21st century

The 21st century is the current era in the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001. It will end on December 31, 2100. This century marks the start of the third millennium. It is a time defined by massive technological shifts and global connections.

The century has seen the rise of a global economy. It has also seen changes in how nations interact and how people live.

Technology has fundamentally changed human life through digital connectivity. In the early 2010s, smartphones became ubiquitous, meaning they were found everywhere. By 2025, nearly three-quarters of the global population had internet access.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has seen significant growth. This includes deep learning and machine learning, which are ways computers learn from data. In the early 2020s, the rise of generative AI began an AI boom. This technology can create new content, but it also creates "AI slop," which is mass-produced AI content. As of 2024, this made up over half of the internet.

Space exploration has also entered a new, more active phase. In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. This started the era of commercial spaceflight. Since then, many nations have reached for the Moon. China landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon in 2019. This was a historic first. In 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission landed near the lunar south pole. The United States continues to lead with programs like Artemis and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Human biology and health have seen major scientific shifts. The success of the Human Genome Project made DNA sequencing more affordable. This allows scientists to study genetic codes easily. In November 2018, the first genetically modified children were born in China. This event sparked significant controversy. In medicine, technologies like ultrasound and prenatal genetic testing have advanced. However, the century has also faced health crises. The COVID-19 pandemic began in late 2019 and lasted as a global crisis until May 2023. It caused millions of deaths and a massive global recession.

Global economics and population are changing rapidly. The world economy grew from $42 trillion in 2000 to $101 trillion in 2022. While the United States remained a sole superpower early on, China has emerged as a major superpower.

The population reached 8 billion in November 2022. Experts predict it will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Most people are moving into cities. By 2050, two-thirds of the world is expected to be urbanized. This shift creates new challenges for how we manage large cities.

Society faces complex social and environmental issues. Global warming and rising sea levels have caused ecological crises. Between 2007 and 2014, eight islands disappeared due to these changes.

There are also shifts in how people work. Automation, where machines replace human tasks, is changing many industries. Half of all jobs requiring less than a bachelor's degree may face automation. Furthermore, linguistic diversity is at risk. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 living languages. Experts believe 50% to 90% of these may go extinct by 2100.

Politics and conflict have seen both trends of peace and tension. For a time, a trend called the "Long Peace" continued from the 20th century. However, the early 2020s saw rising geopolitical tensions. This includes the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Gaza war. As of 2023, 14% of people live within five kilometers of a violent conflict. This is the highest number of ongoing conflicts since World War II.

Despite these conflicts, extreme poverty has dropped significantly. It fell from 37.9% in 1990 to just 9% in 2022.