The year in history
2020
Someone born in 2020 turns 6 in 2026
2020 (MMXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2020th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 20th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2020s decade. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a global social, societal and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns, and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Geospatial World also called 2020 "the worst year in terms of climate change" in part due to major climate disasters worldwide, including major bushfires in Australia and the western United States, as well as extreme tropical cyclone activity affecting large parts of North America. A United Nations progress report published in December 2020 indicated that none of the international Sustainable Development Goals for 2020 were achieved.
What happened in 2020
Croatia begins its term in the presidency of the European Union.
NASA publishes a detailed study of Arrokoth, the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft.
The International Olympic Committee and Japan postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021. On March 30, the Summer Olympics will be rescheduled from July 23 to August 8, 2021.
The 2020 Tour de France is delayed until August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of recovered COVID-19 patients reaches 1 million worldwide, according to data from The Johns Hopkins University.
COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 5 million worldwide, with 106,000 new cases recorded over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day figure so far.
COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 8 million worldwide.
Flooding of the Brahmaputra River kills 189 and leaves 4 million homeless in India and Nepal.
COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 25 million worldwide. India continues to record the highest daily increase of cases.
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.
Western Sahara conflict: fighting erupts between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic when Moroccan forces launch a military operation to capture the town of Guerguerat, located in a UN-monitored buffer zone.
COVID-19 pandemic: Russia begins mass vaccination against COVID-19 with the Sputnik V candidate.