful partial face transplant is performed in France.
- 2006 – Australian of the Year Dr Ian Frazer develops a vaccine for cervical cancer.
- 2007 – Visual prosthetic (bionic eye) Argus II.
- 2008 – Japanese scientists create a form of artificial DNA.
- 2008 – Laurent Lantieri performs the first full face transplant.
- 2012 – The first successful complete face transplant is performed in Turkey.
- 2012 – Doubts raised over Statin medication.
- 2013 – First kidney grown in vitro in the U.S.
- 2013 – First human liver grown from stem cells in Japan.
Telecommunications
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The Digital Revolution continued into the early 21st century with mobile phone usage and Global Internet usage growing massively, becoming available to many more people, with more applications and faster speeds.
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Social networking emerged in the mid-2000s, as a popular social communication, largely replacing much of the function of email, message boards and instant messaging services. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and WeChat are all major examples of social media to gain widespread popularity. The use of webcams and front-facing cameras on PCs and related devices, and services such as Skype, Zoom, and FaceTime have made video calling and video conferencing widespread. Their use hugely increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Civil unrest
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- 2001 G8 Genoa summit protests
- December 2001 riots in Argentina
- 2002 Gujarat riots
- Protests against the Iraq War
- Bolivian gas conflict
- 2003 Maldives civil unrest
- 2005 Belize unrest
- Protests against Faure Gnassingbé
- 2005 Belfast riots
- 2005 civil unrest in France
- Jeans Revolution
- 2006–2008 Lebanese protests
- Saffron Revolution
- 2007 Georgian demonstrations
- 2008 Armenian presidential election protests
- 2008 Tibetan unrest
- 2008 riot in Mongolia
- 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests
- 2009 G-20 London summit protests
- April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests
- 2009–2010 Iranian election protests
- 2010 Thai political protests
- Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010
- 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests
- 2010 Mozambican protests
- 2010 UK student protests
- 2010–2012 Greek protests
- Arab Spring
- Tunisian revolution
- 2011 Egyptian revolution
- 2011 Egyptian Post-Revolution protests
- Impact of the Arab Spring
- 2011 Magallanes protests
- 2011 Iranian protests
- 2011 Libyan civil war
- Syrian civil war
- 2011 Northern Ireland riots
- 2011 Malawian protests
- 2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests
- Anti-austerity movement in Portugal
- Spanish "Indignants"
- 2011 England riots
- 2011–13 Chilean student protests
- 2011 Israeli social justice protests
- Worldwide "Occupy" Protests
- 2011–2013 Russian protests
- Bersih 3.0 rally
- Yo Soy 132
- Belfast City Hall flag protests
- 2012–2013 Iraqi protests
- 2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots
- Gezi Park protests
- 2013 protests in Brazil
- June 2013 Egyptian protests
- 2013–2014 Cambodian protests
- 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots
- 2013–2014 Thai political crisis
- Euromaidan
- 2013 Italian social protests
- 2013 Little India riots
- 2014 Ukrainian Revolution
- 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Venezuelan protests (2014–present)
- 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka
- 2014 Pakistan anti-government protest
- 2014 Ferguson unrest
- 2014 Hong Kong protests
- 2015 Baltimore protests
- Burundian unrest (2015–2018)
- 2015–18 Iraqi protests
- 2015 Lebanese protests
- Protests against Donald Trump
- Nuit debout
- 2016 Gabonese protests
- 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt
- 2016–17 South Korean protests
- Dakota Access Pipeline protests
- 2016 Manipur unrest
- 2016–17 Cameroonian protests
- 2017–2019 Romanian protests
- 2017 Belarusian protests
- 2017–2018 Russian protests
- 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Unite the Right rally
- 2017–2018 Honduran protests
- 2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka
- 2018–2019 Nicaraguan protests
- 2018 Bangladesh road-safety protests
- Yellow vests movement
- Serbian protests (2018–present)
- Sudanese Revolution
- 2018 Armenian revolution
- 2018–2023 Haitian crisis
- 2019–2020 Algerian protests
- 2019–20 Hong Kong protests
- 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt
- 2019 Papua protests
- 2019 Egyptian protests
- 2019–2020 Iraqi protests
- 2019 Ecuadorian protests
- 2019–2020 Chilean protests
- 2019 Catalan protests
- 2019–2020 Guinean protests
- 2019–20 Lebanese protests
- 2019 Bolivian protests
- 2019 Indonesian protests and riots
- 2019–20 Iranian protests
- 2019 Maltese protests
- 2019-2020 Colombian protests
- Citizenship Amendment Act protests
- 2020–2021 Thai protests
- 2020–2021 protests against Benjamin Netanyahu
- 2020–2021 United States racial unrest
- 2020 Belarusian protests
- 2020–2021 Serbian protests
- 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests
- 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest
- End SARS protests
- 2020 Polish protests
- 2020 Peruvian protests
- 2020–2021 United States election protests
- 2020–2021 Armenian protests
- 2020 Guatemalan protests
- 2021 Dutch curfew riots
- 2021 Russian protests
- 2021 Myanmar protests
- 2021 Senegalese protests
- 2021 Paraguayan protests
- 2021 Colombian protests
- 2021 South African unrest
- 2022 Kazakh protests
- 2022 Sri Lankan protests
- 2022 Ecuadorian protests
- Anti-MONUSCO protests
- Mahsa Amini protests
- 2022–2023 Brazilian election protests
- 2022–2023 Peruvian protests
- 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests
- 2023 French pension reform strikes
Disasters
Natural disasters
2000s
- 2001 Gujarat earthquake – An earthquake in Gujarat, India on 26 January 2001, killed approximately 20,000 people.
- January 2001 El Salvador earthquake – A 7.9 earthquake in El Salvador shook the whole country on 13 January 2001, causing a major devastating landslide, hundreds dead, thousands injured and many homeless. A month later, on 13 February 2001, the country suffered a second earthquake – 6.7
- 2003 European heat wave – Approximately up to 70,000 people were killed across Europe in a summer long heat wave.
- 2003 Bam earthquake – An earthquake in Bam, Iran on 27 December 2003, killed more than 26,000.
- 2004 Hurricane Jeanne – Over 3,000 people are killed by Hurricane Jeanne in Haiti in September 2004.
- 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami – On 26 December 2004, a massive undersea earthquake resulted in a massive tsunami striking southeast Asia killing approximately 230,000.
- 2005 Hurricane Katrina – The hurricane killed 1,836 in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi (mostly in New Orleans) and South Florida. A significant portion of the city, most of which sits below sea level, was submerged. Damages reached US$81.5 billion, making Katrina the costliest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the U.S.
- 2005 Kashmir earthquake – An earthquake in Kashmir on 8 October 2005, killed at least 74,500 in India and Pakistan.
- 2008 Cyclone Nargis – lead to catastrophic storm surge, leading to a death toll in excess of 100,000 and making millions homeless.
- 2008 Sichuan earthquake – An earthquake between 7.9 and 8.0-magnitude struck Sichuan, China, on 12 May 2008, killing 68,712, with 17,921 missing.
- 2009 Black Saturday bushfires – The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires that ignited or were burning across the Australian state of Victoria, Australia on and around Saturday, 7 February 2009. The fires occurred during extreme bushfire-weather conditions and resulted in Australia's highest ever loss of life from a bushfire; 173 people died and 414 were injured.
- 2009 L'Aquila earthquake – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila (Italy) on 6 April 2009, one of the worst in Italian history. 308 were pronounced dead and more than 65,000 were made homeless.
- 2009 flu pandemic – A worldwide outbreak of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 spread around the world forming a pandemic by June 2009.
2010s
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- 2010 Haiti earthquake – At least 230,000 are killed in Haiti after a massive earthquake on 12 January 2010. Three million people were made homeless.
- 2010 Chile earthquake – A massive earthquake, magnitude 8.8, strikes the central Chilean coast on 27 February 2010.
- 2010 Yushu earthquake – A large 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Yushu region of China in Qinghai near Tibet, on 14 April 2010, killing over 2,200 people.
- 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull – A massive ash cloud is formed by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, on 14 April 2010, grounding flights across northwest Europe. Scientists began recording volcanic activity there in 2009 which increased through March 2010 culminating in the second phase eruption in April.
- 2010 Pakistan floods – Began in July 2010 after record heavy monsoon rains. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan was worst affected. At least 1,600 people were killed, thousands were rendered homeless, and more than thirteen million people were affected.[83][84][85][86][87] Estimates from rescue service officials suggest the death toll may reach 3,000 victims.[88]
- 2011 Queensland floods – Began in December 2010 primarily in Queensland. The flood causes thousands of people to evacuate. At least 200,000 people were affected by the flood. The flood continued throughout January 2011 in Queensland, and the estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion.
- Cyclone Yasi – A category 5 (Australian Scale) cyclone hits North Queensland with winds as strong as 290 km/hr (197 miles/hr) and devastates the residents of North Queensland.
- February 2011 Christchurch earthquake – 185 people died in New Zealand after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch on 22 February 2011, making it New Zealand's second-deadliest natural disaster after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
- 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami – On 11 March 2011, a catastrophic undersea earthquake of magnitude 9.0 occurred offshore of eastern Japan, the greatest in the country's history and created a massive tsunami which killed 15,894; it also triggered the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. The overall cost for the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accidents reached up to US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster on record.
- 2011 Super Outbreak – Regarded as the deadliest tornado outbreak ever recorded and dubbed the 2011 Super Outbreak, a catastrophic tornado outbreak on 25–28 April affected the Southern United States and killed over 330 people, most of whom were in or from Alabama. Damages are expected to be near or over $10 billion.
- 2011 Joplin tornado – On 22 May 2011, a devastating EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri resulting in 159 casualties, making it the deadliest tornado to hit the United States since 1947.
- Tropical Storm Washi – Locally known as Sendong, it caused catastrophic flooding in the Philippine island of Mindanao on the night of 16 December 2011. The hardest hits were in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. Almost 1000 people perished, most of whom were sleeping, and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of calamity four days later.
- Hurricane Sandy – 24–30 October 2012 – kills at least 185 people in the Caribbean, Bahamas, United States and Canada. Considerable storm surge damage causes major disruption to the eastern seaboard of the United States.[89][90][91]
- 2013 Bohol earthquake - An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 that killed 22 people and destroyed a total worth of ₱2.25 billion,
- Typhoon Haiyan 2013 – kills more than 6,000 people in central Philippines. Considered to be one of the strongest storms ever, it brought major damage and loss of life to the Philippines, especially the islands of Leyte and Samar. A worldwide humanitarian effort began in the aftermath of the typhoon.
- 2014 Southeast Europe floods – kill at least 80 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Floodwaters caused over 2,000 landslides across the Balkan region, spreading damage across many towns and villages.
- April 2015 Nepal earthquake – An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills almost 9,000 people, injures another 22,000 and leaves nearly 3 million people homeless in Central Nepal. The earthquake was so strong it was felt in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
- 2016 Taiwan earthquake – An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude kills 117 people, injures 550, and 4 people were left missing. The earthquake resulted in 3 executives of the Weiguan developer being arrested under charges of professional negligence resulting in death.
- August 2016 Central Italy earthquake – A 6.2 magnitude earthquake killed 299 people and severely damaged Amatrice, Accumoli and Arquata del Tronto.
2020s
- Unprecedented flooding displaces millions and threatens famine in Sudan and South Sudan in 2020–2021.[92][93]
- On 12 January 2020, the Taal Volcano erupted for the first time in 43 years.
- The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, the most active regional season on record with 30 total named storms, results in over 400 fatalities across parts of the United States, Central America and the Caribbean.
- At least 20 people are killed in 2021 Henan floods in China after heavy rainfall (at least 20c per hour) exacerbated by the approach of Typhoon In-fa breaks existing records.
- The 2021 European floods kill over 188 people and devastate Belgium, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy and Luxemburg. Floods in Germany prove to be the deadliest since the North Sea Flood of 1962.
- On 27 July 2022, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit Luzon, causing 11 deaths and ₱1.88 billion of property damage.
- In September 2022, Hurricane Ian hit the west coast of Florida as a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, becoming the deadliest hurricane to hit Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.
Human-made disasters
- On 27 July 2002, a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 77 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history.
- On 1 February 2003, at the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.
- The Black Saturday bushfires – the deadliest bushfires in Australian history took place across the Australian state of Victoria on 7 February 2009, during extreme bushfire-weather conditions, resulting in 173 people killed, more than 500 injured, and around 7,500 homeless. The fires came after Melbourne recorded the highest-ever temperature (46.4 °C, 115 °F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires were ignited by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
- On 10 April 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife and 94 other people, including dozens of government officials, are killed in a plane crash.
- On 20 April 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, operating in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, left eleven crewmen dead and resulted in a fire that sank the rig and caused a massive-scale oil spill[94] that may become one of the worst environmental disasters in United States history.[95] On 18 June 2010, oceanographer John Kessler said that the crude gushing from the well contains 40 percent methane, compared to about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits. Methane is a natural gas that could potentially suffocate marine life and create "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives. "This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said.[96] On 20 June an internal BP document was released by Congress revealing that BP estimated the flow could be as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000 cubic metres) per day under the circumstances that existed since 20 April blowout.[97][98]
Pandemics and epidemics
- 2002–2004 – Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spreads to many countries in the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
- 2009 – Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 spreads around the world, becoming a global pandemic.
- 2014 – Ebola virus spreads in west Africa, prompting the then-largest epidemic, with more than 20,000 cases. The first cases outside Africa are reported.
- 2019–present – A worldwide pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus takes place. It leads to widespread social and economic disruption and, by early 2023, more than 6.9 million deaths.[99][100]
Economics and industry
- The late-2000s financial crisis caused the Great Recession, which lasted into the early 2010s.
- In the early 2010s the European debt crisis caused major effects on European politics and contributing to power shifts and the introduction of austerity policies in different countries.
- Developing countries make up for 97% of the world's growth, and industrialization leads to the rapid rise of BRIC economies and the weakening of American hegemony in the global economy.
- The recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced many governments and economic sectors to heavily invest and restructure, especially through widespread introduction of remote work.
- Economic restructuring was pursued in many economies due to global climate change.
Sports
Association football is the most popular sport worldwide with the FIFA World Cup being the most viewed football event. Other sports such as rugby, cricket, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, tennis, and golf are popular globally. In cricket, the emergence of the Twenty20 format and the creation of the Indian Premier League led to changes in the nature of the sport. American swimmer Michael Phelps won an Olympic record setting 8 Gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Association football
- The 2002 FIFA World Cup – host South Korea and Japan – was won by Brazil
- The 2006 FIFA World Cup – host Germany – was won by Italy
- The 2010 FIFA World Cup – host South Africa – was won by Spain
- The 2014 FIFA World Cup – host Brazil – was won by Germany
- The 2018 FIFA World Cup – host Russia – was won by France
- The 2022 FIFA World Cup – host Qatar – was won by Argentina
Cricket
- The 2003 Cricket World Cup – host South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya – was won by Australia
- The 2007 Cricket World Cup – host West Indies – was won by Australia
- The 2011 Cricket World Cup – host India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – was won by India
- The 2015 Cricket World Cup – host Australia and New Zealand – was won by Australia
- The 2019 Cricket World Cup – host England and Wales – was won by England
Gridiron football
- In the National Football League, the New England Patriots were the dominant franchise of the first two decades of the 21st century, winning six Super Bowls between their first, in 2001, and their most recent, in 2018 and appearing in an additional three others. Head Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady led the team during the stretch, with Brady also leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an additional Super Bowl following the 2020 season. Other teams with multiple Super Bowl appearances over that time period include the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers. Besides Brady, who also won three Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), other highly recognized players include quarterback Peyton Manning, who won five MVP awards, the most in history, and quarterback Aaron Rodgers who won three MVPs, who in 2011 set the NFL record for season passer rating. Successful offensive players at other positions include wide receiver Randy Moss, who set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season with 23 in 2007, wide receiver Michael Thomas, who set the NFL record for most receptions in a season with 149 in 2019, tight end Rob Gronkowski, who became the first tight end to lead the league in receiving touchdowns in 2011, and running back Adrian Peterson, who set the all-time NFL record for rushing yards in a game with 296 in 2007, his rookie year. Key defensive players of the century include safety Ed Reed, who led the league in interceptions three times, linebacker Ray Lewis, who set the career tackles record when he retired in 2012, and linebacker J. J. Watt, who is the only player to record more than 20 quarterback sacks in two different seasons.
- In American college football, the sport saw the creation of the College Football Playoff, the first playoff for NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football in the U.S. The series was dominated by two teams, the Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide, at least one of which has played in every Playoff since its inception in 2014 and between them have won all but one of said championships. Prior to 2014, the method of determining the champion was done via the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a single championship game that attempted to match the top two teams in the country using a series of polls and computer rankings to choose the top two teams. In the BCS era, the top teams were Alabama, which won three BCS Championships, and Florida State, LSU, and Oklahoma, which won two BCS Championships each. Nick Saban, who led both LSU and Alabama to one and seven national championships respectively, was the most dominant coach of his era, while quarterbacks dominated the Heisman Trophy, winning 16 of 20 during the first two decades of the 21st century. Several controversies over the payment of athletes dominated the sport, with Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush being forced to return his award over receiving improper benefits while maintaining amateur status, while officials and media continued to debate the possibility of paying athletes at all levels of college athletics.
- In Canadian football, the league opened the 21st century facing an uncertain financial future, suffering from the failures of the experiment of trying to field Canadian football teams in the United States and having to contract a large number of teams at the end of the 20th century. The league fluctuated between eight and nine teams as two different Ottawa-based franchises failed during the first decade of the 21st century. The league found stability during the 2010s, and showed surprising parity between the teams, with all nine teams appearing in at least one Grey Cup during the 2000s and 2010s, and with only the Montreal Alouettes winning back-to-back titles during those two decades, in 2009 and 2010. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo of the Alouettes was the face of the league during his career, winning three Most Outstanding Player Awards and setting several passing records in the process.
Golf
- The 2002 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 15 and a half to USA's 12 and a half.
- The 2004 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 18 and a half to USA's 9 and a half.
- The 2006 Ryder Cup was won by Europe again 18 and a half to USA's 9 and a half.
- The 2008 Ryder Cup was won by USA 16 and a half to Europe's 11 and a half.
- The 2010 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 14 and a half to USA's 13 and a half.
- The 2012 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 14 and a half to USA's 13 and a half.
- The 2014 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 16 and a half to USA's 11 and a half.
- The 2016 Ryder Cup was won by USA 17 to Europe's 11.
- The 2018 Ryder Cup was won by Europe 17 and a half to USA's 10 and a half.
Motorsport
- Dale Earnhardt died after a last-lap crash during the Daytona 500 in February 2001.
- Michael Schumacher broke many records in the first few years of the century, including the record for most races won (91), most World Championships (7), and most pole positions (68) by the time he retired in 2006. In 2010, he announced his comeback to Formula One after three years out of the sport, retiring again in 2012.
- Sebastian Vettel broke numerous records on his way to becoming Formula One's youngest ever world champion, in 2010 at age 23, and then the youngest ever double world champion, in 2011 at age 24.
- Sébastien Loeb became the most successful rally driver ever, winning the World Rally Championship a record 9 consecutive times between 2004 and 2012. He also set new records for the most wins, podium finishes and points scored.
- Casey Stoner won his second MotoGP world title (2007 and 2011), and announced his retirement from the sport at just 27 years of age, citing disagreement with the direction of the sport and a desire to spend more time with his family. His retirement became effective at the end of the 2012 MotoGP season. Stoner has won every MotoGP-branded race at least once.
- Craig Lowndes became the first driver to reach 100 race wins in the V8 Supercars Championship.
- Lewis Hamilton broke the record for most career pole positions in Formula One in 2019, and the record for most career wins in 2020.
Rugby Union
- 2003 Rugby World Cup – host Australia – was won by England
- 2007 Rugby World Cup – host France – was won by South Africa
- 2011 Rugby World Cup – host New Zealand – was won by New Zealand
- 2015 Rugby World Cup – host England – was won by New Zealand
- 2019 Rugby World Cup – host Japan – was won by South Africa
Tennis (Men)
- Roger Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles (6 Australian Opens, 1 French Open, 8 Wimbledons, and 5 US Opens) to surpass Pete Sampras' record of 14.
- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic each completed a Career Grand Slam, winning the singles championships in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open; Nadal also won the Olympic Singles gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics to complete a Golden Career Slam.
- At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut completed the longest tennis match ever. Isner won 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68.
- In 2019, Rafael Nadal became the first male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament (French Open) 12 times.
Tennis (Women)
- Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles (7 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, 7 Wimbledons, and 6 US Opens) in the 21st century, to add to her 1999 US Open title. Including a 2017 Australian Open win whilst 8 weeks pregnant
- Maria Sharapova became the first female Russian player to reach No.1 on 22 August 2005. She also retired in 2020.
- China's Li Na won the 2011 French Open, becoming the first player, male or female, from that country to win a Grand Slam.
- Belarusian Victoria Azarenka won the 2012 Australian Open, becoming the first player, male or female, from that country to win a Grand Slam, and also hold the No.1 ranking (taking over from Caroline Wozniacki).
Arts and entertainment
Arts
- Art:21 - Art in the 21st Century (2001–2018), a PBS series
Music
At the beginning of the century, the compact disc (CD) was the standard form of music media, but alternative forms of music media started to take it place such as music downloading and online streaming. A resurgence in sales of vinyl records in the 2010s was driven by record collectors and audiophiles who prefer the sound of analog vinyl records to digital recordings. In 2020, for the first time since the 1980s, vinyl surpassed CDs as the primary form of physical media for consumers of music, though both were still surpassed by online streaming, which by the 2020s became the predominant way that people consumed music.[101] As of 2020, the most active music streaming services were YouTube (1 billion monthly music users, 20 million premium subscribers), Tencent Music (657 million monthly users, 42.7 million premium subscribers), 130 million premium subscribers), SoundCloud (175 million monthly users), Gaana (152 million monthly users), JioSaavn (104 million monthly users), Spotify (286 million monthly users), Pandora (60.9 million monthly users), and Apple Music (60 million subscribers).[102]
Television
As with music, the story of the first two decades of the 21st century was the growth of streaming television services in competition with older forms of television, such as Terrestrial television, cable television, and satellite television. The first major company to dominate the streaming service market was Netflix, which began as a DVD-delivery service in the late 1990s, transitioned into an online media streaming platform initially focused on delivering content produced by studios, then began to produce its own content, beginning with the popular and critically acclaimed series House of Cards in 2013. Netflix's success encouraged the creation of numerous other streaming services, such as Hulu, YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, which within a year of its launch overtook Netflix as the most downloaded television streaming application.[103]
Issues and concerns
- Global warming. Climate scientists have reached a consensus that the earth is undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming.[104] The resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict. Some scientists argue that human-induced global warming risks considerable losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services unless considerable sociopolitical changes are introduced, particularly in patterns of mass consumption and transportation.[105]
- Globalization. Advances in telecommunications and transportation, the expansion of capitalism and democracy[disputed ] since the late 1980s, and free trade agreements have resulted in unprecedented global economic and cultural integration. Most economists believe free trade leads to economic growth and benefits most people, including small businesses.[106] In recent years, however, there has been a backlash against globalization and a return to protectionist attitudes among some leaders and nations, most notably United States President Donald Trump and the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union.
- Population. The world's population demographics will shift considerably in this century, with the population of Europe and East Asia to decline considerably and the population of Africa and to a lesser extent South Asia to grow considerably. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050.[108]
Most of this growth will take place in the world's poorer countries,
which may slow down the global reduction of poverty and combined with
the effects of global warming may lead to large migrations.
- Overconsumption and overpopulation. The United Nations estimates that world population will reach 9.2 billion by mid-century. Such growth raises questions of ecological sustainability and creates many economic and political disruptions. In response, many countries have adopted policies which either force or encourage their citizens to have fewer children, and others have limited immigration. Considerable debate exists over what the ultimate carrying capacity of the planet may be; whether or not population growth containment policies are necessary; to what degree growth can safely occur thanks to increased economic and ecological efficiency; and how distribution mechanisms should accommodate demographic shifts. Many developed countries (most notably Japan) will experience population decline, and the population debate is strongly tied with discussions about the distribution of wealth.
- Poverty. Poverty remains the root cause of many of the world's other ills, including famine, disease, and insufficient education. Poverty contains many self-reinforcing elements (for instance, poverty can make education an unaffordable luxury, which tends to result in continuing poverty) that various aid groups hope to rectify in this century. Immense progress has been made in reducing poverty, especially in China and India but increasingly in Africa as well. Microcredit lending has also started to gain a profile as a useful anti-poverty tool.
- Disease. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria each kill over a million people annually. HIV remains without a cure or vaccine, and while new cases are declining it remains a major problem, especially for women.[109] Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for organisms such as tuberculosis. Other diseases, such as SARS, COVID-19, ebola, the Zika virus and flu variations, are also causes for concern. The World Health Organization has warned of a possible coming flu pandemic resulting from bird flu mutations. In 2009, there was an outbreak of swine flu whose country of origin is still unknown.
- War and terrorism. Although war and terror have declined so far in the early 21st century,[111] active conflicts continue around the world, such as the Syrian Civil War, the Yemeni Civil War and the War in Afghanistan. The 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered invasions of Afghanistan and partially and controversially Iraq. The War on Terror has seen controversies over civil liberties, accusations of torture, continued terrorist attacks and ongoing instability, violence, and military occupation. Violence continues in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Considerable concern remains about nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran and North Korea, and the availability of weapons of mass destruction to rogue groups.
- War on drugs. Increasingly, the legal, social and military battle led by governments against drug cartels around the world show little results in ending drug trading and consumption, and a constant increase in the lives taken from this struggle. Notably, after 2006 in the Mexican Drug War, more than 100,000 human lives have been lost to this conflict. Some jurisdictions have enacted some degree of legalization or decriminalization of some kinds of drugs, notably including several U.S. states legalizing marijuana either for recreational or medical use.
- Intellectual property. The increasing popularity of digital formats for entertainment media such as movies and music, and the ease of copying and distributing it via the Internet and peer-to-peer networks, has raised concerns in the media industry about copyright infringement. Much debate is proceeding about the proper bounds between protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights versus fair use and the public domain, where some argue that such laws have shifted greatly towards intellectual property owners and away from the interests of the general public in recent years, while others say that such legal change is needed to deal with a perceived threat of new technologies against the rights of authors and artists (or, as others put it, against the outmoded business models of the current entertainment industry). Domain name "cybersquatting" and access to patented drugs and generics to combat epidemics in third-world countries are other IP concerns.
- Technology developments continue to change society. Communications and control technology continues to augment the intelligence of individual humans, collections of humans, and machines. Some, notably Ray Kurzweil, have predicted that by the middle of the century there will be a technological singularity if artificial intelligence that outsmarts humans is created. In addition, some economists have expressed concerns over technological unemployment due to automation.
- Civil rights, including women's rights, LGBT rights, racial equality and the rights of disabled and neurodiverse people are still a work in progress. Women are not able to realize or are outright denied their rights in many countries, including India, China[112] and Saudi Arabia, and sexual violence against women is still an enormous problem everywhere in the world. Sex-selective abortion has reduced the number of women born worldwide since 1990, mostly because of son preference in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, South Korea and some other smaller countries. In many countries attitudes towards homosexuality have become more tolerant. Same-sex marriage was legalized in several jurisdictions during the first two decades of the century, but outlawed by constitutional amendment in other places. Meanwhile, some countries such as Uganda and Russia moved to toughen their laws against any sort of homosexual behavior or expression. Political battles over pro- or anti-gay legislation provoked much activism in the streets and on the Internet. Hate groups remain a serious problem, and ethnic minorities have a lower status in many countries, including the United States. Neurological conditions such as autism are slowly becoming more understood and recognized.
Astronomical events
- 2004: Transit of Venus.
- 23 December 2007: grand conjunction, a galactic conjunction which happens every 26,000 years.
- 2009: Triple conjunction Jupiter–Neptune.
- Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009, total of 6 min 38.8 s, saros 136.
- Solar eclipse of January 15, 2010, annular of 11 min 08 s, saros 141. The longest of the century, and also of the entire millennium.
- 2012: Transit of Venus.
- 11 November 2019: Transit of Mercury.
- Solar eclipse of June 21, 2020, annular of 38 s, saros 137
See also
Notes
References
The world's largest online encyclopedia has learned lessons from fighting misinformation for two decades
Commentary: Wikipedia celebrated its 20th anniversary today. The free encyclopedia may not be exciting, but its neutral, volunteer-driven content is incredibly valuable.
The year marks the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia. Every month, more than 1.7 billion people visit the open-source website in search of information about, well, just about anything! We speak with Dr. Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute about Wikipedia's successes, where it fits into the discrimination crisis and the website's future.
Wikipedia is the web's seventh-most visited site
- Fry, Lisa. "Chinese Women and Economic Human Rights" (PDF). Josef Korbel School of International Studies University of Denver. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
Further reading
- Adebajo, Adekeye, ed. Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War (Oxford UP, 2014).
- Allitt, Patrick N. America after the Cold War: The First 30 Years (2020).
- Andersson, Jenny. The future of the world: Futurology, futurists, and the struggle for the post cold war imagination (Oxford UP, 2018).
- Ahram, Ariel I. War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (John Wiley & Sons, 2020).
- Asare, Prince, and Richard Barfi. "The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Global Economy: Emphasis on Poverty Alleviation and Economic Growth." Economics 8.1 (2021): 32-43 online.
- Aziz, Nusrate, and M. Niaz Asadullah. "Military spending, armed conflict and economic growth in developing countries in the post–Cold War era." Journal of Economic Studies 44.1 (2017): 47–68.
- Brands, Hal. Making the unipolar moment: U.S. foreign policy and the rise of the post-Cold War order (2016).
- Brügger, Niels, ed, Web25: Histories from the first 25 years of the world wide web (Peter Lang, 2017).
- Cameron, Fraser. US foreign policy after the cold war: global hegemon or reluctant sheriff? (Psychology Press, 2005).
- Cassani, Andrea, and Luca Tomini. Autocratization in post-cold war political regimes (Springer, 2018).
- Clapton, William ed. Risk and Hierarchy in International Society: Liberal Interventionism in the Post-Cold War Era (Palgrave Macmillan UK. 2014)
- Dai, Jinhua, and Lisa Rofel, eds. After the Post–Cold War: The Future of Chinese History (Duke UP, 2018).
- Duong, Thanh. Hegemonic globalisation: U.S. centrality and global strategy in the emerging world order (Routledge, 2017).
- The Economist. The World in 2020 (2019)
- The Economist. The Pocket World in 2021 (2020) excerpt
- Gertler, Mark, and Simon Gilchrist. "What happened: Financial factors in the great recession." Journal of Economic Perspectives 32.3 (2018): 3-30. online
- Harrison, Ewam. The Post-Cold War International System: Strategies, Institutions and Reflexivity (2004).
- Henriksen, Thomas H. Cycles in US Foreign Policy Since the Cold War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) excerpt.
- Howe, Joshua P. Behind the curve: science and the politics of global warming (U of Washington Press, 2014).
- Jackson, Robert J. and Philip Towle. Temptations of Power: The United States in Global Politics after 9/11 (2007)
- Lamy, Steven L., et al. Introduction to global politics (4th ed. Oxford UP, 2017)
- Mandelbaum, Michael The Rise and Fall of Peace on Earth (Oxford UP, 2019) why so much peace 1989–2015. excerpt
- Maull, Hanns W., ed. The rise and decline of the post-Cold War international order (Oxford UP, 2018).
- Pekkanen, Saadia M., John Ravenhill, and Rosemary Foot, eds. Oxford handbook of the international relations of Asia (Oxford UP, 2014), comprehensive coverage.
- Ravenhill, John, ed. Global political economy (5th ed. Oxford UP, 2017) excerpt
- Reid-Henry, Simon. Empire of Democracy: The Remaking of the West Since the Cold War (2019) excerpt
- Rosenberg, Jerry M. (2012). The Concise Encyclopedia of The Great Recession 2007–2012 (2nd ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810883406.
- Rubin, Robert, and Jacob Weisberg. In an uncertain world: tough choices from Wall Street to Washington (2015).
- Rudolph, Peter. "The Sino-American World Conflict" (German Institute for International and Security Affairs. SWP Research Paper #3, February 2020). doi: 10.18449/2020RP03 online
- Schenk, Catherine R. International economic relations since 1945 (2nd ed. 2021).
- Smith, Rhona K.M. et al. International Human Rights (4th ed. 2018)
- Smith, Rhona KM. Texts and materials on international human rights (4th ed. Routledge, 2020).
- Strong, Jason. The 2010s: Looking Back At A Dramatic Decade (2019) online
- Taylor-Gooby, Peter, Benjamin Leruth, and Heejung Chung, eds. After austerity: Welfare state transformation in Europe after the great recession (Oxford UP, 2017).
- Tooze, Adam (2018). Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. New York: Viking. ISBN 9780670024933.
- Tooze, Adam. Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy (2021).
- United Nations. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020 (2020) online annual reports
- United Nations. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 - Retooling Global Development (2010) online
External links
- Reuters – The State of the World The story of the 21st century
- Long Bets Foundation to promote long-term thinking
- Century Seasons
- Long Now Long-term cultural institution
- Scientific American Magazine (September 2005 Issue) The Climax of Humanity
- MapReport 21st Century Event World Map
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_century
 | This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Clarification needed at times. (November 2022) |
Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the span of a life. It is sometimes used referring to inanimate objects, i.e. a building, but is generally used to estimate the average life span of living things, more specifically human life.
This average is calculated based on the year of birth, sex, and region, factoring in the causes of mortality that would most likely affect the particular population. As of 2016, the overall worldwide life expectancy had reached the highest level that has been measured in modern times.[1]
The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth (LEB), which can be defined in two ways. Cohort LEB is the mean length of life of a birth cohort (in this case, all individuals born in a given year) and can be computed only for cohorts born so long ago that all their members have died. Period LEB is the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort[2][3] assumed to be exposed, from birth through death, to the mortality rates observed at a given year.[4]
National LEB figures reported by national agencies and international organizations for human populations are estimates of period LEB. In the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, human LEB was 26 years; in 2010, world LEB was 67.2 years. In recent years, LEB in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is 49, while LEB in Japan is 83. The combination of high infant mortality and deaths in young adulthood from accidents, epidemics, plagues, wars, and childbirth, before modern medicine was widely available, significantly lowers LEB. For example, a society with a LEB of 40 would have relatively few people dying at exactly 40: most will die before 30 or after 55. In populations with high infant mortality rates, LEB is highly sensitive to the rate of death in the first few years of life. Because of this sensitivity, LEB can be grossly misinterpreted, leading to the belief that a population with a low LEB would have a small proportion of older people.[5] A different measure, such as life expectancy at age 5 (e5), can be used to exclude the effect of infant mortality to provide a simple measure of overall mortality rates other than in early childhood. For instance, in a society with a life expectancy of 30, it may nevertheless be common to have a 40-year remaining timespan at age 5 (but perhaps not a 60-year one).
Until the middle of the 20th century, infant mortality was approximately 40–60% of the total mortality. Excluding child mortality, the average life expectancy during the 12th–19th centuries was approximately 55 years. If a person survived childhood, they had about a 50% chance of living 50–55 years, instead of only 25–40 years.[6]
Aggregate population measures—such as the proportion of the population in various age groups—are also used alongside individual-based measures—such as formal life expectancy—when analyzing population structure and dynamics. Pre-modern societies had universally higher mortality rates and lower life expectancies at every age for both males and females. This example is relatively rare.
Life expectancy, longevity, and maximum lifespan are not synonymous. Longevity refers to the relatively long lifespan of some members of a population. Maximum lifespan is the age at death for the longest-lived individual of a species. Mathematically, life expectancy is denoted [a] and is the mean number of years of life remaining at a given age , with a particular mortality.[7] Because life expectancy is an average, a particular person may die many years before or after the expected survival.
Life expectancy is also used in plant or animal ecology,[8] and in life tables (also known as actuarial tables). The concept of life expectancy may also be used in the context of manufactured objects,[9] though the related term[dubious ] shelf life is commonly used for consumer products, and the terms "mean time to breakdown" (MTTB) and "mean time between failures" (MTBF) are used in engineering.
Human patterns
Maximum
The longest verified lifespan for any human is that of Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who is verified as having lived to age 122 years, 164 days, between 21 February 1875 and 4 August 1997. This is referred to as the "maximum life span," which is the upper boundary of life, the maximum number of years any human is known to have lived.[10] A theoretical study shows that the maximum life expectancy at birth is limited by the human life characteristic value δ, which is around 104 years.[11] According to a study by biologists Bryan G. Hughes and Siegfried Hekimi, there is no evidence for limit on human lifespan.[12][13] However, this view has been questioned on the basis of error patterns.[14]
Records of human lifespan above age 100 are highly susceptible to errors.[14] For example, the previous world-record holder for human lifespan, Carrie C. White was uncovered as a simple typographic error after more than two decades.[14][failed verification]
Variation over time
The following information is derived from the 1961 Encyclopædia Britannica and other sources, some with questionable accuracy. Unless otherwise stated, it represents estimates of the life expectancies of the world population as a whole. In many instances, life expectancy varied considerably according to class and gender.
Life expectancy at birth takes account of infant mortality and child mortality but not prenatal mortality.
| Era | Life expectancy at birth in years | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paleolithic | 22–33[15] | Based on the data from modern hunter-gatherer populations, it is estimated that at 15, life expectancy was 54 years, with a 60% probability of reaching 15.[16] |
| Neolithic | 20[17] – 33[18] | Based on Early Neolithic data, total life expectancy at 15 would be 28–33 years.[19] |
| Bronze Age and Iron Age[20] | 26 | Based on Early and Middle Bronze Age data, total life expectancy at 15 would be 28–36 years.[19] |
| Classical Greece[21] | 25[22] – 28[23] | Based on Athens Agora and Corinth data, total life expectancy at 15 would be 37–41 years.[19] Most Greeks and Romans died young. About half of all children died before adolescence. Those who survived to the age of 30 had a reasonable chance of reaching 50 or 60. The truly elderly, however, were rare. Because so many died in childhood, life expectancy at birth was probably between 20 and 30 years.[24] |
| Ancient Rome | 20–33 | Data is lacking, but computer models provide the estimate. If a
person survived to age 20, they could expect to live around 30 years
more. Life expectancy was probably slightly longer for women than men.[29]
When infant mortality is factored out (i.e. counting only the 67[25]–75% who survived the first year), life expectancy is around 34–41 more years (i.e. expected to live to 35–42). When child mortality is factored out (i.e. counting only the 55-65% who survived to age 5), life expectancy is around 40–45 (i.e. age 45–50).[27] The ~50% that reached age 10 could also expect to reach ~45-50;[25] at 15 to ~48–54; at 40 to ~60;[25] at 50 to ~64–68; at 60 to ~70–72; at 70 to ~76–77.[27][29] |
| Wang clan of China, 1st c. AD – 1749 | 35 | For the 60% that survived the first year (i.e. excluding infant mortalities), life expectancy rose to ~35.[30][31] |
| Early Middle Ages (Europe, from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century) | 30–35 | Life expectancy for those of both sexes who survived birth averaged about 30–35 years. However, if a Gaulish boy made it past age 20, he might expect to live 25 more years, while a woman at age 20 could normally expect about 17 more years. Anyone who survived until 40 had a good chance at another 15 to 20 years.[32] |
| Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica[33] | >40 | The average Aztec life expectancy was 41.2 years for men and 42.1 for women. |
| Late medieval English peerage[34][35] | 30–33[28] | In Europe, around one-third of infants died in their first year.[15] Once children reached the age of 10, their life expectancy was 32.2 years, and for those who survived to 25, the remaining life expectancy was 23.3 years. Such estimates reflected the life expectancy of adult males from the higher ranks of English society in the Middle Ages, and were similar to that computed for monks of the Christ Church in Canterbury during the 15th century.[28] At age 21, life expectancy of an aristocrat was an additional 43 years (total age 64).[36] |
| Early modern Britain (16th – 18th century)[20] | 33–40 | For males in the 18th century it was 34 years.[37] For 15-year-old girls: around the 15th – 16th century it was ~33 years (48 total), and in the 18th century it was ~42 (57 total).[38] |
| 18th-century England[39][15] | 25–40 | For most of the century it ranged from 35 to 40; however, in the 1720s it dipped as low as 25.[39] For 15-year-old girls, it was ~42 (57 total).[38] During the second half of the century it was ~37,[40] while for the elite it passed 40 and approached 50.[30] |
| Pre-Champlain Canadian Maritimes[41] | 60 | Samuel de Champlain wrote that in his visits to Mi'kmaq and Huron communities, he met people over 100 years old. Daniel Paul attributes the incredible lifespan in the region to low stress and a healthy diet of lean meats, diverse vegetables, and legumes.[42] |
| 18th-century Prussia[37] | 24.7 | For males.[37] |
| 18th-century France[37] | 27.5–30 | For males:[37] 24.8 years in 1740–1749, 27.9 years in 1750–1759, 33.9 years in 1800–1809.[31] |
| 18th-century American colonies[15] | 28 | Massachusetts colonists who reached the age of 50 could expect to live until 71, and those who were still alive at 60 could expect to reach 75. |
| Beginning of the 19th century[39] | ~29 | Demographic research suggests that at the beginning of the 19th century, no country in the world had a life expectancy longer than 40 years. India was ~25 years, while Belgium was ~40 years.[39] For Europe as a whole, it was ~33 years.[40] |
| Early 19th-century England[20][39][30] | 40 | For the 84% who survived the first year (i.e. excluding infant mortality), the average age was ~46[30]–48. If they reached 20, then it was ~60; if 50, then ~70; if 70, then ~80.[39] For a 15-year-old girl it was ~60–65.[38] For the upper-class, LEB rose from ~45 to 50.[30]
Less than half of the people born in the mid-19th century made it past their 50th birthday. In contrast, 97% of the people born in 21st century England and Wales can expect to live longer than 50 years.[39] |
| 19th-century British India[43] | 25.4 |
|
| 19th-century world average[39] | 28.5–32 | Over the course of the century: Europe rose from ~33 to 43, the Americas from ~35 to 41, Oceania ~35 to 48, Asia ~28, Africa 26.[39] In 1820s France, LEB was ~38, and for the 80% that survived, it rose to ~47. For Moscow serfs, LEB was ~34, and for the 66% that survived, it rose to ~36.[30] Western Europe in 1830 was ~33 years, while for the people of Hau-Lou in China, it was ~40.[40] The LEB for a 10-year-old in Sweden rose from ~44 to ~54.[39] |
| 1900 world average[44] | 31–32[39] | Around 48 years in Oceania, 43 in Europe, and 41 in the Americas.[39] Around 47 in the U.S.[15] and around 48 for 15-year-old girls in England.[38] |
| 1950 world average[44] | 45.7–48[39] | Around 60 years in Europe, North America, Oceania, Japan, and parts of South America; but only 41 in Asia and 36 in Africa. Norway led with 72, while in Mali it was merely 26.[39] |
| 2019–2020 world average | 72.6–73.2 [39][45][46] |
|
Life expectancy increases with age as the individual survives the higher mortality rates associated with childhood. For instance, the table above gives the life expectancy at birth among 13th-century English nobles at 30. Having survived to the age of 21, a male member of the English aristocracy in this period could expect to live:[36]
- 1200–1300: to age 64
- 1300–1400: to age 45 (because of the bubonic plague)
- 1400–1500: to age 69
- 1500–1550: to age 71
17th-century English life expectancy was only about 35 years, largely because infant and child mortality remained high. Life expectancy was under 25 years in the early Colony of Virginia,[47] and in seventeenth-century New England, about 40% died before reaching adulthood.[48] During the Industrial Revolution, the life expectancy of children increased dramatically.[49] The under-5 mortality rate in London decreased from 74.5% (in 1730–1749) to 31.8% (in 1810–1829).[50][51]
Public health measures are credited with much of the recent increase in life expectancy. During the 20th century, despite a brief drop due to the 1918 flu pandemic,[52] the average lifespan in the United States increased by more than 30 years, of which 25 years can be attributed to advances in public health.[53]
Regional variations
Human beings are expected to live on average 30–40 years in Eswatini[54] and 82.6 years in Japan.[b] An analysis published in 2011 in The Lancet attributes Japanese life expectancy to equal opportunities, public health, and diet.[56][57]
There are great variations in life expectancy between different parts of the world, mostly caused by differences in public health, medical care, and diet. The impact of AIDS on life expectancy is particularly notable in many African countries. According to projections made by the United Nations in 2002, the life expectancy at birth for 2010–2015 (if HIV/AIDS did not exist) would have been:[59]
- 70.7 years instead of 31.6 years, Botswana
- 69.9 years instead of 41.5 years, South Africa
- 70.5 years instead of 31.8 years, Zimbabwe
Actual life expectancy in Botswana declined from 65 in 1990 to 49 in 2000 before increasing to 66 in 2011. In South Africa, life expectancy was 63 in 1990, 57 in 2000, and 58 in 2011. And in Zimbabwe, life expectancy was 60 in 1990, 43 in 2000, and 54 in 2011.[60]
During the last 200 years, African countries have generally not had the same improvements in mortality rates that have been enjoyed by countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe.[61][62]
In the United States, African-American people have shorter life expectancies than their European-American counterparts. For example, white Americans in 2010 are expected to live until age 78.9, but black Americans only until age 75.1. This 3.8-year gap, however, is the lowest it has been since 1975 at the latest. The greatest difference was 7.1 years in 1993.[63] In contrast, Asian-American women live the longest of all ethnic groups in the United States, with a life expectancy of 85.8 years.[64] The life expectancy of Hispanic-Americans is 81.2 years.[63] According to the new government reports in the US, life expectancy in the country dropped again because of the rise in suicide and drug overdose rates. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found nearly 70,000 more Americans died in 2017 than in 2016, with rising rates of death among 25- to 44-year-olds.[65]
Cities also experience a wide range of life expectancy based on neighborhood breakdowns. This is largely due to economic clustering and poverty conditions that tend to associate based on geographic location. Multi-generational poverty found in struggling neighborhoods also contributes. In United States cities such as Cincinnati, the life expectancy gap between low income and high-income neighborhoods touches 20 years.[66]
Economic circumstances
Economic circumstances also affect life expectancy. For example, in the United Kingdom, life expectancy in the wealthiest and richest areas is several years higher than in the poorest areas. This may reflect factors such as diet and lifestyle, as well as access to medical care. It may also reflect a selective effect: people with chronic life-threatening illnesses are less likely to become wealthy or to reside in affluent areas.[69] In Glasgow, the disparity is amongst the highest in the world: life expectancy for males in the heavily deprived Calton area stands at 54, which is 28 years less than in the affluent area of Lenzie, which is only 8 km (5.0 mi) away.[70][71]
A 2013 study found a pronounced relationship between economic inequality and life expectancy.[72] However, in contrast, a study by José A. Tapia Granados and Ana Diez Roux at the University of Michigan found that life expectancy actually increased during the Great Depression, and during recessions and depressions in general.[73] The authors suggest that when people are working at a more extreme degree during prosperous economic times, they undergo more stress, exposure to pollution, and the likelihood of injury among other longevity-limiting factors.
Life expectancy is also likely to be affected by exposure to high levels of highway air pollution or industrial air pollution. This is one way that occupation can have a major effect on life expectancy. Coal miners (and in prior generations, asbestos cutters) often have lower life expectancies than average. Other factors affecting an individual's life expectancy are genetic disorders, drug use, tobacco smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, access to health care, diet, and exercise.
Sex differences
In the present, female human life expectancy is greater than that of males, despite females having higher morbidity rates (see Health survival paradox). There are many potential reasons for this. Traditional arguments tend to favor sociology-environmental factors: historically, men have generally consumed more tobacco, alcohol, and drugs than women in most societies, and are more likely to die from many associated diseases such as lung cancer, tuberculosis, and cirrhosis of the liver.[75] Men are also more likely to die from injuries, whether unintentional (such as occupational, war, or car wrecks) or intentional (suicide).[75] Men are also more likely to die from most of the leading causes of death (some already stated above) than women. Some of these in the United States include cancer of the respiratory system, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, cirrhosis of the liver, emphysema, prostate cancer, and coronary heart disease.[10] These far outweigh the female mortality rate from breast cancer and cervical cancer. In the past, mortality rates for females in child-bearing age groups were higher than for males at the same age.
A paper from 2015 found that female foetuses have a higher mortality rate than male foetuses.[76] This finding contradicts papers dating from 2002 and earlier that attribute the male sex to higher in-utero mortality rates.[77][78][79] Among the smallest premature babies (those under 2 pounds (910 grams)), females have a higher survival rate. At the other extreme, about 90% of individuals aged 110 are female. The difference in life expectancy between men and women in the United States dropped from 7.8 years in 1979 to 5.3 years in 2005, with women expected to live to age 80.1 in 2005.[80] Data from the United Kingdom shows the gap in life expectancy between men and women decreasing in later life. This may be attributable to the effects of infant mortality and young adult death rates.[81]
Some argue that shorter male life expectancy is merely another manifestation of the general rule, seen in all mammal species, that larger-sized individuals within a species tend, on average, to have shorter lives.[82][83] This biological difference[clarification needed] occurs because women have more resistance to infections and degenerative diseases.[10]
In her extensive review of the existing literature, Kalben concluded that the fact that women live longer than men was observed at least as far back as 1750 and that, with relatively equal treatment, today males in all parts of the world experience greater mortality than females. However, Kalben's study was restricted to data in Western Europe alone, where the demographic transition occurred relatively early. United Nations statistics from mid-twentieth century onward, show that in all parts of the world, females have a higher life expectancy at age 60 than males.[84] Of 72 selected causes of death, only 6 yielded greater female than male age-adjusted death rates in 1998 in the United States. Except for birds, for almost all of the animal species studied, males have higher mortality than females. Evidence suggests that the sex mortality differential in people is due to both biological/genetic and environmental/behavioral risk and protective factors.[85]
One recent suggestion is that mitochondrial mutations which shorten lifespan continue to be expressed in males (but less so in females) because mitochondria are inherited only through the mother. By contrast, natural selection weeds out mitochondria that reduce female survival; therefore, such mitochondria are less likely to be passed on to the next generation. This thus suggests that females tend to live longer than males. The authors claim that this is a partial explanation.[86][87]
Another explanation is the unguarded X hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, one reason for why the average lifespan of males isn't as long as that of females––by 18% on average, according to the study––is that they have a Y chromosome which can't protect an individual from harmful genes expressed on the X chromosome, while a duplicate X chromosome, as present in female organisms, can ensure harmful genes aren't expressed.[88][89]
Before the Industrial Revolution, men lived longer than women on average.[90][91] In developed countries, starting around 1880, death rates decreased faster among women, leading to differences in mortality rates between males and females. Before 1880, death rates were the same. In people born after 1900, the death rate of 50- to 70-year-old men was double that of women of the same age. Men may be more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease than women, but this susceptibility was evident only after deaths from other causes, such as infections, started to decline.[92] Most of the difference in life expectancy between the sexes is accounted for by differences in the rate of death by cardiovascular diseases among persons aged 50–70.[93]
Genetics
The heritability of lifespan is estimated to be less than 10%, meaning the majority of variation in lifespan is attributable due to differences in environment rather than genetic variation.[94] However, researchers have identified regions of the genome which can influence the length of life and the number of years lived in good health. For example, a genome-wide association study of 1 million lifespans found 12 genetic loci which influenced lifespan by modifying susceptibility to cardiovascular and smoking-related disease.[95] The locus with the largest effect is APOE. Carriers of the APOE ε4 allele live approximately one year less than average (per copy of the ε4 allele), mainly due to increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.[95]
In July 2020, scientists identified 10 genomic loci with consistent effects across multiple lifespan-related traits, including healthspan, lifespan, and longevity.[96] The genes affected by variation in these loci highlighted haem metabolism as a promising candidate for further research within the field. This study suggests that high levels of iron in the blood likely reduce, and genes involved in metabolising iron likely increase healthy years of life in humans.[97]
A follow-up study which investigated the genetics of frailty and self-rated health in addition to healthspan, lifespan, and longevity also highlighted haem metabolism as an important pathway, and found genetic variants which lower blood protein levels of LPA and VCAM1 were associated with increased healthy lifespan.[98]
Centenarians
In developed countries, the number of centenarians is increasing at approximately 5.5% per year, which means doubling the centenarian population every 13 years, pushing it from some 455,000 in 2009 to 4.1 million in 2050.[99] Japan is the country with the highest ratio of centenarians (347 for every 1 million inhabitants in September 2010). Shimane Prefecture had an estimated 743 centenarians per million inhabitants.[100]
In the United States, the number of centenarians grew from 32,194 in 1980 to 71,944 in November 2010 (232 centenarians per million inhabitants).[101]
Mental illness
Mental illness is reported to occur in approximately 18% of the average American population.[102][103]
The mentally ill have been shown to have a 10- to 25-year reduction in life expectancy.[105] Generally, the reduction of lifespan in the mentally ill population compared to the mentally stable population has been studied and documented.[106][107][108][109][110]
The greater mortality of people with mental disorders may be due to death from injury, from co-morbid conditions, or medication side effects.[111] For instance, psychiatric medications can increase the risk of developing diabetes.[112][113][114][115] It has been shown that the psychiatric medication olanzapine can increase risk of developing agranulocytosis, among other comorbidities.[116][117] Psychiatric medicines also affect the gastrointestinal tract; the mentally ill have a four times risk of gastrointestinal disease.[118][119][120]
As of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have found an increased risk of death in the mentally ill.[121][122][123]
Other illnesses
The life expectancy of people with diabetes, which is 9.3% of the U.S. population, is reduced by roughly 10–20 years.[124][125] People over 60 years old with Alzheimer's disease have about a 50% life expectancy of 3–10 years.[126] Other demographics that tend to have a lower life expectancy than average include transplant recipients[127] and the obese.[128]
Education
Education on all levels has been shown to be strongly associated with increased life expectancy.[129] This association may be due partly to higher income,[130] which can lead to increased life expectancy. Despite the association, among identical twin pairs with different education levels, there is only weak evidence of a relationship between educational attainment and adult mortality.[129]
According to a paper from 2015, the mortality rate for the Caucasian population in the United States from 1993 to 2001 is four times higher[dubious ] for those who did not complete high school compared to those who have at least 16 years of education.[129] In fact, within the U.S. adult population, people with less than a high school education have the shortest life expectancies.
Preschool education also plays a large role in life expectancy. It was found that high-quality early-stage childhood education had positive effects on health. Researchers discovered this by analyzing the results of the Carolina Abecedarian Project, finding that the disadvantaged children who were randomly assigned to treatment had lower instances of risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in their mid-30s.[131]
Evolution and aging rate
Various species of plants and animals, including humans, have different lifespans. Evolutionary theory states that organisms which—by virtue of their defenses or lifestyle—live for long periods and avoid accidents, disease, predation, etc. are likely to have genes that code for slow aging, which often translates to good cellular repair. One theory is that if predation or accidental deaths prevent most individuals from living to an old age, there will be less natural selection to increase the intrinsic life span.[132] That finding was supported in a classic study of opossums by Austad;[133] however, the opposite relationship was found in an equally prominent study of guppies by Reznick.[134][135]
One prominent and very popular theory states that lifespan can be lengthened by a tight budget for food energy called caloric restriction.[136] Caloric restriction observed in many animals (most notably mice and rats) shows a near doubling of life span from a very limited calorific intake. Support for the theory has been bolstered by several new studies linking lower basal metabolic rate to increased life expectancy.[137][138][139] That is the key to why animals like giant tortoises can live so long.[140] Studies of humans with life spans of at least 100 have shown a link to decreased thyroid activity, resulting in their lowered metabolic rate.[citation needed]
In a broad survey of zoo animals, no relationship was found between investment of the animal in reproduction and its life span.[141]
Calculation
In actuarial notation, the probability of surviving from age to age is denoted and the probability of dying during age (i.e. between ages and ) is denoted . For example, if 10% of a group of people alive at their 90th birthday die before their 91st birthday, the age-specific death probability at 90 would be 10%. This probability describes the likelihood of dying at that age, and is not the rate at which people of that age die.[c] It can be shown that
-
(1)
The curtate future lifetime, denoted , is a discrete random variable representing the remaining lifetime at age , rounded down to whole years. Life expectancy, more technically called the curtate expected lifetime and denoted ,[a] is the mean of —that is to say, the expected number of whole years of life remaining, assuming survival to age .[142] So,
-
(2)
![{\displaystyle e_{x}=\operatorname {E} [K(x)]=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }k\,\cdot \Pr(K(x)=k)=\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }k\,\,_{k}p_{x}\,\,q_{x+k}.}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/f479ebacfef15f4f97a64835040193d57f7d9a0f)
Substituting (1) into the sum and simplifying gives the final result [143]
-
(3)
If the assumption is made that, on average, people live a half year on the year of their death, the complete life expectancy at age would be .
By definition, life expectancy is an arithmetic mean. It can also be calculated by integrating the survival curve from 0 to positive infinity (or equivalently to the maximum lifespan, sometimes called 'omega'). For an extinct or completed cohort (all people born in the year 1850, for example), it can of course simply be calculated by averaging the ages at death. For cohorts with some survivors, it is estimated by using mortality experience in recent years. The estimates are called period cohort life expectancies.
The starting point for calculating life expectancy is the age-specific death rates of the population members. If a large amount of data is available, a statistical population can be created that allow the age-specific death rates to be simply taken as the mortality rates actually experienced at each age (the number of deaths divided by the number of years "exposed to risk" in each data cell). However, it is customary to apply smoothing to remove (as much as possible) the random statistical fluctuations from one year of age to the next. In the past, a very simple model used for this purpose was the Gompertz function, but more sophisticated methods are now used.[144] The most common modern methods include:
- fitting a mathematical formula (such as the Gompertz function, or an extension of it) to the data.
- looking at an established mortality table derived from a larger population and making a simple adjustment to it (such as multiplying by a constant factor) to fit the data. (In cases of relatively small amounts of data.)
- looking at the mortality rates actually experienced at each age and applying a piecewise model (such as by cubic splines) to fit the data. (In cases of relatively large amounts of data.)
The age-specific death rates are calculated separately for separate groups of data that are believed to have different mortality rates (such as males and females, or smokers and non-smokers) and are then used to calculate a life table from which one can calculate the probability of surviving to each age. While the data required are easily identified in the case of humans, the computation of life expectancy of industrial products and wild animals involves more indirect techniques. The life expectancy and demography of wild animals are often estimated by capturing, marking, and recapturing them.[145] The life of a product, more often termed shelf life, is also computed using similar methods. In the case of long-lived components, such as those used in critical applications (e.g. aircraft), methods like accelerated aging are used to model the life expectancy of a component.[9]
It is important to note that the life expectancy statistic is usually based on past mortality experience and assumes that the same age-specific mortality rates will continue. Thus, such life expectancy figures need to be adjusted for temporal trends before calculating how long a currently living individual of a particular age is expected to live. Period life expectancy remains a commonly used statistic to summarize the current health status of a population. However, for some purposes, such as pensions calculations, it is usual to adjust the life table used by assuming that age-specific death rates will continue to decrease over the years, as they have usually done in the past. That is often done by simply extrapolating past trends, but some models exist to account for the evolution of mortality, like the Lee–Carter model.[146]
As discussed above, on an individual basis, some factors correlate with longer life. Factors that are associated with variations in life expectancy include family history, marital status, economic status, physique, exercise, diet, drug use (including smoking and alcohol consumption), disposition, education, environment, sleep, climate, and health care.[10]
Healthy life expectancy
To assess the quality of these additional years of life, 'healthy life expectancy' has been calculated for the last 30 years. Since 2001, the World Health Organization has published statistics called Healthy life expectancy (HALE), defined as the average number of years that a person can expect to live in "full health" excluding the years lived in less than full health due to disease and/or injury.[147][148] Since 2004, Eurostat publishes annual statistics called Healthy Life Years (HLY) based on reported activity limitations. The United States uses similar indicators in the framework of the national health promotion and disease prevention plan "Healthy People 2010". More and more countries are using health expectancy indicators to monitor the health of their population.
The long-standing quest for longer life led in the 2010s to a more promising focus on increasing HALE, also known as a person's "healthspan". Besides the benefits of keeping people healthier longer, a goal is to reduce health-care expenses on the many diseases associated with cellular senescence. Approaches being explored include fasting, exercise, and senolytic drugs.[149]
Forecasting
Forecasting life expectancy and mortality form an important subdivision of demography. Future trends in life expectancy have huge implications for old-age support programs (like U.S. Social Security and pension) since the cash flow in these systems depends on the number of recipients who are still living (along with the rate of return on the investments or the tax rate in pay-as-you-go systems). With longer life expectancies, the systems see increased cash outflow; if the systems underestimate increases in life-expectancies, they will be unprepared for the large payments that will occur, as humans live longer and longer.
Life expectancy forecasting is usually based on one of two different approaches:
- Forecasting the life expectancy directly, generally using ARIMA or other time-series extrapolation procedures. This has the advantage of simplicity, but it cannot account for changes in mortality at specific ages, and the forecast number cannot be used to derive other life table results. Analyses and forecasts using this approach can be done with any common statistical/mathematical software package, like EViews, R, SAS, Stata, Matlab, or SPSS.
- Forecasting age-specific death rates and computing the life expectancy from the results with life table methods. This is usually more complex than simply forecasting life expectancy because the analyst must deal with correlated age-specific mortality rates, but it seems to be more robust than simple one-dimensional time series approaches. It also yields a set of age-specific rates that may be used to derive other measures, such as survival curves or life expectancies at different ages. The most important approach in this group is the Lee-Carter model,[150] which uses the singular value decomposition on a set of transformed age-specific mortality rates to reduce their dimensionality to a single time series, forecasts that time series, and then recovers a full set of age-specific mortality rates from that forecasted value. The software includes Professor Rob J. Hyndman's R package called 'demography' and UC Berkeley's LCFIT system.
Policy uses
Life expectancy is one of the factors in measuring the Human Development Index (HDI) of each nation along with adult literacy, education, and standard of living.[151]
Life expectancy is used in describing the physical quality of life of an area. It is also used for an individual when the value of a life settlement is determined a life insurance policy is sold for a cash asset.[clarification needed]
Disparities in life expectancy are often cited as demonstrating the need for better medical care or increased social support. A strongly associated indirect measure is income inequality. For the top 21 industrialized countries, if each person is counted equally, life expectancy is lower in more unequal countries (r = −0.907).[152] There is a similar relationship among states in the U.S. (r = −0.620).[153]
Life expectancy vs. other measures of longevity
Life expectancy is commonly confused with the average age an adult could expect to live. This confusion may create the expectation that an adult would be unlikely to exceed an average life expectancy, even though, with all statistical probability, an adult, who has already avoided many statistical causes of adolescent mortality, should be expected to outlive the average life expectancy calculated from birth.[154] One must compare the life expectancy of the period after childhood to estimate also the life expectancy of an adult.[154]
Life expectancy can change dramatically after childhood. In the table above, note the life expectancy at birth
in the Paleolithic is 22-33 years, but life expectancy at 15 is 54
years. Additional studies similarly show a dramatic increase in life
expectancy once adulthood was reached.[155][156]
Maximum life span is an individual-specific concept, and therefore is an upper bound rather than an average.[154] Science author Christopher Wanjek writes, "[H]as the human race increased its life span? Not at all. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about old age: we are not living any longer." The maximum life span, or oldest age a human can live, may be constant.[154] Further, there are many examples of people living significantly longer than the average life expectancy of their time period, such as Socrates (71), Saint Anthony the Great (105), Michelangelo (88), and John Adams (90).[154]
However, anthropologist John D. Hawks criticizes the popular conflation of life span (life expectancy) and maximum life span when popular science writers falsely imply that the average adult human does not live longer than their ancestors. He writes, "[a]ge-specific mortality rates have declined across the adult lifespan. A smaller fraction of adults die at 20, at 30, at 40, at 50, and so on across the lifespan. As a result, we live longer on average... In every way we can measure, human lifespans are longer today than in the immediate past, and longer today than they were 2000 years ago... age-specific mortality rates in adults really have reduced substantially."[157]
Life expectancy can also create popular misconceptions about at what age
a certain population may expect to die at. The modal age at death is
the age when most deaths occur in a population, and is sometimes used
instead of life expectancy for this kind of understanding. For example,
in the table above, life expectancy in the Paleolithic is listed as
22-33 years. For many, this implies that most people in the Paleolithic
died in their late twenties. However, in the Paleolithic, most adults
in the Paleolithic died at 72 years (the average modal adult life span).[158]
See also
- Biodemography
- Calorie restriction
- Demography
- Depreciation
- DNA damage theory of aging
- Glasgow effect
- Health equity
- Life extension
- Life table
- Lindy effect
- List of countries by life expectancy
- List of countries by past life expectancy
- List of longest-living organisms
- Maximum life span
- Medieval demography
- Mitohormesis
- Mortality rate
- Population pyramid
- Senescence
Increasing life expectancy
Notes
- Note the different units: a probability is unit-less, whereas a mortality rate has units (such as deaths per population per year).
References
- Scheidel, Walter (2017). Debating Roman Demography. BRILL. p. 29. ISBN 978-90-04-35109-7.
25-30
- Flower, Harriet I. (2014). The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-1-139-99238-1.
- Scheidel, Walter (2006). "Growing up fatherless in antiquity: the demographic background" (PDF). Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics: 2.
- Wolf, Arthur P. (2005). Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century. Stanford University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8047-5141-4.
- U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. "World Population Prospects 2019" (PDF).
- "Life expectancy at birth, total (years) – Data". data.worldbank.org.
Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world but the reasons says an analysis, are as much to do with equality and public health measures as diet.... According to a paper in a Lancet series on healthcare in Japan....
Reduction in health inequalities with improved average population health was partly attributable to equal educational opportunities and financial access to care.
- Gurven, Michael; Kaplan, Hillard (2007), "Longevity Among Hunter- Gatherers: A Cross-Cultural Examination", Population and Development Review, 33 (2): 321–365, doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00171.x
Further reading
- Leonid A. Gavrilov & Natalia S. Gavrilova (1991), The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Harwood Academic Publisher, ISBN 3-7186-4983-7.
- Kochanek, Kenneth D., Elizabeth Arias, and Robert N. Anderson (2013), How Did Cause of Death Contribute to Racial Differences in Life Expectancy in the United States in 2010?. Hyattsville, Md.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
External links
- Charts for all countries
- Our World In Data – Life Expectancy—Visualizations of how life expectancy around the world has changed historically (by Max Roser). Includes life expectancy for different age groups. Charts for all countries, world maps, and links to more data sources.
- Global Agewatch has the latest internationally comparable statistics on life expectancy from 195 countries.
- Rank Order—Life expectancy at birth Archived December 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine from the CIA's World Factbook.
- Annual Life Tables since 1966; Decennial Life Tables since 1890 from the US Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.
- Life expectancy in Roman times from the University of Texas.
- Animal lifespans: Animal Lifespans from Tesarta Online (Internet Archive); The Life Span of Animals from Dr. Bob's All Creatures Site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
Ageless is an adjective describing a person or thing whose age cannot be defined, is non-existent, or appears not to change. It can also describe something that has always existed without a precise beginning or an end.
Agelessness can be used as a synonym for immortality; more specifically it refers to eternal youth.
Ageless people
Agelessness can be attributed to individuals whose physical or mental characteristics appear young for their biological age.
The Castrati singers of the Renaissance aged differently from other men due to the lack of testosterone and other hormones, which may have altered their appearance and stature. Specifically, Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922) was described as having no facial hair and a childish voice and appearance.
Modern examples
The illusion of agelessness seems to be a goal for many individuals, such as Hollywood celebrities, that have been known to strive for, sometimes undergoing extensive and/or risky cosmetic surgeries. Demi Moore, Naomi Campbell, Eminem, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Madonna are particularly mentioned in the media for their alleged efforts to appear 'forever young'. Television host Dick Clark was often described as "America's Oldest Teenager." Many of his viewers report difficulty in perceiving typical signs of aging since the 1960s, despite him being born in 1929. The age of Andy Milonakis is also ambiguous to many viewers since he is known to possess a hormone disorder, which allows him to perform the role of a young teenager in his shows despite being much older. Another celebrity who is commonly described as having the appearance of a teenager is the actor Eddie Redmayne, born 1982, due to his virtual lack of beard growth, causing many people to report he appears no older than 20 years of age.
Actress Suzanne Somers attributes her youthful appearance to the use of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Her 2006 book Ageless continues the theme of her 2004 book The Sexy Years that restoring hormones (especially sex hormones) to youthful levels is the primary key to an ageless appearance.
Methods to achieve agelessness
Cosmetics exist largely to supposedly aid in attempts to diminish the effects of age. The use of such cosmetics has been known to sometimes create conflicting age indicators (for example, red hair belonging to a wrinkled face), making age determination difficult.
Botox, silicone implants, tummy tucks, facelifts, and nosejobs are examples of surgeries that attempt to remove the signs of aging. Sooner or later, however, the effects of the passing years do start to show on the body as it endures wear and tear. Scientists all over the world are also working on finding the reason of aging and have developed various theories, however, much more research is needed before this phenomenon can be fully understood and potentially controlled.
Mythology
Gods and goddesses were considered eternal in many ancient mythologies, and were endowed with eternal youth. In Greek mythology, agelessness was achieved by the gods' eating ambrosia (immortality was derived from their blood, ichor); in Norse mythology, by the gods eating golden apples provided by Iðunn; and in Chinese mythology, by the gods consuming the Peaches of Immortality.
Media and fiction
Comics and cartoons
Agelessness is prominent in anime, manga, cartoons, comic books, comic strips, and other illustrated media. Characters and situations are staged in an eternal present where change and causality are considered arbitrary and disposable. Ageless characters in comic books often appear as superheroes, deriving immortal or timeless properties from accelerated or supernatural healing, time travel, interdimensional origin, and other fictional devices. In comics and cartoons, agelessness is sometimes used to preserve continuity in a floating timeline or an episodic format respectively. For example, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Garfield and Tom and Jerry are ageless cartoon and comic characters.
Pulp literature
Long-running series of pulp novels can develop ageless characters. The main characters in The Hardy Boys have remained 17 and 18, and have been located approximately in the "present day" since 1926. The same can be said for the Nancy Drew series. Nancy has remained 18 years old for many decades (although she started out at the age of 16).
James Bond is also known by many as an ageless character. Some of his ally characters, including M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter also do not age throughout both the novel and film series, which began in 1953 and 1962 respectively. Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, tinkered with details of Bond's early life and changed dates to ensure Bond was always the appropriate age for his stories, a practice called retconning.
Fantasy literature
Tolkien's Elves are an iconic example of creatures who are ageless. They are not subject to entropy and decay, unlike Men and the rest of the Middle-earth. Tolkien described his elves as young-looking, yet with some properties of 'wisdom' and experience in their eyes and behaviour; Tolkien also stated that Elves do experience change and aging—not by growing old, but by altering other features of their appearance. The combination of physical youth and immense mental maturity can render the perceived age of an Elf undefinable and alien by mortal standards.
The Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series are described as ageless. A feature of their magical abilities extends life and makes their age difficult to place despite their white hair and physical frailty.
Television and soap operas
On television, the process of a character (usually a child) aging unusually fast has been a common feature in soap operas and is known as Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome or "SORAS". The reverse effect, where characters fail to age at the typical rate they should or in fact become younger, is known by a more recent, opposite term known as de-SORAS. On the British television show Doctor Who, which involves time travel, all of the Doctor's incarnations appear not to age, except for the First Doctor. It's also implied on The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Death of the Doctor" that the Doctor's first companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright have never aged since their travels; Also, despite the fact that 10 years of the life of the Pond-Williams passed between "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Angels Take Manhattan", they didn't show any major traits associated with aging. Several characters on ABC's 2011 TV series Once Upon a Time do not age, either through the effects of the Dark Curse or spending time in Neverland; in the case of Hook, both are true. Other characters, such as Rumplestiltskin or Merlin and his apprentice, do not age due to the fact that they possess immortality.
See also
- Androgyny
- Indefinite lifespan
- Life extension
- Neoteny
- Pedomorphosis
- Rejuvenation
- Werner syndrome
- Neverland, a place in the Peter Pan mythos where people can remain young forever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageless
Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled limit of 125 years.[1]
Several researchers in the area, along with "life extensionists", "immortalists" or "longevists" (those who wish to achieve longer lives themselves), postulate that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation, stem cells, regenerative medicine, molecular repair, gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, and organ replacement (such as with artificial organs or xenotransplantations) will eventually enable humans to have indefinite lifespans (agerasia[2]) through complete rejuvenation to a healthy youthful condition. The ethical ramifications, if life extension becomes a possibility, are debated by bioethicists.
The sale of purported anti-aging products such as supplements and hormone replacement is a lucrative global industry. For example, the industry that promotes the use of hormones as a treatment for consumers to slow or reverse the aging process in the US market generated about $50 billion of revenue a year in 2009.[3] The use of such hormone products, however, has not been proven to be effective or safe.[3][4][5][6]
Average life expectancy and lifespan
During the process of aging, an organism accumulates damage to its macromolecules, cells, tissues, and organs. Specifically, aging is characterized as and thought to be caused by "genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication."[7] Oxidation damage to cellular contents caused by free radicals is believed to contribute to aging as well.[8][9]
The longest documented human lifespan is 122 years 164 days, the case of Jeanne Calment who according to records was born in 1875 and died in 1997, whereas the maximum lifespan of a wildtype mouse, commonly used as a model in research on aging, is about three years.[10] Genetic differences between humans and mice that may account for these different aging rates include differences in efficiency of DNA repair, antioxidant defenses, energy metabolism, proteostasis maintenance, and recycling mechanisms such as autophagy.[11]
The average life expectancy in a population is lowered by infant and child mortality, which are frequently linked to infectious diseases or nutrition problems. Later in life, vulnerability to accidents and age-related chronic disease such as cancer or cardiovascular disease play an increasing role in mortality. Extension of life expectancy and lifespan can often be achieved by access to improved medical care, vaccinations, good diet, exercise, and avoidance of hazards such as smoking.
Maximum lifespan is determined by the rate of aging for a species inherent in its genes and by environmental factors. Widely recognized methods of extending maximum lifespan in model organisms such as nematodes, fruit flies, and mice include caloric restriction, gene manipulation, and administration of pharmaceuticals.[12] Another technique uses evolutionary pressures such as breeding from only older members or altering levels of extrinsic mortality.[13][14] Some animals such as hydra, planarian flatworms, and certain sponges, corals, and jellyfish do not die of old age and exhibit potential immortality.[15][16][17][18]
Strategies
Senolytics and prolongevity drugs
Senolytics eliminate senescent cells whereas senomorphics – with candidates such as Apigenin, Everolimus and Rapamycin – modulate properties of senescent cells without eliminating them, suppressing phenotypes of senescence, including the SASP.[22][23] Senomorphic effects may be one major effect mechanism of a range of prolongevity drug candidates. Such candidates are however typically not studied for just one mechanism, but multiple. There are biological databases of prolongevity drug candidates under research as well as of potential gene/protein targets. These are enhanced by longitudinal cohort studies, electronic health records, computational (drug) screening methods, computational biomarker-discovery methods and computational biodata-interpretation/personalized medicine methods.[24][25][26]
Recently, artificial intelligence has been used to discover new senolytics, resulting in the identification of structurally distinct senolytic compounds with more favorable medicinal chemistry properties than previous senolytic candidates.[27]
Such strategies as well as testing with model organisms and xenografts may attempt to or help address difficulties of trials with humans which have relatively long lifespans (compared to other animals) as well as the (larger) need to protect human health from early-trial-stage interventions (in clinical trials).
Besides rapamycin and senolytics, the drug-repurposing candidates studied most extensively include metformin, acarbose, spermidine and NAD+ enhancers.[28]
Many prolongevity drugs are synthetic alternatives or potential complements to existing nutraceuticals, such as various sirtuin-activating compounds under investigation like SRT2104.[29] In some cases pharmaceutical administration is combined with that of neutraceuticals – such as in the case of glycine combined with NAC.[30] Often studies are structured based on or thematize specific prolongevity targets, listing both nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals (together or separately) such as FOXO3-activators.[31]
Researchers are also exploring ways to mitigate side-effects from such substances (possibly most notably rapamycin and its derivatives) such as via protocols of intermittent administration[32][23][22][33][34] and have called for research that helps determine optimal treatment schedules (including timing) in general.[35]
Diets and supplements
Vitamins and antioxidants
The free-radical theory of aging suggests that antioxidant supplements might extend human life. Reviews, however, have found that use of vitamin A (as β-carotene) and vitamin E supplements possibly can increase mortality.[36][37] Other reviews have found no relationship between vitamin E and other vitamins with mortality.[38] Vitamin D supplementation of various dosages is investigated in trials[39] and there also is research into GlyNAC .[30]
Complications
Complications of antioxidant supplementation (especially continuous high dosages far above the RDA) include that reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are mitigated by antioxidants, "have been found to be physiologically vital for signal transduction, gene regulation, and redox regulation, among others, implying that their complete elimination would be harmful". In particular, one way of multiple they can be detrimental is by inhibiting adaptation to exercise such as muscle hypertrophy (e.g. during dedicated periods of caloric surplus).[40][41][42] There is also research into stimulating/activating/fueling endogenous antioxidant generation, in particular e.g. of neutraceutical glycine and pharmaceutical NAC.[43] Antioxidants can change the oxidation status of different e.g. tissues, targets or sites each with potentially different implications, especially for different concentrations.[44][45][46][47] A review suggests mitochondria have a hormetic response to ROS, whereby low oxidative damage can be beneficial.[48]
Dietary restriction
In some studies calorie restriction has been shown to extend the life of mice, yeast, and rhesus monkeys.[49][50] However, a more recent study did not find calorie restriction to improve survival in rhesus monkeys.[51] In humans the long-term health effects of moderate caloric restriction with sufficient nutrients are unknown.[52]
According to two scientific reviews published in 2021, accumulating data suggests dietary restriction (DR) – mainly intermittent fasting and caloric restriction – results in many of the same beneficial changes in adult humans as in studied organisms, potentially increasing health- and lifespan beyond[53] the benefits of healthy body weight.[53][54][55][56][57][58]
Which protocols of and combinations (e.g. see caloric restriction mimetic and AMPK) with DR are effective or most effective in humans is largely unknown and is being actively researched. A geroscience field of "precision nutrigeroscience" is proposed that also considers the potential need for adjustments of nutritional interventions per individual (e.g. due to differences in genetics and age).[55] Intermittent fasting refers to periods with intervals during which no food but only water and tea/coffee (the latter reduces appetite or facilitates caloric restriction and also activates autophagy)[59][60][61][62] are ingested – such as a period of daily time-restricted eating with a window of 8 to 12 hours for any caloric intake – and could be combined for synergistic effects with overall caloric restriction and variants of the Mediterranean diet which usually has benefits of long-term cardiovascular health and longevity.[63]
CALERIE is a trial of prolonged continuous calorie restriction on healthy humans.[64]
Targeted restrictions
Specific amino acids in the protein consumption are associated with the regulation of lifespan/ageing and their targeted restriction has been proposed for further research.[65][66][67][68]
Mechanisms
Mechanistically, research to date has identified various nutrient sensors involved in the beneficial effects of caloric restriction as well as methionine-reduction/restriction including notably AMPK[69] (see also: mTOR inhibitors), mTOR, insulin-related pathways, sirtuins,[70][71] NAD+,[72] NFkB, and FOXO and, partly by extension, processes such as DNA repair[73][70] and autophagy.[74][75][76][53][35][73]
Complications
During periods of caloric restriction, higher protein intakes "may be required to maximize muscle retention in lean, resistance-trained subjects"[77] and "resistance training (RT) can attenuate muscle loss during caloric restriction"[78] with strength training also generally being associated with a "10–17% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD), total cancer, diabetes and lung cancer".[79] Reviews have clarified that the permanent or periodic caloric restriction is conducted in such a way that no malnutrition occurs .[80][56][54]
Healthy diet
Research suggests that increasing adherence to Mediterranean diet patterns is associated with a reduction in total and cause-specific mortality, extending health- and lifespan.[81][82][76][83] Research is identifying the key beneficial components of the Mediterranean diet.[84][85] It shares various characteristics with the similarly beneficial Okinawa diet.[86] Potential anti-aging mechanisms of various nutrients are not yet understood.[87] Shares of macronutrients[88][54] and level of caloric intake may also be of significance, including in periods when no dietary restriction occurs[88] – such as not having a fat-intake that is too low[54] and not having a prolonged caloric surplus or caloric deficit that is too large.
Studies suggest dietary changes are a major cause of national relative rises in life-span.[89]
Microbiome
Mechanistically, research suggests that the gut microbiome, which varies per person and changes throughout lifespan, is also involved in the beneficial effects, due to which various diet supplementations with prebiotics, various diverse (multi-strain) probiotics and synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation are being investigated for life extension,[90][26][91] mainly for prolonging healthspan,[92][93][94] with many important questions being unresolved.[95]
Optimal diet
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Approaches to develop optimal diets for health- and lifespan (or "longevity diets")[54] include:
- modifying or further particularizing the Mediterranean diet as the baseline via nutrition science. For instance, via:
- (additional) increase in plant-based (but protein-rich)[97][54] foods alongside additional restriction of meat intake[98] – meat reduction is (or can be) typically healthy,[99]
- regular moderate consumption of green tea or (filtered)[100] coffee while ensuring adequate calcium intake[98][101]
- (additional) increase in omega-3-containing seafoods[84] (see also: algal oil)
- adding various foods thought to be healthy (e.g. due to results
about various mechanistic effects) to the regular dietary consumption
patterns (see also: functional food)[102]
- increasing the intake of high-spermidine foods – studies suggest spermidine could extend lifespan, with high amounts that are larger than common supplements being present in fungi (e.g. mushrooms) and green peas[103][104][105][35][106][107][108]
- increasing resistant starch-intake – legumes, especially e.g. green peas contain large amounts of resistant starch,[109] especially if pre-cooked as cooling the cooked peas in a refrigerator substantially increases the resistant starch content due to starch retrogradation.[110] It is a prebiotic (see Microbiome) and may promote healthy aging.[111][94]
- keeping alcohol consumption of any type at a minimum – conventional Mediterranean diets include alcohol consumption (i.e. of wine), which is under research due to data suggesting negative long-term brain impacts even at low/moderate consumption levels.[112][113] Anthocyanins which are present in red wine[114] and suggested along with other flavanols to be a candidate for further longevity research[115] are also present in comparable concentrations in bilberry and elderberry
- fully replacing refined grains – some guidelines of Mediterranean diets do not clarify or include the principle of whole-grain consumption instead of refined grains. Whole-grain are a significant source of spermidine[107] and are associated with longevity.[116][76][106] They are a main characteristic pillar of Mediterranean diets according to multiple reviews.[117][118][119]
- aiming for a sufficient level of food variety and diversity – which some guidelines of Mediterranean diets do not clarify or include. One review suggests that food variety and diversity could be a factor of diet quality,[120] and another review indicates that sufficient food variety may at least in some specific cases "increase intake of important nutrients and positively affect the gut microbiome structure and function".[121] The required level of food variety may or may not be low and vary per person and diet.
- completely eliminating processed foods from the diet – some guidelines of Mediterranean diets may not clarify this principle. Diets associated with longevity are characterized by minimally processed foods.[64]
- adjusting the diet for personal characteristics such as age as effects of e.g. macronutrient intake can vary per age [54]
- inferring an optimal diet indiscriminately for all levels and forms
of physical activities and age and other person-characteristics by
integrating the available meta-analyses and data from mostly observational studies.
- This has been done for a tool and visualizations that show populations' relative general life extension potentials of (shifting diets towards) different food groups, suggesting i.a. that a 20-years old male in Europe who switches to the "optimal diet" could gain a mean of ~13.7 years of life and a 60-years old female in the U.S. switching to the "optimal diet" could gain a mean of ~8.0 years of life. It found the largest gains would be made by eating more legumes, whole grains, and nuts, and less red meat and processed meat. The optimal diet contains no consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (moving from "typical Western diet" of 500 g/day to 0 g/day). The study notes of uncertainty in "the effect of eggs, white meat, and oils, individual variation in protective and risk factors, uncertainties for future development of medical treatments; and changes in lifestyle".[96][54]
Nutraceuticals
Beyond, research into senolytics and (synthetic) prolongevity-drugs, vitamins and antioxidants, prebiotics and probiotics, there are neutraceuticals – dietary supplements and bioactive plant compounds (phytochemicals) but not pharmaceuticals[122] – that are being investigated in life sciences, nutrition science and gerontology for potential health- and lifespan extension in healthy humans. Sometimes, their use is researched or recommended as a way to correct nutritional deficiencies from switching to otherwise healthy foods – in particular from replacing meat consumption with a higher intake of plant-based foods.[99][123] Especially, but not only, in such cases the supplementation of minerals and various specific micronutrients is investigated. Correcting magnesium deficiency for instance could prolong life.[124] Many supplements are researched primarily for potential improvements in health and healthspan rather than for extending lifespan.
Some studies hypothesize that relative health and longevity benefits of various foods and diets can be largely or to a large part attributed to the nutraceuticals they contain.[85][125][106][126] Some studies suggest increasing the intake of specific foods based on such results, while some investigate supplementation, including of dosages that are impractical to achieve with whole foods.
Researched substances include various polyphenols such as pterostilbene[127][128][126][71] or flavonoids, notably epicatechin.[87] Some herbal-extracts like rhodiola rosea are also being investigated due to results of tests with model organisms.[129][130] Some of these are AMPK activators and hence caloric restriction mimetics (some possibly exercise mimetics[131] as well). AMPK activators include resveratrol[132][127][133][106][125][134] and berberine.[135][136][134] Many such nutraceuticals are also potent antioxidants.[125][137] Like prolongevity-drugs and bioactive compounds in general, they can have multiple potential effect mechanisms, the polyphenol resveratrol for instance also activates possibly pro-longevity sirtuin activity.[70][125]
A common issue with many already-existing natural nutraceuticals like resveratrol is their low bioavailability.[138][139] Their side-effects are often low compared to several major longevity drug candidates. On the other hand, they are considered to often have "intrinsic natural bio-compatibility and safety".[71] Some of the compounds can have a "biphasic dose response" (a trait/effect of hormesis) whereby they (can) have beneficial effects at low or moderate doses and toxic effects at high doses.[35]
Other approaches
Further advanced biosciences-based approaches include:
- Genetic and epigenetic alterations: Human genetic enhancement for pro-longevity and protective genes – see genetics of aging[140][25]
- Cellular reprogramming': in vivo reprogramming to complement or augment human regenerative capacity and rejuvenate or replace cells[141][142][25]
- Epigenetic reprogramming: early-stage research about rejuvenating/repairing epigenetic machinery[143]
- Stem-cell interventions: "Increasing the number and quality of stem cells and activate regenerative signals"[144][145]
- Nanomedicine: early-stage research of in vivo pro-longevity nanotechnology[146][147]
- Tissue engineering: of tissues and organs[148] (see also: xenotransplantation and artificial organ)
- Endogenous circulating biomolecules: Blood proteins of blood from young animals have shown some pro-longevity potential in animal studies (e.g. via transfer of blood or plasma, and of plasma proteins).[26] Moreover, exerkines – signalling biomolecules released during/after exercise – have also shown promising results.[149] Exerkines include myokines. Extracellular vesicles were shown to be secreted concomitantly with exerkines and are also investigated.[150][151] (See also: body fluid and cerebrospinal fluid)
- Personalized interventions: future studies may tailor and investigate personalized medicine-type interventions[64] For instance, effects of interventions or e.g. dosages may vary per age[54] and/or genome. A review suggests that the field of precision medicine and geroscience will have to interact closely[64] (see also: combination therapy)
- Peptides: such as MOTS-c released by mitochondria[68]
- Mitochondria modulation: early-stage research indicates mitochondrial interventions such as mitochondrial transplantation may have potential to be efficacious[152][25][153][154][155] (See also: mitochondrial theory of ageing)
Within the field
There is a need and research into the development of aging biomarkers such as the epigenetic clock "to assess the ageing process and the efficacy of interventions to bypass the need for large-scale longitudinal studies".[64][25] Such biomarkers may also include in vivo brain imaging.[156]
Reviews sometimes include structured tables that provide systematic overviews of intervention/drug candidates with a review calling for integrating "current knowledge with multi-omics, health records, and drug safety data to predict drugs that can improve health in late life" and listing major outstanding questions.[24] Biological databases of prolongevity drug candidates under research as well as of potential gene/protein targets include GenAge, DrugAge and Geroprotectors.[24][157]
A review has pointed out that the approach of "'epidemiological' comparison of how a low versus a high consumption of an isolated macronutrient and its association with health and mortality may not only fail to identify protective or detrimental nutrition patterns but may lead to misleading interpretations". It proposes a multi-pillar approach, and summarizes findings towards constructing – multi-system-considering and at least age-personalized dynamic – refined longevity diets. Epidemiological-type observational studies included in meta-analyses should according to the study at least be complemented by "(1) basic research focused on lifespan and healthspan, (2) carefully controlled clinical trials, and (3) studies of individuals and populations with record longevity".[54]
Hormone treatment
The anti-aging industry offers several hormone therapies. Some of these have been criticized for possible dangers and a lack of proven effect. For example, the American Medical Association has been critical of some anti-aging hormone therapies.[3]
While growth hormone (GH) decreases with age, the evidence for use of growth hormone as an anti-aging therapy is mixed and based mostly on animal studies. There are mixed reports that GH or IGF-1 modulates the aging process in humans and about whether the direction of its effect is positive or negative.[158]
Klotho[144][159] and exerkines[149] like irisin[160] are being investigated for potential pro-longevity therapies.
Lifestyle factors
Loneliness/isolation, social life and support,[83][161] exercise/physical activity (partly via neurobiological effects and increased NAD+ levels),[83][162][64][68][163][164] psychological characteristics/personality (possibly highly indirectly),[165][166] sleep duration,[83] circadian rhythms (patterns of sleep, drug-administration and feeding),[167][168][169] type of leisure activities,[83] not smoking,[83] altruistic emotions and behaviors,[170][171] subjective well-being,[172] mood[83] and stress (including via heat shock protein)[83][173] are investigated as potential (modulatable) factors of life extension.
Healthy lifestyle practices and healthy diet have been suggested as "first-line function-preserving strategies, with pharmacological agents, including existing and new pharmaceuticals and novel 'nutraceutical' compounds, serving as potential complementary approaches".[174]
Societal strategies
Collectively, addressing common causes of death could extend lifespans of populations and humanity overall. For instance, a 2020 study indicates that the global mean loss of life expectancy (LLE) from air pollution in 2015 was 2.9 years, substantially more than, for example, 0.3 years from all forms of direct violence, albeit a significant fraction of the LLE (a measure similar to years of potential life lost) is considered to be unavoidable.[176]
Regular screening and doctor visits has been suggested as a lifestyle-societal intervention.[83] (See also: medical test and biomarker)
Health policy and changes to standard healthcare could support the adoption of the field's conclusions – a review suggests that the longevity diet would be a "valuable complement to standard healthcare and that, taken as a preventative measure, it could aid in avoiding morbidity, sustaining health into advanced age" as a form of preventive healthcare.[54]
It has been suggested that in terms of healthy diets, Mediterranean-style diets could be promoted by countries for ensuring healthy-by-default choices ("to ensure the healthiest choice is the easiest choice") and with highly effective measures including dietary education, food checklists and recipes that are "simple, palatable, and affordable".[177]
A review suggests that "targeting the aging process per se may be a far more effective approach to prevent or delay aging-associated pathologies than treatments specifically targeted to particular clinical conditions".[178]
Low ambient temperature
Low ambient temperature as a physical factor affecting free radical levels was identified as a treatment producing exceptional lifespan increase in Drosophila melanogaster and other living beings.[179]
History
The extension of life has been a desire of humanity and a mainstay motif in the history of scientific pursuits and ideas throughout history, from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Egyptian Smith medical papyrus, all the way through the Taoists, Ayurveda practitioners, alchemists, hygienists such as Luigi Cornaro, Johann Cohausen and Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland, and philosophers such as Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Benjamin Franklin and Nicolas Condorcet. However, the beginning of the modern period in this endeavor can be traced to the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, to the so-called "fin-de-siècle" (end of the century) period, denoted as an "end of an epoch" and characterized by the rise of scientific optimism and therapeutic activism, entailing the pursuit of life extension (or life-extensionism). Among the foremost researchers of life extension at this period were the Nobel Prize winning biologist Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916) -- the author of the cell theory of immunity and vice director of Institut Pasteur in Paris, and Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817-1894) -- the president of the French Biological Society and one of the founders of modern endocrinology.[180]
Sociologist James Hughes claims that science has been tied to a cultural narrative of conquering death since the Age of Enlightenment. He cites Francis Bacon (1561–1626) as an advocate of using science and reason to extend human life, noting Bacon's novel New Atlantis, wherein scientists worked toward delaying aging and prolonging life. Robert Boyle (1627–1691), founding member of the Royal Society, also hoped that science would make substantial progress with life extension, according to Hughes, and proposed such experiments as "to replace the blood of the old with the blood of the young". Biologist Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) was inspired by a belief in indefinite human lifespan that he developed after experimenting with cells, says Hughes.[181]
Regulatory and legal struggles between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Life Extension organization included seizure of merchandise and court action.[182] In 1991, Saul Kent and Bill Faloon, the principals of the organization, were jailed for four hours and were released on $850,000 bond each.[183] After 11 years of legal battles, Kent and Faloon convinced the US Attorney's Office to dismiss all criminal indictments brought against them by the FDA.[184]
In 2003, Doubleday published "The Immortal Cell: One Scientist's Quest to Solve the Mystery of Human Aging," by Michael D. West. West emphasised the potential role of embryonic stem cells in life extension.[185]
Other modern life extensionists include writer Gennady Stolyarov, who insists that death is "the enemy of us all, to be fought with medicine, science, and technology";[186] transhumanist philosopher Zoltan Istvan, who proposes that the "transhumanist must safeguard one's own existence above all else";[187] futurist George Dvorsky, who considers aging to be a problem that desperately needs to be solved;[188] and recording artist Steve Aoki, who has been called "one of the most prolific campaigners for life extension".[189]
Scientific research
In 1991, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) was formed. The American Board of Medical Specialties recognizes neither anti-aging medicine nor the A4M's professional standing.[190]
In 2003, Aubrey de Grey and David Gobel formed the Methuselah Foundation, which gives financial grants to anti-aging research projects. In 2009, de Grey and several others founded the SENS Research Foundation, a California-based scientific research organization which conducts research into aging and funds other anti-aging research projects at various universities.[191] In 2013, Google announced Calico, a new company based in San Francisco that will harness new technologies to increase scientific understanding of the biology of aging.[192] It is led by Arthur D. Levinson,[193] and its research team includes scientists such as Hal V. Barron, David Botstein, and Cynthia Kenyon. In 2014, biologist Craig Venter founded Human Longevity Inc., a company dedicated to scientific research to end aging through genomics and cell therapy. They received funding with the goal of compiling a comprehensive human genotype, microbiome, and phenotype database.[194]
Aside from private initiatives, aging research is being conducted in university laboratories, and includes universities such as Harvard and UCLA. University researchers have made a number of breakthroughs in extending the lives of mice and insects by reversing certain aspects of aging.[195][196][197][198]
Ethics and politics
Scientific controversy
Some critics dispute the portrayal of aging as a disease. For example, Leonard Hayflick, who determined that fibroblasts are limited to around 50 cell divisions, reasons that aging is an unavoidable consequence of entropy. Hayflick and fellow biogerontologists Jay Olshansky and Bruce Carnes have strongly criticized the anti-aging industry in response to what they see as unscrupulous profiteering from the sale of unproven anti-aging supplements.[5]
Consumer motivations
Research by Sobh and Martin (2011) suggests that people buy anti-aging products to obtain a hoped-for self (e.g., keeping a youthful skin) or to avoid a feared-self (e.g., looking old). The research shows that when consumers pursue a hoped-for self, it is expectations of success that most strongly drive their motivation to use the product. The research also shows why doing badly when trying to avoid a feared self is more motivating than doing well. When product use is seen to fail it is more motivating than success when consumers seek to avoid a feared-self.[199]
Political parties
Though many scientists state[200] that life extension and radical life extension are possible, there are still no international or national programs focused on radical life extension. There are political forces staying for and against life extension. By 2012, in Russia, the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands, the Longevity political parties started. They aimed to provide political support to radical life extension research and technologies, and ensure the fastest possible and at the same time soft transition of society to the next step – life without aging and with radical life extension, and to provide access to such technologies to most currently living people.[201]
Silicon Valley
Some tech innovators and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have invested heavily into anti-aging research. This includes Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle), Peter Thiel (former PayPal CEO),[202] Larry Page (co-founder of Google), Peter Diamandis,[203] Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI, invested in Retro Biosciences), and Brian Armstrong (founder of Coinbase and NewLimit).[204]
Commentators
Leon Kass (chairman of the US President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005) has questioned whether potential exacerbation of overpopulation problems would make life extension unethical.[205] He states his opposition to life extension with the words:
"simply to covet a prolonged life span for ourselves is both a sign and a cause of our failure to open ourselves to procreation and to any higher purpose ... [The] desire to prolong youthfulness is not only a childish desire to eat one's life and keep it; it is also an expression of a childish and narcissistic wish incompatible with devotion to posterity."[206]
John Harris, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Ethics, argues that as long as life is worth living, according to the person himself, we have a powerful moral imperative to save the life and thus to develop and offer life extension therapies to those who want them.[207]
Transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom has argued that any technological advances in life extension must be equitably distributed and not restricted to a privileged few.[208] In an extended metaphor entitled "The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant", Bostrom envisions death as a monstrous dragon who demands human sacrifices. In the fable, after a lengthy debate between those who believe the dragon is a fact of life and those who believe the dragon can and should be destroyed, the dragon is finally killed. Bostrom argues that political inaction allowed many preventable human deaths to occur.[209]
Overpopulation concerns
Controversy about life extension is due to fear of overpopulation and possible effects on society.[210] Biogerontologist Aubrey De Grey counters the overpopulation critique by pointing out that the therapy could postpone or eliminate menopause, allowing women to space out their pregnancies over more years and thus decreasing the yearly population growth rate.[211] Moreover, the philosopher and futurist Max More argues that, given the fact the worldwide population growth rate is slowing down and is projected to eventually stabilize and begin falling, superlongevity would be unlikely to contribute to overpopulation.[210]
Opinion polls
A Spring 2013 Pew Research poll in the United States found that 38% of Americans would want life extension treatments, and 56% would reject it. However, it also found that 68% believed most people would want it and that only 4% consider an "ideal lifespan" to be more than 120 years. The median "ideal lifespan" was 91 years of age and the majority of the public (63%) viewed medical advances aimed at prolonging life as generally good. 41% of Americans believed that radical life extension (RLE) would be good for society, while 51% said they believed it would be bad for society.[212] One possibility for why 56% of Americans claim they would reject life extension treatments may be due to the cultural perception that living longer would result in a longer period of decrepitude, and that the elderly in our current society are unhealthy.[213]
Religious people are no more likely to oppose life extension than the unaffiliated,[212] though some variation exists between religious denominations.
Aging as a disease
Mainstream medical organizations and practitioners do not consider aging to be a disease. Biologist David Sinclair says: "I don't see aging as a disease, but as a collection of quite predictable diseases caused by the deterioration of the body".[214] The two main arguments used are that aging is both inevitable and universal while diseases are not.[215] However, not everyone agrees. Harry R. Moody, director of academic affairs for AARP, notes that what is normal and what is disease strongly depend on a historical context.[216] David Gems, assistant director of the Institute of Healthy Ageing, argues that aging should be viewed as a disease.[217] In response to the universality of aging, David Gems notes that it is as misleading as arguing that Basenji are not dogs because they do not bark.[218] Because of the universality of aging he calls it a "special sort of disease". Robert M. Perlman, coined the terms "aging syndrome" and "disease complex" in 1954 to describe aging.[219]
The discussion whether aging should be viewed as a disease or not has important implications. One view is, this would stimulate pharmaceutical companies to develop life extension therapies and in the United States of America, it would also increase the regulation of the anti-aging market by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Anti-aging now falls under the regulations for cosmetic medicine which are less tight than those for drugs.[218][220]
Research
Theoretically, extension of maximum lifespan in humans could be achieved by reducing the rate of aging damage by periodic replacement of damaged tissues, molecular repair or rejuvenation of deteriorated cells and tissues, reversal of harmful epigenetic changes, or the enhancement of enzyme telomerase activity.[221][222]
Research geared towards life extension strategies in various organisms is currently under way at a number of academic and private institutions. Since 2009, investigators have found ways to increase the lifespan of nematode worms and yeast by 10-fold; the record in nematodes was achieved through genetic engineering and the extension in yeast by a combination of genetic engineering and caloric restriction.[223] A 2009 review of longevity research noted: "Extrapolation from worms to mammals is risky at best, and it cannot be assumed that interventions will result in comparable life extension factors. Longevity gains from dietary restriction, or from mutations studied previously, yield smaller benefits to Drosophila than to nematodes, and smaller still to mammals. This is not unexpected, since mammals have evolved to live many times the worm's lifespan, and humans live nearly twice as long as the next longest-lived primate. From an evolutionary perspective, mammals and their ancestors have already undergone several hundred million years of natural selection favoring traits that could directly or indirectly favor increased longevity, and may thus have already settled on gene sequences that promote lifespan. Moreover, the very notion of a "life-extension factor" that could apply across taxa presumes a linear response rarely seen in biology."[223]
Anti-aging drugs
There are a number of chemicals intended to slow the aging process currently being studied in animal models.[224] One type of research is related to the observed effects of a calorie restriction (CR) diet, which has been shown to extend lifespan in some animals.[225] Based on that research, there have been attempts to develop drugs that will have the same effect on the aging process as a caloric restriction diet, which are known as caloric restriction mimetic drugs. Some drugs that are already approved for other uses have been studied for possible longevity effects on laboratory animals because of a possible CR-mimic effect; they include rapamycin for mTOR inhibition[226] and metformin for AMPK activation.[227]
Sirtuin activating polyphenols, such as resveratrol and pterostilbene,[228][229][230] and flavonoids, such as quercetin and fisetin,[231] as well as oleic acid[232] are dietary supplements that have also been studied in this context. Other popular supplements with less clear biological pathways to target aging include, lipoic acid,[233] senolytics such as curcumin,[231] and Coenzyme Q10.[234] Daily low doses of ethanol as a potential supplement in spite of its highly negative hormesis response at higher doses has also been studied.[235]
Other attempts to create anti-aging drugs have taken different research paths. One notable direction of research explores the possibility of lengthening chromosomal telomeres (protective caps at the end of chromosomes) by reactivating telomerase, the enzyme responsible for telomere length maintenance. However, telomerase is virtually unexpressed in normal, healthy somatic cells[236] and there are potential dangers in this approach as research has shown a strong link between telomerase expression and cancer and tumors in somatic (non-germ line) cells.[237][238]
Nanotechnology
Future advances in nanomedicine could give rise to life extension through the repair of many processes thought to be responsible for aging. K. Eric Drexler, one of the founders of nanotechnology, postulated cell repair machines, including ones operating within cells and utilizing as yet hypothetical molecular computers, in his 1986 book Engines of Creation. Raymond Kurzweil, a futurist and transhumanist, stated in his book The Singularity Is Near that he believes that advanced medical nanorobotics could completely remedy the effects of aging by 2030.[239] According to Richard Feynman, it was his former graduate student and collaborator Albert Hibbs who originally suggested to him (circa 1959) the idea of a medical use for Feynman's theoretical nanomachines (see biological machine). Hibbs suggested that certain repair machines might one day be reduced in size to the point that it would, in theory, be possible to (as Feynman put it) "swallow the doctor". The idea was incorporated into Feynman's 1959 essay There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.[240]
Cloning and body part replacement
Some life extensionists suggest that therapeutic cloning and stem cell research could one day provide a way to generate cells, body parts, or even entire bodies (generally referred to as reproductive cloning) that would be genetically identical to a prospective patient. Recently, the US Department of Defense initiated a program to research the possibility of growing human body parts on mice.[241] Complex biological structures, such as mammalian joints and limbs, have not yet been replicated. Dog and primate brain transplantation experiments were conducted in the mid-20th century but failed due to rejection and the inability to restore nerve connections. As of 2006, the implantation of bio-engineered bladders grown from patients' own cells has proven to be a viable treatment for bladder disease.[242] Proponents of body part replacement and cloning contend that the required biotechnologies are likely to appear earlier than other life-extension technologies.
The use of human stem cells, particularly embryonic stem cells, is controversial. Opponents' objections generally are based on interpretations of religious teachings or ethical considerations.[243] Proponents of stem cell research point out that cells are routinely formed and destroyed in a variety of contexts. Use of stem cells taken from the umbilical cord or parts of the adult body may not provoke controversy.[244]
The controversies over cloning are similar, except general public opinion in most countries stands in opposition to reproductive cloning. Some proponents of therapeutic cloning predict the production of whole bodies, lacking consciousness, for eventual brain transplantation.
Cyborgs
Replacement of biological (susceptible to diseases) organs with mechanical ones could extend life. This is the goal of the 2045 Initiative.[245]
Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature freezing (usually at −196 °C or −320.8 °F or 77.1 K) of a human corpse, with the hope that resuscitation may be possible in the future.[246][247] It is regarded with skepticism within the mainstream scientific community and has been characterized as quackery.[248]
Strategies for engineered negligible senescence
Another proposed life extension technology aims to combine existing and predicted future biochemical and genetic techniques. SENS proposes that rejuvenation may be obtained by removing aging damage via the use of stem cells and tissue engineering, telomere-lengthening machinery, allotopic expression of mitochondrial proteins, targeted ablation of cells, immunotherapeutic clearance, and novel lysosomal hydrolases.[249]
While some biogerontologists find these ideas "worthy of discussion",[250][251] others contend that the alleged benefits are too speculative given the current state of technology, referring to it as "fantasy rather than science".[4][6]
Genetic editing
Genome editing, in which nucleic acid polymers are delivered as a drug and are either expressed as proteins, interfere with the expression of proteins, or correct genetic mutations, has been proposed as a future strategy to prevent aging.[252][253]
A large array of genetic modifications have been found to increase lifespan in model organisms such as yeast, nematode worms, fruit flies, and mice. As of 2013, the longest extension of life caused by a single gene manipulation was roughly 50% in mice and 10-fold in nematode worms.[254]
In July 2020 scientists, using public biological data on 1.75 m people with known lifespans overall, identify 10 genomic loci which appear to intrinsically influence healthspan, lifespan, and longevity – of which half have not been reported previously at genome-wide significance and most being associated with cardiovascular disease – and identify haem metabolism as a promising candidate for further research within the field. Their study suggests that high levels of iron in the blood likely reduce, and genes involved in metabolising iron likely increase healthy years of life in humans.[256][255] The same month other scientists report that yeast cells of the same genetic material and within the same environment age in two distinct ways, describe a biomolecular mechanism that can determine which process dominates during aging and genetically engineer a novel aging route with substantially extended lifespan.[257][258]
Fooling genes
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins describes an approach to life-extension that involves "fooling genes" into thinking the body is young.[259] Dawkins attributes inspiration for this idea to Peter Medawar. The basic idea is that our bodies are composed of genes that activate throughout our lifetimes, some when we are young and others when we are older. Presumably, these genes are activated by environmental factors, and the changes caused by these genes activating can be lethal. It is a statistical certainty that we possess more lethal genes that activate in later life than in early life. Therefore, to extend life, we should be able to prevent these genes from switching on, and we should be able to do so by "identifying changes in the internal chemical environment of a body that take place during aging... and by simulating the superficial chemical properties of a young body".[260]
Mind uploading
One hypothetical future strategy that, as some suggest,[who?] "eliminates" the complications related to a physical body, involves the copying or transferring (e.g. by progressively replacing neurons with transistors) of a conscious mind from a biological brain to a non-biological computer system or computational device. The basic idea is to scan the structure of a particular brain in detail, and then construct a software model of it that is so faithful to the original that, when run on appropriate hardware, it will behave in essentially the same way as the original brain.[261] Whether or not an exact copy of one's mind constitutes actual life extension is matter of debate.
However, critics argue that the uploaded mind would simply be a clone and not a true continuation of a person's consciousness.[262]
Some scientists believe that the dead may one day be "resurrected" through simulation technology.[263]
Young blood injection
Some clinics currently offer injection of blood products from young donors. The alleged benefits of the treatment, none of which have been demonstrated in a proper study, include a longer life, darker hair, better memory, better sleep, curing heart diseases, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.[264][265][266][267][268] The approach is based on parabiosis studies such as those Irina Conboy has done on mice, but Conboy says young blood does not reverse aging (even in mice) and that those who offer those treatments have misunderstood her research.[265][266] Neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray, who also studied blood exchanges on mice as recently as 2014, said people offering those treatments are "basically abusing people's trust"[269][266] and that young blood treatments are "the scientific equivalent of fake news".[270] The treatment appeared in HBO's Silicon Valley fiction series.[269]
Two clinics in California, run by Jesse Karmazin and David C. Wright,[264] offer $8,000 injections of plasma extracted from the blood of young people. Karmazin has not published in any peer-reviewed journal and his current study does not use a control group.[270][269][264][266]
Microbiome alterations
Fecal microbiota transplantation[271][272] and probiotics are being investigated as means for life and healthspan extension.[273][274][275]
See also
- Advanced glycation end product
- Aging brain
- Aging movement control
- Alzheimer's disease
- Anti-aging movement
- Biological immortality
- Centenarian
- Clinical Interventions in Aging
- Dementia
- DNA damage theory of aging
- Human enhancement
- Immortal DNA strand hypothesis
- Immortality
- Maximum lifespan
- Particulates
- Rejuvenation Research
- Senescence
- Slow aging
- Supercentenarian
- Timeline of senescence research
- Transgenerational design
References
Neither vitamin E intake alone nor combined with other agents is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality.
In animal models, alterations in GH/IGF-1 signaling with reductions in these somatotrophs appear to increase life span. ... Administration of IGF-1Eb (mechanogrowth factor) stimulates proliferation of myoblasts and induces muscle hypertrophy. Increases in GH and IGF-1 during adolescence are beneficial for brain and cardiovascular function during the aging process and GH administration during adolescence is vasoprotective and increases life-span.15 ... Studies relating GH and IGF-1 status to longevity provide inconsistent evidence as to whether decreased (somatopause) or high levels (e.g. acromegaly) of these hormones are beneficial or detrimental to longevity. ... It is difficult to reconcile the largely protective effects of GH/IGF-1 deficiency on longevity in animals with the inconsistent or deleterious effects of low levels or declining GH/IGF-1 during human aging.
Current studies suggest that 2.5 to 5 hours/week of moderate or vigorous physical activity will confer maximal benefits; >10 hours/week may reduce these health benefits.
To Dvorsky, aging is a problem that's desperately in need of solving.
Unknown to most, Steve is both an undeniable champion of life expansion as well as one of the most prolific campaigners for life extension. Understanding that the depth of his life's experience is limited by time alone, in his latest album Neon Future he pens lyrics such as 'Life has limitless variety... But today, because of ageing, it does not have limitless scope.' [...] Set up by the Steve Aoki Charitable Fund, the profits from the Dan Bilzerian party went to life extension research.
Cryonics, which began in the Sixties, is the freezing – usually in liquid nitrogen – of human beings who have been legally declared dead. The aim of this process is to keep such individuals in a state of refrigerated limbo so that it may become possible in the future to resuscitate them, cure them of the condition that killed them, and then restore them to functioning life in an era when medical science has triumphed over the activities of the Grim Reaper.
Text and images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The basic idea is to take a particular brain, scan its structure in detail, and construct a software model of it that is so faithful to the original that, when run on appropriate hardware, it will behave in essentially the same way as the original brain.
- Tsai YC, Cheng LH, Liu YW, Jeng OJ, Lee YK (2021). "Gerobiotics: probiotics targeting fundamental aging processes". Bioscience of Microbiota, Food and Health. 40 (1): 1–11. doi:10.12938/bmfh.2020-026. PMC 7817508. PMID 33520563.
Further reading
- Bostrum N. "The Fable of the Dragon Tyrant".
- de Grey A (3 December 2004). "We will be able to live to 1,000". BBC News.
- Easterbrook G (October 2014). "What Happens When We All Live to 100?". The Atlantic. pp. 60–72.
- Emanuel EJ (October 2014). "Why I Hope to Die at 75". The Atlantic. pp. 74–81.
External links
| Authority control: National |
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_extension
Neoteny (/niˈɒtəni/),[1][2][3][4] also called juvenilization,[5] is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic, development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny is found in modern humans compared to other primates.[6] In progenesis or paedogenesis, sexual development is accelerated.[7]
Both neoteny and progenesis result in paedomorphism[8] (as having the form typical of children) or paedomorphosis[9] (changing towards forms typical of children), a type of heterochrony.[10] It is the retention in adults of traits previously seen only in the young. Such retention is important in evolutionary biology, domestication and evolutionary developmental biology. Some authors define paedomorphism as the retention of larval traits, as seen in salamanders.[11][12][13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedogenesis-use-theft-false-cause-cyclic-reason-psychopathology-stolenip-breed-decay-uncertain-equation-dependency-builder-integrity-etc.
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