Portal:2020s

The 2020s (pronounced "twenty-twenties" or "two thousand [and] twenties"; shortened to "the '20s" and also known as "The Twenties") is the current decade that began on 1 January 2020, and will end on 31 December 2029.

During the early part of this decade, the world population grew from 7.7 billion to over 8 billion people. In 2023, India overtook China to become the most populous country in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath marked the early 2020s. The first reports of the virus were published on 31 December 2019, though the first cases are said to have appeared nearly a month earlier. The pandemic led to a global economic recession, sustained rise in global inflation, and supply chain crisis. The World Health Organization declared the virus a global state of emergency. With multiple extreme weather events and ecological crises continuing to escalate, several world leaders have called the 2020s the "decisive decade" for climate action. The years 2023 and 2024 both broke yearly global temperature records, with 2024 breaching 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, which had been seen as a maximum threshold to prevent significantly negative human impacts on Earth's climate system.

Widespread democratic backsliding continued and many countries' governance shifted from liberal democracy and towards authoritarianism, marking the end of the Post–Cold War era. According to the V-Dem Institute, the United States became an electoral autocracy under a competitive authoritarian regime for the first time in its history during the second presidency of Donald Trump. Ethnic nationalist and other forms of authoritarian tendencies became prominent throughout Europe, Russia, and Israel. Conservative and right-wing populist leaders maintained or returned to power, such as Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Vladimir Putin, while liberal leaders such as Kamala Harris, Keir Starmer, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy were defeated or are struggling.

Anti-government demonstrations and revolts occurred, such as the Gen Z protests including the "Asian Spring" in Asian countries, predominantly led by the eponymous Generation Z, in response to inequality, declining standards of living, corruption, democratic backsliding and authoritarianism. Social media has been a common tool for activism and coordination. Protests against responses to COVID-19, against racism and police brutality by the Black Lives Matter movement, and against various forms of governmental jurisdiction, corruption, and authoritarianism occurred; along with citizen riots throughout the United States and Brazil attempting to overturn election results, seen by supporters as stolen, taking place. Among democracies in 2024, its elections saw 80% of incumbent parties lose support worldwide, as with the 2024 United States presidential election. In 2025, Trump triggered a global trade war, marking a new era of economic nationalism and the end of free trade. (Full article...)