The 2020s (pronounced "twenty-twenties" or "two thousand (and) twenties") is the current decade of the Gregorian and Julian calendars that began on 1 January 2020 and will end on 31 December 2029.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath marked the early 2020s, which triggered a global economic recession, sustained rise in global inflation, supply chain crisis, and autocratisation. Governments worldwide issued stay-at-home orders during the early pandemic, leading to a widespread use of teleconferencing, online learning, e-commerce, and food delivery services.
In terms of politics, the 2020s has seen a rise in populist and anti-establishment movements across the world on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum, along with anti-government demonstrations and revolts, including the Gen Z protests. The decade saw an escalation of military conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022, the Gaza war and genocide since 2023, the 2025 Twelve-Day War, and the 2026 Iran war. By the middle of the decade, multiple journalists, economists, and political scientists had increasingly begun to refer to China as a superpower due to its enormous influence in the fields of geopolitics, technology, manufacturing, economics and culture.
Technology has continued to evolve in the 2020s. Throughout the decade, generative artificial intelligence-based applications, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, became widespread, allowing users to instantly generate sophisticated texts, images, and media. The growth of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence has led to the cryptocurrency bubble and AI spring. India and China expanded their space exploration programs,, with China assembling its space station Tiangong in 2022. The United States has led space exploration, including with the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby in 2026. Both the U.S. and China have vowed to return humans to the lunar surface by 2030.
During the early part of this decade, the world population grew from 7.7 billion people to ~8 billion people. In 2023, India overtook China as the most populous country in the world. With multiple extreme weather events and ecological crises continuing to escalate, several world leaders have called the 2020s the "decisive decade" for climate action.
Politics and wars
Major conflicts
The prominent wars of the decade include:
International wars
Name Start date End date Description Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present) Gaza war Gaza genocide Red Sea crisis Israeli invasion of Lebanon Israeli invasion of Syria Iran–Israel war 2026 Iran war and Afghanistan–Iran proxy war OngoingLate 19th or early 20th century 6 May 2021 7 October 2023 7 October 2023 19 October 2023 1 October 2024 8 December 2024 13 June 2025 March 2026 Ongoing 21 May 2021 Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing 27 November 2024 Ongoing 24 June 2025 Ongoing The Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which began in the late 19th or early 20th century, erupted into 11 days of open violence in May 2021 after the attempted eviction of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli settlers and an Israeli police raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque, with leading militant group Hamas launching over 4,000 rockets into Israel. The subsequent unrest caused extensive damage primarily, but not entirely, to Palestinians. The outbreak ended on 19 May. On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other Gazan militant groups conducted an armed attack on Israel, killing 797 civilians and taking 251 hostages back into Gaza. The subsequent war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in more than 50,000 casualties as of 2024, more than all the preceding decades of the conflict combined.
After weakening Iranian proxies and the fall of the Assad regime, Israel launched a series of strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, nuclear scientists and IRGC leadership. Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles against Israel. The United States temporarily joined the war by attacking Iranian nuclear facilities.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have intensified amid Iran's ongoing crackdown on nationwide protests against the Iranian government. On 13 January, Iranian officials warned they were "ready for war" after United States president Donald Trump threatened potential military action ostensibly in response to the growing death toll and mass detentions linked to the protests.
On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel conducted military strikes in Iran. Several Iranian leaders are said to be hit in the strikes, including the assassination of Ali Khamenei, which is said to be cut off from contact. Along with the NATO allies plans to prepare in a following month after the assassination and Iranian airstrike threats.
The NATO and Asian allies declared and launched the Afghanistan–Iran proxy war against the Taliban and the Islamic Republic regimes since the assassination of Ali Larijani, the war that blamed the massacre of the protesters and several terrorist attacks in the Middle East and South Asia (including India).Turkey–PKK conflict27 November 197812 May 2025Numerous Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (the PKK) have fought for an independent Kurdistan incorporating parts of Turkey. In 2020, Turkey launched an insurgency in Iraqi Kurdistan. After a rebel offensive overthrew the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Turkey renewed its offensive against Kurdish-held territories in Northern Syria. On 12 May 2025, the PKK announced its full dissolution to favour political means. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Second Nagorno-Karabakh War 2023 Azerbaijani offensiveFebruary 1988 27 September 2020 19 September 20231 January 2024 10 November 2020 20 September 2023The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been disputed between the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the breakaway state, the Republic of Artsakh. Following the first war's ceasefire cross-border skirmishes persisted including in July 2020, when a series of border skirmishes left at least 15 dead. A second war broke out later that year and ended after another ceasefire. A border crisis and blockade ensued until a 2023 offensive into the region by Azerbaijan. Artsakh dissolved on 1 January 2024, ending the conflict. War on terror War in Afghanistan Iraq conflict 11 September 2001 7 October 2001 20 March 2003 Ongoing 30 August 2021 Ongoing Motivated by the 9/11 attacks, the United States and other governments started a large scale effort to eliminate terrorism. With support from NATO, the United States invaded Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and overthrew the government; however, US forces remained in the country to stabilise the situation. Two years later, on the pretext that the government of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, the United States and a coalition of partners invaded Iraq and overthrew Hussein's regime, after which the US occupied the country, officially leaving in 2011. However, insurgencies remained active in both countries, long after the invasions.Kivu conflict Congo–Rwanda conflict (2022–2025)2 June 2004
27 March 2022Ongoing 27 June 2025The Kivu conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has broadly consisted of three phases, the third of which is an ongoing conflict. Syrian civil war 2024 Syrian opposition offensives 15 March 2011
27 November 2024Ongoing 8 December 2024 In March 2011, popular discontent with the rule of Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring protests in the region. After months of crackdown by the government's security apparatus, various armed rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army began forming across the country, marking the beginning of the Syrian Insurgency. By mid-2012, the insurgency had escalated into a full-blown civil war until the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, following major offensives led by the Syrian opposition. During the civil war, Turkey invaded parts of northern Syria to combat the Islamic State, Syrian Democratic Forces, and the PKK. Russo-Ukrainian war 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 20 February 2014 24 February 2022 Ongoing Ongoing Hostilities between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine have been ongoing since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. In 2021 and early 2022, tensions escalated between the two countries due to a build up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Russia launched the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. War against ISIS 13 June 2014 Ongoing In late-2013, a terrorist organisation called ISIS began making rapid advances and territorial gains in Iraq and Syria. It captured Mosul in June and made Raqqa its capital. Various international coalitions were formed to help fight the militants. By December 2017, ISIS had lost much of its former territory. Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen 26 March 2015 Ongoing During the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries part of a coalition invaded parts of Yemen to depose the Houthi-controlled government. Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes (2024–present) 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan WarMarch 2024–present 22 February 2026–presentOngoing 3 November 2022 OngoingClashes in the Durand Line began with growing hostilities at the border, which Pakistan blamed on the Taliban of Afghanistan and several terrorist incidents. Afghanistan launched a retaliatory operation against Pakistan. In response, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab Lil Haq against the Taliban and announced a state of "open war" with Afghanistan after conducted airstrikes over the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost.
Civil wars
Name Start date End date DescriptionMyanmar conflict Myanmar civil war2 April 1948 7 September 2021Ongoing OngoingMyanmar's long-running insurgencies escalated significantly into a major civil war in 2021 following the 2021 military coup and the subsequent brutal crackdown on the anti-coup protests. War in Darfur 26 February 2003 31 August 2020 A peace agreement was signed on 31 August 2020 between the Sudanese authorities and several rebel factions to end armed hostilities. Mexican drug war 11 December 2006Ongoing Following a rise in criminal violence as a result of drug trafficking in the country, Mexican president Felipe Calderón declared a war on drugs in December 2006. Since the start of the war, the death toll from drug violence had sharply increased. Arrests of key cartel leaders led to increasing violence as cartels fought for control of trafficking routes into the United States. Somali civil war 2023 Las Anod conflict 31 January 2009 6 February 2023Ongoing