2021

From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after the January 6 United States Capitol attack; The container ship Ever Given gets stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking international shipping for six days; A scene from; the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan; The Ingenuity helicopter after deployment on the Martian surface by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover; Taliban fighters in Kabul on a captured Humvee following the 2021 fall of Kabul at the end of the War in Afghanistan.

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years:	2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.

The United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, and the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.

Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued in 2021. Most major events scheduled for 2020 that were postponed due to the pandemic were hosted in 2021, including the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Expo 2020, and sporting events such as UEFA Euro 2020, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the 2021 Copa América.

Events

January

• January 1 – The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect.
• January 4 – The border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopens.
• January 6 – Supporters of President of the United States Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol, disrupting certification of the 2020 presidential election, and forcing Congress to evacuate. Five people died during the ensuing riot. The event is classified as a domestic terrorist attack, and draws international condemnation.
• January 10 – Kim Jong-un is elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, inheriting the title from his father Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.
• January 13 – In Lyon, France, the first transplant of both arms and shoulders is performed on an Icelandic patient at the Édouard Herriot Hospital.
• January 14 – The 2021 Ugandan general election is held. Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986, wins reelection.
• January 15
  • The Lao People's Revolutionary Party elects Thongloun Sisoulith as its new General Secretary, replacing retiring chief Bounnhang Vorachith. Sisoulith is elected for a five-year term as top leader in Laos.
  • COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 passes 2 million.
• January 20 – Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.
• January 22 – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement comprehensively to prohibit nuclear weapons, comes into effect.
• January 24 – 2021 Portuguese presidential election: Incumbent president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is reelected.
• January 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide.
• January 27 – A near-total ban on abortion comes into effect in Poland.
• January 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The European Union invokes Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol following a row over COVID-19 vaccine supplies before reversing the decision.
• January 31 – Nguyễn Phú Trọng is re-elected for a third five-year term as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

February

• February 1
  • A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule leading to widespread demonstrations across the country.
  • Kosovo officially establishes diplomatic ties with Israel and announces plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
  • COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 100 million.
• February 4 – US President Joe Biden announces that the United States will cease providing weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for use in the Yemeni Civil War.
• February 9
  • COVID-19 pandemic: A joint WHO–China investigation into the source of the outbreak concludes. Investigators deem a Wuhan laboratory leak to be "extremely unlikely", with a "natural reservoir" in bats being a more likely origin.
  • The UAE's uncrewed Hope spacecraft becomes the first Arabian mission successfully to enter orbit around Mars.
• February 13–17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.
• February 18
  • Malaysian court orders Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak to enter defence on all three graft charges.
  • NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.
• February 19 – The United States officially rejoins the Paris Agreement, 107 days after leaving.
• February 20 – 2020–21 H5N8 outbreak: 7 people test positive for H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm in southern Russia, becoming the first known human cases.
• February 22 – Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is murdered near Goma.
• February 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative delivers its first vaccines, delivering 600,000 doses for healthcare workers in Ghana.
• February 25 – The Armenian military calls for prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Pashinyan accuses the military of attempting a coup d'état.
• February 28 – 2021 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nuevas Ideas party wins 56 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.

March

• March 6
  • Pope Francis meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. It is the first-ever meeting between a pope and a grand ayatollah.
  • 2021 Ivorian parliamentary election: The Rally of Houphouëtists for Democracy and Peace coalition wins 137 out of 255 seats in the National Assembly.
• March 15–17 – The Dutch general elections for the House of Representatives of the Netherlands take place.
• March 19 – North Korea severs diplomatic ties with Malaysia due to a Malaysian court's ruling that a North Korean citizen could be extradited to the United States to face money-laundering charges. Malaysian authorities order North Korean officials to leave the country in 48 hours.
• March 20 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces his country's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the first country to do so.
• March 21 – Clashes in Apure between Colombian FARC dissidents and the Venezuelan Armed Forces cause at least six casualties, as well as displacing 4,000 Venezuelans.
• March 23
  • The Israeli general elections take place, the fourth Knesset election in two years.
  • Ever Given, one of the largest container ships in the world, runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal, disrupting global trade. The ship is freed on March 29.
• March 25 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 500 million.

April

• April 2 – Russia warns NATO against sending any troops to aid Ukraine, amid reports of a large Russian military build-up on its borders.
• April 4
  • The 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election is held.
  • More than 270 people are killed in Indonesia and East Timor after Cyclone Seroja strikes East Nusa Tenggara and the island of Timor.
• April 9 – Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-18 mission, carrying three Expedition 65 crewmembers to the International Space Station.
• April 11
  • Peru holds a general election, with Pedro Castillo and the left-wing Free Peru party winning.
  • Iran accuses Israel of "nuclear terrorism" and vows revenge after a large explosion destroys the internal power system of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.
  • Hideki Matsuyama wins the 2021 Masters Tournament, becoming the first man from Japan to win a major golf championship.
• April 13 – Japan's government approves the dumping of radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years, with full support of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The decision is opposed by China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
• April 15 – Scientists announce they successfully injected human stem cells into the embryos of monkeys, creating chimera-embryos.
• April 17
  • COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 3 million.
  • The Czech government concludes that the Russian GRU was responsible for the blast of two ammo warehouses in Vrbětice in 2014. 18 Russian diplomats and alleged spies are subsequently expelled.
  • The Soyuz MS-17 mission concludes, returning three crewmembers of Expedition 64 to Earth from the International Space Station.
• April 18
  • Twelve football clubs, including three from La Liga and leading clubs from the Premier League and Serie A, agree to join a new breakaway European Super League, prompting international condemnation. Two days later, following major protests from supporters, other clubs and politicians, Manchester City withdraw from the league; this prompts all the remaining Premier League clubs and three others to do the same.
  • The 2021 Cape Verdean parliamentary election is held.
• April 19
  • NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, performs the first powered flight on another planet in history.
  • Raúl Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, ending more than 62 years of rule by the Castro brothers in Cuba.
• April 20 – Idriss Déby, President of Chad, is killed in clashes with rebel forces after 30 years in office. The constitution is suspended and a Transitional Military Council is established to govern the country for 18 months.
• April 22 – World leaders mark Earth Day by hosting a virtual summit on climate change, during which more ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions are proposed, including a 40% cut by 2030 for the United States.
• April 23
  • SpaceX launches the Crew-2 mission, carrying four crew members of Expedition 65 and 66 to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour.
  • UEFA announces that due to a lack of guarantees regarding spectators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland would be removed as a tournament host for the UEFA Euro 2020.
• April 24
  • Following an international search and rescue effort, the Indonesian navy reports the sinking of KRI Nanggala with 53 crew members, the largest loss of life aboard a submarine since 2003.
  • COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 1 billion. Half of these doses have been administered in just three countries (the United States, China and India).
• April 25 – Albania holds parliamentary elections.
• April 28
  • At least 55 people are killed and nearly 50,000 more are displaced in one of the most serious clashes in Central Asia following border disputes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
  • The European Union approves the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, governing the relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit.
• April 29 – The China National Space Administration launches the first module of its Tiangong space station, named Tianhe, beginning a two-year effort to build the station in orbit.

May

• May 2 – The SpaceX Crew-1 mission ends, returning four crew members of Expedition 64 and 65 to Earth from the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Resilience.
• May 11 – 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis: Israel hits the Gaza Strip with airstrikes as Hamas increases rocket fire. This follows tensions over the possible eviction of several Palestinians due to a long-standing property dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.
• May 12 – COVID-19 pandemic in India: The country's death toll exceeds 250,000. Delhi cremation grounds were running out of places while hundreds of bodies were reported washed up on the banks of the Ganges.
• May 14 – The China National Space Administration lands its Zhurong rover at Utopia Planitia on Mars, making China the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the planet and only the second to land a rover.
• May 15 – Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants continues to escalate, as the death toll exceeds 150. An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise office building in Gaza occupied by Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other media outlets.
• May 17 – Discovery, Inc. agrees to buy media conglomerate WarnerMedia and all of its subsidiaries from AT&T for US$43 billion. The merger is set to be complete the following year.
• May 18–22 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after the cancellation of the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The contest is won by Italian entrants Måneskin with the song "Zitti e buoni".
• May 20 – Following international pressure, and nearly 250 deaths, Israel agrees to a ceasefire deal to end the conflict with Gaza militants, effective the next day at 2:00 am local time.
• May 23 – Ryanair Flight 4978 is forced to land by Belarusian authorities to detain dissident journalist Roman Protasevich.
• May 24 – A coup d'état in Mali removes interim President Bah Ndaw and the acting Prime Minister, Moctar Ouane, from power and restores military rule leading to the country being suspended from the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, as well as France suspending its military operations in the country.
• May 24 – The Government of Guillermo Lasso is formed in Ecuador.
• May 26
  • Shell becomes the first company to be legally mandated to align its carbon emissions with the Paris climate accord, following a landmark court ruling in the Netherlands.
  • The 2021 Syrian presidential election is held.
• May 29 – 2021 UEFA Champions League Final; Chelsea become champions, defeating fellow English club Manchester City 1–0 to win the UEFA Champions League for the second time.
• May 30 – The 2021 Cypriot legislative election is held.

June

• June 2 – The 2021 Israeli presidential election is held, and won by Isaac Herzog. In order to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, Naftali Bennett agrees to form a coalition with the Israeli opposition as a rotation government that will come to take effect after eleven days.
• June 5 – The G7 agrees on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% intended to prevent tax avoidance by some of the world's biggest multinationals.
• June 7 – The Juno spacecraft performs its only flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the first flyby of the moon by any spacecraft in over 20 years.
• June 9
  • The 2021 Mongolian presidential election is held.
  • The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador passes legislation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the country, becoming the first country to adopt the cryptocurrency alongside the U.S. dollar.
• June 10 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from Canada, Greenland, the North Pole, and the Russian Far East.
• June 11 – July 11 – The UEFA Euro 2020, hosted by 11 different countries, is held, and is won by Italy after beating England on penalties.
• June 11 – June 13 – World leaders meet at the 47th G7 summit, hosted by the United Kingdom, with topics of discussion including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the corporate taxation of multinationals.
• June 12 – The 2021 Algerian legislative election is held to elect all 407 seats in the People's National Assembly.
• June 13 – July 10 – The 2021 Copa América, hosted behind closed doors by Brazil, is held, and is won by Argentina.
• June 13 – Benjamin Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister of Israel, is voted out of office; Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel and as Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, respectively.
• June 17 – The China National Space Administration sends its first three astronauts to occupy the Tiangong Space Station, the country's first space station.
• June 18 – The 2021 Iranian presidential election is held.
• June 20 – 2021 Armenian parliamentary election: Acting PM Nikol Pashinyan wins the country's snap election, with his Civil Contract party gaining 54% of the vote.
• June 23 – 2021 ICC World Test Championship Final: New Zealand wins the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship.
• June 24 – Surfside condominium collapse: A portion of the Champlain South Towers condominium building collapses in Surfside, Florida, United States, leaving 98 people dead. One survivor was pulled from the wreckage while 35 others were evacuated from the uncollapsed section of the building.
• June 24 – A rare, violent, and deadly long-tracked tornado struck several villages in the Hodonín and Břeclav districts of the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic in the evening, killing six people and injuring at least 200 others. The tornado struck seven municipalities, with the worst damage in the villages of Hrušky, Moravská Nová Ves, Mikulčice and Lužice.
• June 28 – Tigray War: The Tigray Defense Force seizes the Tigrayan capital Mekelle shortly after the Ethiopian government declares a ceasefire.
• June 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 3 billion.

July

• July 3 – Over 130 wildfires, fuelled by lightning strikes, burn through Western Canada following a record-breaking heatwave in North America that results in over 600 deaths.
• July 5 – More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers flee to neighbouring Tajikistan after clashing with Taliban militants.
• July 7 – Assassination of Jovenel Moïse: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is shot to death at 1:00 am local time in his home. First Lady Martine Moïse is injured and hospitalized.
• July 8 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 4 million.
• July 10–August 1 – The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup is held in, and is won by, the United States.
• July 11
  • Thousands of Cubans, most of them young, attend a rare anti-government protest in San Antonio de los Baños to protest the increased food and medicine shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Moldova holds a parliamentary election, with the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) obtaining a majority of seats.
  • Bulgaria holds a parliamentary election, with the party There Is Such a People (ITN) leading.
• July 12 – 2021 European floods: Heavy rain causes flooding in the border region of Germany and Belgium, resulting in 229 deaths, including 184 in Germany, 42 in Belgium with 1 person still missing there, and 2 in Romania. The event is attributed to a slowed jetstream caused by climate change.
• July 13 – After the Supreme Court declares his incumbency unconstitutional, KP Oli is succeeded by Sher Bahadur Deuba as 43rd Prime Minister of Nepal.
• July 18 – An international investigation reveals that spyware sold by Israel's NSO Group to different governments is being used to target heads of state, along with thousands of activists, journalists and dissidents around the world.
• July 19
  • Blue Origin successfully conducts its first human test flight, with a reusable New Shepard rocket delivering four crew members into space including its founder Jeff Bezos.
  • Leftist schoolteacher Pedro Castillo is confirmed as President of Peru over a month after the 2021 Peruvian general election.
  • Day of Hajj: Women are permitted to attend without a male guardian (mehrem) provided they go in a trustworthy group.
• July 23–August 8 – The 2020 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 24 July–9 August 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• July 23 – The Court of Appeal of Samoa deemed the swearing-in of Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa and her government as constitutional, ending a three-month constitutional crisis.
• July 25 – Tunisian president Kais Saied formally takes power in the country, suspending the parliament and sacking the prime minister.
• July 28 – The first direct observation of light from behind a black hole is reported, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity.
• July 29
  • Roscosmos' Nauka laboratory docks with the International Space Station following a protracted seventeen-year development and launch on 21 July. Hours after docking, a malfunction of its thrusters causes a temporary loss of control of the station, spinning it up to 45 degrees from its normal orbital attitude.
  • The oil tanker Mercer Street is attacked off the coast of Oman.

August

• August 3
  • The oil tanker Asphalt Princess is hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
  • Wildfires in Greece begin.
• August 4
  • 2020 Summer Olympics: Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is given political asylum in Poland through a humanitarian visa after attempts by the Belarus Olympic Committee to repatriate her against her will.
  • COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases surpasses 200 million worldwide.
• August 5 – Tigray War: The Tigray Defense Forces seize the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lalibela.
• August 9 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report, which concludes that the effects of human-caused climate change are now "widespread, rapid, and intensifying".
• August 12 – The 2021 Zambian general election is held.
• August 14 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti, killing more than 2,100 people.
• August 15 – 2021 Taliban offensive: The Taliban capture Kabul; the Afghan government surrenders to the Taliban.
• August 24–September 5 – The 2020 Summer Paralympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 25 August–6 September 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• August 26 – 2021 Kabul airport attack: At least 182 people are killed, including 13 U.S. service members, in a suicide bomb attack at Kabul airport.
• August 27 – The United States launches an airstrike that it claims killed the Islamic State member who was believed to have planned the Kabul airport bombings. However, the U.S. Defense Department later acknowledged that the strike instead killed ten civilians, including seven children, and that no terrorists were killed.
• August 29 – Hurricane Ida strikes New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, after having caused devastation in Venezuela.
• August 30
  • The UN Environment Programme announces that leaded petrol in road vehicles has been phased out globally, a hundred years after its introduction.
  • The United States withdraws its last remaining troops from Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, ending 20 years of operations in Afghanistan.

September

• September 5 – 2021 Guinean coup d'état: Guinea's President Alpha Condé is detained by an elite military unit led by a former French legionnaire, Lt. Col. Mamady Doumbouya, claiming to have seized power.
• September 7 – El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as an official currency.
• September 13
  • Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the main Malaysian opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, sign a confidence and supply agreement ending the 18-month political crisis that has led to the fall of two successive governments in Malaysia.
  • The 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election is held.
• September 14
  • North Korea demonstrates two short-range ballistic missiles that land just outside Japan's territorial waters; and then only hours later South Korea demonstrates its first submarine-launched ballistic missile.
  • The inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, the third tier of European club football, kicks off with Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv winning 4–1 against Armenian club FC Alashkert.
• September 15
  • AUKUS: A trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is formed, to counter the influence of China. This includes enabling Australia to build its first nuclear-powered submarine fleet.
  • Several ministers of the Argentine president Alberto Fernández's cabinet resign after the government's defeat in the primary elections, triggering a political crisis in the country.
• September 16 – Inspiration4, launched by SpaceX, becomes the first all-civilian spaceflight, carrying a four-person crew on a three-day orbit of the Earth.
• September 19 – The 2021 Russian legislative election is held, with the United Russia party winning nearly 50% of the vote.
• September 20 – The 2021 Canadian federal election is held, with Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party retaining a minority government.
• September 25 – The 2021 Icelandic parliamentary election is held.
• September 26 – The 2021 German federal election is held, with Olaf Scholz and the Social Democratic Party beating out the CDU/CSU coalition.

October

• October 1 – The 2020 World Expo in Dubai begins. Its opening was originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• October 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and assorted media partners publish a set of 11.9 million documents leaked from 14 financial services companies known as the Pandora Papers, revealing offshore financial activities that involve multiple current and former world leaders.
• October 4 – Fumio Kishida becomes the 100th Prime Minister of Japan, succeeding Yoshihide Suga.
• October 5 – Roscosmos launches the Soyuz MS-19 mission, which carries an Expedition 66 crewmember and two Channel One Russia personnel to the International Space Station. The two Channel One crew will perform principal photography on the film Vyzov aboard the station.
• October 6–10 – The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals is held in Italy, and is won by France. They were originally scheduled for 2–6 June 2021, but were moved following the rescheduling of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• October 6 – The World Health Organization endorses the first malaria vaccine.
• October 8–9 – The 2021 Czech legislative election is held, with the main opposition coalition alliance of SPOLU and Pirates and Mayors gaining a legislative majority.
• October 9 – Sebastian Kurz announces his resignation as Chancellor of Austria as a result of a corruption probe launched against him.
• October 16 – The Lucy spacecraft is launched by NASA, the first mission to explore the Trojan asteroids.
• October 17 – November 14 – The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup is held in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and is won by Australia.
• October 23 – Colombia's most wanted drug lord, Dario Antonio Úsuga, whose Gulf Clan controls many smuggling routes into the US and other countries, is captured by Colombia's armed forces.
• October 24 – The 2021 Uzbek presidential election is held.
• October 25 – The Sudanese military launches a coup against the government. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is placed under house arrest. President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declares a state of emergency and announces the dissolution of the government.
• October 31
  • The 2021 Japanese general election is held, with Fumio Kishida and the Liberal Democratic Party along with its coalition partner Komeito retaining a majority government.
  • October 31 – November 13 – The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held, after being postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19. A deal is agreed by world leaders, which includes a "phasedown" of unabated coal power, a 30% cut in methane emissions by 2030, plans for a halt to deforestation by 2030, and increased financial support for developing countries.

November

• November 1 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 5 million.
• November 11 – SpaceX launches the Crew-3 mission, carrying four Expedition 66 crew members to the International Space Station.
• November 14
  • The 2021 Argentine legislative election is held.
  • The 2021 Bulgarian general election is held.
• November 16 – Russia draws international condemnation following an anti-satellite weapon test that creates a cloud of space debris, threatening the International Space Station.
• November 21 – The 2021 Chilean general election is held.
• November 23 – A bus crashes in Pernik Province, Bulgaria, killing 46 Macedonian tourists returning from Istanbul.
• November 24
  • NASA launches the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first attempt to deflect an asteroid for the purpose of learning how to protect Earth.
  • Magdalena Andersson resigns as Prime Minister-elect of Sweden hours after the Riksdag voted her in as Sweden's first female Prime Minister. She was due to take office on 26 November. Instead, she takes office on 30 November.
• November 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization convenes an emergency meeting in Geneva amid concerns over Omicron, a highly mutated variant of COVID-19 first identified in South Africa that appears more infectious than Delta.
• November 30
  • Barbados becomes a republic on its 55th anniversary of independence while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
  • November 30 – December 18 – The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup is held in Qatar, and is won by Algeria.

December

• December 4 – The 2021 Gambian presidential election is held and incumbent president Adama Barrow is reelected.
• December 6 – The United States announces a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in response to China's human rights record. Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia join shortly after.
• December 9
  • A truck crash in Chiapas, Mexico, kills 55 migrants who were being smuggled in it from Guatemala through Mexico to its border with the United States.
  • December 9–10 – The Summit for Democracy, a virtual summit, is hosted by the United States "to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad".
• December 11 – The New York City FC defeats the Portland Timbers at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon 5-3 on penalties and wins MLS Cup title for the first time in its history.
• December 12 – The 2021 New Caledonian independence referendum is held.
• December 16 – Typhoon Rai, also known as Typhoon Odette, hits the Philippines and caused destruction to agriculture, establishments, and houses, and caused many injured and deaths.
• December 19
  • The 2021 Hong Kong legislative election, originally scheduled for 6 September 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is held.
  • The second round of the 2021 Chilean presidential election is held; leftist candidate Gabriel Boric is elected President.
• 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.

Births

• June 4 – Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, second child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and eighth in the line of succession to the British throne

Deaths

Further information: Category:2021 deaths

January

Main article: Deaths in January 2021

Modibo Keita

Martinus J. G. Veltman

Phil Spector

Cloris Leachman

• January 1 – Dame Elmira Minita Gordon, 1st Governor-General of Belize (b. 1930)
• January 2
  • Modibo Keita, 8th Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1942)
  • Michael McKevitt, Irish republican paramilitary leader (b. 1949)
• January 3 – Gerry Marsden, English musician (b. 1942)
• January 4
  • Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch Nobel theoretical physicist (b. 1931)
  • Albert Roux, French chef and restaurateur (b. 1935)
• January 5 – Colin Bell, English footballer (b. 1946)
• January 7 – Michael Apted, English filmmaker (b. 1941)
• January 11
  • Sheldon Adelson, American businessman and casino magnate (b. 1933)
  • Kathleen Heddle, Canadian Olympic rower (b. 1965)
• January 13 – Siegfried Fischbacher, German-born American magician (b. 1939)
• January 16 – Phil Spector, American record producer and convicted murderer (b. 1939)
• January 18 – Jean-Pierre Bacri, Algerian-born French actor (b. 1951)
• January 20 - Justin Lekhanya, Chairman of the Military Council of Lesotho (b. 1938)
• January 23 – Hal Holbrook, American actor (b. 1925)
• January 27
  • Cloris Leachman, American actress (b. 1926)
  • Mehrdad Minavand, Iranian footballer and manager (b. 1975)
• January 28
  • Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch Nobel atmospheric chemist (b. 1933)
  • Vasily Lanovoy, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1934)
  • Cicely Tyson, American actress (b. 1924)
• January 29 - Hilton Valentine, English guitarist (b. 1943)

February

Main article: Deaths in February 2021

Christopher Plummer

Mary Wilson

Carlos Menem

Sir Michael Somare

• February 1 – Edward Babiuch, 5th Prime Minister of the Polish People's Republic (b. 1927)
• February 2 – Fausta Morganti, Captain Regent of San Marino (b. 1944)
• February 3 – Tony Trabert, American tennis player and commentator (b. 1930)
• February 4 – Millie Hughes-Fulford, American astronaut and molecular biologist (b. 1945)
• February 5
  • Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor (b. 1929)
  • Leon Spinks, American professional boxer (b. 1953)
• February 6 – George Shultz, American politician, diplomat and economist (b. 1920)
• February 7 – Giuseppe Rotunno, Italian cinematographer (b. 1923)
• February 8
  • Jean-Claude Carrière, French novelist and screenwriter (b. 1931)
  • Mary Wilson, American singer (b. 1944)
• February 9 – Chick Corea, American jazz keyboardist (b. 1941)
• February 11 – Isadore Singer, American mathematician (b. 1924)
• February 12 – Milford Graves, American jazz drummer, percussionist, and free jazz pioneer (b. 1941)
• February 13 – Yury Vlasov, Soviet and Russian weightlifter and writer (b. 1935)
• February 14 – Carlos Menem, 44th President of Argentina (b. 1930)
• February 15 – Leopoldo Luque, Argentine footballer (b. 1949)
• February 16
  • Bernard Lown, Lithuanian-American Nobel cardiologist and inventor (b. 1921)
  • Joan Margarit, Spanish poet (b. 1938)
  • Gustavo Noboa, 42nd President of Ecuador (b. 1937)
• February 17 – Rush Limbaugh, American radio personality (b. 1951)
• February 18 – Andrey Myagkov, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1938)
• February 19 – Đorđe Balašević, Serbian recording artist and singer-songwriter (b. 1953)
• February 21 – Zlatko Saračević, Croatian handball player and coach (b. 1961)
• February 22 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher (b. 1919)
• February 23 – Fausto Gresini, Italian motorcycle racer and team manager (b. 1961)
• February 24
  • Philippe Jaccottet, Swiss poet and translator (b. 1925)
  • N'Singa Udjuu, First State Commissioner of Zaire (b. 1934)
• February 25
  • Hannu Mikkola, Finnish rally driver (b. 1942)
  • Sir Michael Somare, 1st Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1936)

March

Main article: Deaths in March 2021

Bunny Wailer

Lou Ottens

John Magufuli

Nawal El Saadawi

Didier Ratsiraka

• March 1
  • Zlatko Kranjčar, Croatian football player and manager (b. 1956)
  • Ian St John, Scottish footballer (b. 1938)
• March 2
  • Chris Barber, English jazz musician (b. 1930)
  • Bunny Wailer, Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
• March 6 – Lou Ottens, Dutch inventor (b. 1926)
• March 9
  • James Levine, American conductor and pianist (b. 1943)
  • John Polkinghorne, English theoretical physicist and Anglican priest (b. 1930)
• March 10
  • Hamed Bakayoko, 11th Prime Minister of Ivory Coast (b. 1965)
  • Ali Mahdi Muhammad, 4th President of Somalia (b. 1939)
  • Manuel Saturnino da Costa, 6th Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1942)
• March 12 – Goodwill Zwelithini, king of the Zulu nation (b. 1948)
• March 13
  • Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer (b. 1954)
  • Murray Walker, British motor racing commentator (b. 1923)
• March 16
  • Moudud Ahmed, 7th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1940)
  • Sabine Schmitz, German motor racer and television presenter (b. 1969)
• March 17 – John Magufuli, 5th President of Tanzania (b. 1959)
• March 20 – Peter Lorimer, Scottish international footballer (b. 1946)
• March 21
  • Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian feminist writer (b. 1931)
  • Adam Zagajewski, Polish poet, essayist and translator (b. 1945)
• March 22 – Johnny Dumfries, Scottish peer and racing driver (b. 1958)
• March 23 – George Segal, American actor (b. 1934)
• March 24 – Jessica Walter, American actress (b. 1941)
• March 25
  • Beverly Cleary, American author (b. 1916)
  • Larry McMurtry, American author (b. 1936)
  • Bertrand Tavernier, French film director and actor (b. 1941)
• March 28 – Didier Ratsiraka, 3rd President of Madagascar (b. 1936)
• March 29 – Bashkim Fino, 29th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1962)
• March 31 – Kamal Ganzouri, 46th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1933)

April

Main article: Deaths in April 2021

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Idriss Déby

Michael Collins

• April 1 – Isamu Akasaki, Japanese Nobel physicist (b. 1929)
• April 2 – Christian Tumi, Cameroonian cardinal (b. 1930)
• April 4 – Robert Mundell, Canadian Nobel economist (b. 1932)
• April 5 – Marshall Sahlins, American anthropologist (b. 1930)
• April 6 – Hans Küng, Swiss Catholic priest, theologian and author (b. 1928)
• April 9
  • DMX, American rapper, songwriter and actor (b. 1970)
  • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1921)
• April 14
  • Yıldırım Akbulut, 20th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1935)
  • Bernie Madoff, American investment advisor, financier and convicted fraudster (b. 1938)
• April 16
  • Charles Geschke, American businessman and computer scientist (b. 1939)
  • Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (b. 1939)
• April 19
  • Walter Mondale, 42nd Vice President of the United States (b. 1928)
  • Jim Steinman, American rock lyricist and composer (b. 1947)
  • Willy van der Kuijlen, Dutch footballer (b. 1946)
• April 20 – Idriss Déby, 6th President of Chad (b. 1952)
• April 23 – Milva, Italian singer and actress (b. 1939)
• April 24 – Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano (b. 1928)
• April 26 – Tamara Press, Soviet Olympic shot put and discus thrower (b. 1937)
• April 28
  • Michael Collins, American astronaut (b. 1930)
  • Federico Salas, 136th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1950)

May

Main article: Deaths in May 2021

Olympia Dukakis

Humberto Maturana

Franco Battiato

Yuan Longping

Carla Fracci

Poul Schlüter

• May 1 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress (b. 1931)
• May 3 – Lloyd Price, American singer-songwriter and businessman (b. 1933)
• May 4 – Simon Achidi Achu, 6th Prime Minister of Cameroon (b. 1934)
• May 6
  • Humberto Maturana, Chilean philosopher and biologist (b. 1928)
  • Kentaro Miura, Japanese manga artist (b. 1966)
• May 7 – Martín Pando, Argentine footballer (b. 1934)
• May 8
  • Lee Han-dong, 33rd Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1934)
  • Helmut Jahn, German-born American architect (b. 1940)
  • Spencer Silver, American chemist and inventor (b. 1941)
• May 9 – José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Spanish poet and novelist (b. 1926)
• May 10 – Svante Thuresson, Swedish jazz musician (b. 1937)
• May 11 – Norman Lloyd, American actor, producer and director (b. 1914)
• May 15
  • Đorđe Marjanović, Serbian pop rock singer (b. 1931)
  • Eva Wilma, Brazilian actress (b. 1933)
• May 16 – Rildo da Costa Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1942)
• May 18
  • Franco Battiato, Italian singer-songwriter, composer and filmmaker (b. 1946)
  • Charles Grodin, American actor and comedian (b. 1935)
• May 19 – Lee Evans, American Olympic athlete (b. 1947)
• May 20
  • Francisco Brines, Spanish poet (b. 1932)
  • Abubakar Shekau, Nigerian Islamic leader and militant (b. 1965, 1969 or 1975)
• May 21
  • Tahir Salahov, Soviet, Azerbaijani and Russian painter and draughtsman (b. 1928)
  • Sunderlal Bahuguna, Indian environmentalist (b. 1927)
• May 22
  • Francesc Arnau, Spanish footballer (b. 1975)
  • Robert Marchand, French racing cyclist (b. 1911)
  • Yuan Longping, Chinese agronomist (b. 1930)
  • André Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1966)
• May 23
  • Eric Carle, American children's writer and illustrator (b. 1929)
  • Cristóbal Halffter, Spanish classical composer and conductor (b. 1930)
  • Ron Hill, English marathon runner (b. 1938)
  • Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Brazilian architect (b. 1928)
  • Max Mosley, British racing driver and lawyer (b. 1940)
• May 26 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
• May 27
  • Carla Fracci, Italian ballet dancer and actress (b. 1936)
  • Cornelis de Jager, Dutch astronomer (b. 1921)
  • Poul Schlüter, 22nd Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1929)
• May 30 – Rick Mitchell, Australian sprinter (b. 1955)

June

Main article: Deaths in June 2021

Sir Anerood Jugnauth

Ei-ichi Negishi

Kenneth Kaunda

Benigno Aquino III

• June 1 – Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta (b. 1943)
• June 3 – Sir Anerood Jugnauth, 2nd Prime Minister and 4th President of Mauritius (b. 1930)
• June 4
  • Richard R. Ernst, Swiss Nobel chemist (b. 1933)
  • Friederike Mayröcker, Austrian poet (b. 1924)
• June 5 – T. B. Joshua, Nigerian televangelist (b. 1963)
• June 6
  • Revaz Gabriadze, Georgian filmmaker, painter and playwright (b. 1936)
  • Ei-ichi Negishi, Japanese Nobel chemist (b. 1935)
  • Mansour Ojjeh, French Saudi Arabian entrepreneur (b. 1952)
• June 7
  • Yoo Sang-chul, South Korean footballer (b. 1971)
  • Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur, Iranian Shia cleric and terrorist (b. 1947)
• June 9
  • Gottfried Böhm, German architect and sculptor (b. 1920)
  • Edward de Bono, Maltese physician, psychologist and philosopher (b. 1933)
• June 10 – Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Indian director and poet (b. 1944)
• June 11 – Paola Pigni, Italian middle-distance runner (b. 1945)
• June 13 – Ned Beatty, American actor (b. 1937)
• June 14
  • Enrique Bolaños, 29th President of Nicaragua (b. 1928)
  • Markis Kido, Indonesian badminton player (b. 1984)
• June 15 – Vladimir Shatalov, Soviet and Russian cosmonaut (b. 1927)
• June 17 – Kenneth Kaunda, 1st President of Zambia (b. 1924)
• June 18
  • Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer (b. 1928)
  • Milkha Singh, Indian athlete (b. 1929)
• June 20 – Luis del Sol, Spanish footballer (b. 1935)
• June 23 – John McAfee, English-born American computer programmer and businessman (b. 1945)
• June 24
  • Benigno Aquino III, 15th President of the Philippines (b. 1960)
  • Trần Thiện Khiêm, 7th Prime Minister of South Vietnam and army officer (b. 1925)
• June 26 – Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, Acting Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1929)
• June 29 – Donald Rumsfeld, American politician and government official (b. 1932)
• June 30 – Bonfoh Abass, Acting President of Togo (b. 1948)

July

Main article: Deaths in July 2021

Raffaella Carrà

Dilip Kumar

Jovenel Moïse

Steven Weinberg

• July 1 – Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1939)
• July 2 – Nikolai Slichenko, Soviet and Russian singer and actor (b. 1934)
• July 4 – Richard Lewontin, American evolutionary biologist (b. 1929)
• July 5
  • Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, TV presenter and actress (b. 1943)
  • Richard Donner, American film director (b. 1930)
  • Vladimir Menshov, Soviet and Russian actor and film director (b. 1939)
• July 6
  • Djivan Gasparyan, Armenian musician and composer (b. 1928)
  • Patrick John, 1st Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1938)
• July 7
  • Ahmed Jibril, Palestinian militant (b. 1938)
  • Dilip Kumar, Indian actor, film producer and philanthropist (b. 1922)
  • Jovenel Moïse, 42nd President of Haiti (b. 1968)
  • Carlos Reutemann, Argentine Formula One driver and politician (b. 1942)
• July 9
  • Frank Lui, 3rd Premier of Niue (b. 1935)
  • Paul Mariner, English football player and manager (b. 1953)
• July 10 – Esther Béjarano, German singer and Holocaust survivor (b. 1924)
• July 13 – Shirley Fry, American tennis player (b. 1927)
• July 14
  • Mamnoon Hussain, 12th President of Pakistan (b. 1940)
  • Kurt Westergaard, Danish cartoonist (b. 1935)
• July 16 – Surekha Sikri, Indian actress (b. 1945)
• July 17 – Pilar Bardem, Spanish actress and activist (b. 1939)
• July 19 – Arturo Armando Molina, 36th President of El Salvador (b. 1927)
• July 22 – Boris Chochiev, Acting Prime Minister of South Ossetia (b. 1957)
• July 23
  • Toshihide Maskawa, Japanese Nobel theoretical physicist (b. 1940)
  • Steven Weinberg, American Nobel theoretical physicist (b. 1933)
• July 25 – Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, Portuguese military official and politician (b. 1936)
• July 26
  • Albert Bandura, Canadian-American psychologist (b. 1925)
  • Joey Jordison, American drummer (b. 1975)
  • Ivan Toplak, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• July 28
  • Roberto Calasso, Italian writer and publisher (b. 1941)
  • Dusty Hill, American musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
  • Shahrum Kashani, Iranian-American singer (b. 1974)

August

Main article: Deaths in August 2021

Sir Lester Bird

Gerd Müller

Sonny Chiba

Hissène Habré

Charlie Watts

Ed Asner

• August 1 – Abdalqadir as-Sufi, Scottish Islamic scholar and writer (b. 1930)
• August 3 – Arthur Dion Hanna, 7th Governor-General of the Bahamas (b. 1928)
• August 5 – Yevhen Marchuk, 4th Prime Minister of Ukraine (b. 1941)
• August 8 – Jaan Kaplinski, Estonian poet and philosopher (b. 1941)
• August 9
  • Sir Lester Bird, 2nd Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (b. 1938)
  • Sergei Kovalev, Russian human rights activist (b. 1930)
• August 10 – Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Spanish cardinal (b. 1927)
• August 13
  • Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer (b. 1929)
  • Gino Strada, Italian surgeon and human rights activist (b. 1948)
• August 14 – Carlos Correia, 5th Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1933)
• August 15
  • Abdelhamid Brahimi, 3rd Prime Minister of Algeria (b. 1936)
  • Gerd Müller, German footballer (b. 1945)
• August 16 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Soviet and Ukrainian race walker and Olympic champion (b. 1936)
• August 17 – Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (b. 1973)
• August 18 – Jill Murphy, British author and illustrator (b. 1949)
• August 19 – Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor and martial artist (b. 1939)
• August 21
  • Don Everly, American musician (b. 1937)
  • Marie, Princess of Liechtenstein (b. 1940)
• August 23
  • Jean-Luc Nancy, French philosopher (b. 1940)
  • Rosita Quintana, Argentine-Mexican actress, singer, and songwriter (b. 1925)
• August 24
  • Hissène Habré, 1st Prime Minister and 5th President of Chad (b. 1942)
  • Wilfried Van Moer, Belgian footballer (b. 1945)
  • Charlie Watts, English drummer (b. 1941)
• August 25 – Mohsin Ahmad al-Aini, 7th Prime Minister of Yemen (b. 1932)
• August 27 – Edmond H. Fischer, American-Swiss Nobel biochemist (b. 1920)
• August 29
  • Ed Asner, American actor (b. 1929)
  • Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican record producer and singer (b. 1936)
  • Jacques Rogge, Belgian Olympic sailor and 8th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1942)
• August 31 – Francesco Morini, Italian footballer (b. 1944)

September

Main article: Deaths in September 2021

Mikis Theodorakis

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Borisav Jović

Abdelaziz Bouteflika

• September 1 – Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Kashmiri separatist leader (b. 1929)
• September 2 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer and politician (b. 1925)
• September 5
  • Ivan Patzaichin, Romanian Olympic canoeist (b. 1949)
  • Živko Radišić, 2nd Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1937)
• September 6 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor (b. 1933)
• September 8 – Dietmar Lorenz, German Olympic judoka (b. 1950)
• September 9 – Danilo Popivoda, Slovenian footballer and manager (b. 1947)
• September 10
  • Charles Konan Banny, 6th Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast (b. 1942)
  • Jorge Sampaio, 18th President of Portugal (b. 1939)
  • Saadi Yacef, Algerian independence fighter, politician and actor (b. 1928)
• September 11 – Abimael Guzmán, Peruvian Terrorist Maoist leader and militant (b. 1934)
• September 13
  • Antony Hewish, English Nobel radio astronomer (b. 1924)
  • Borisav Jović, 12th President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (b. 1928)
• September 14
  • Norm Macdonald, Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1959)
  • Yuriy Sedykh, Soviet and Russian track and field athlete and Olympic champion (b. 1955)
• September 16
  • Silas Atopare, 7th Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1951)
  • Casimir Oyé-Mba, 3rd Prime Minister of Gabon (b. 1942)
  • Sir Clive Sinclair, English entrepreneur and inventor (b. 1940)
• September 17
  • Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 7th President of Algeria (b. 1937)
  • Mario Camus, Spanish film director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
• September 19
  • Sylvano Bussotti, Italian composer, poet and theatre director (b. 1931)
  • Jimmy Greaves, English footballer (b. 1940)
• September 21 – Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Egyptian field marshal, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (b. 1935)
• September 22
  • Abdelkader Bensalah, Acting Head of State of Algeria (b. 1941)
  • Orlando Martínez, Cuban boxer and Olympic champion (b. 1944)
• September 25 – Théoneste Bagosora, Rwandan military officer and convicted war criminal (b. 1941)
• September 27 – Roger Hunt, English footballer (b. 1938)
• September 30 – Koichi Sugiyama, Japanese composer, conductor, and orchestrator (b. 1931)

October

Main article: Deaths in October 2021

Abolhassan Banisadr

Abdul Qadeer Khan

Edita Gruberová

Roh Tae-woo

• October 2 – Umer Shareef, Pakistani director, producer and artist (b. 1960)
• October 3
  • Jorge Medina, Chilean cardinal (b. 1926)
  • Budge Patty, American tennis player (b. 1924)
  • Lars Vilks, Swedish visual artist (b. 1946)
• October 9 – Abolhassan Banisadr, 1st President of Iran (b. 1933)
• October 10 – Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani nuclear physicist and engineer (b. 1936)
• October 14 – Lee Wan-koo, 39th Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1950)
• October 17 – Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, Acting Prime Minister of Afghanistan (b. 1944)
• October 18
  • Edita Gruberová, Slovak soprano (b. 1946)
  • János Kornai, Hungarian economist (b. 1928)
  • Colin Powell, American politician, diplomat and general (b. 1937)
• October 19 – Leslie Bricusse, British composer, lyricist and playwright (b. 1931)
• October 20 – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Hungarian-American psychologist and academic (b. 1934)
• October 21 – Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor and violinist (b. 1929)
• October 22 – Vyacheslav Vedenin, Soviet and Russian cross-country skier and Olympic champion (b. 1941)
• October 26
  • Walter Smith, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1948)
  • Roh Tae-woo, 6th President of South Korea (b. 1932)
• October 29
  • Clément Mouamba, 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo (b. 1943)
  • Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, playback singer and producer (b. 1975)
• October 30 – Igor Kirillov, Soviet and Russian news presenter, announcer and actor (b. 1932)
• October 31 – Dame Catherine Tizard, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1931)

November

Main article: Deaths in November 2021

Aaron T. Beck

F. W. de Klerk

Chun Doo-hwan

• November 1
  • Aaron T. Beck, American psychiatrist (b. 1921)
  • Nelson Freire, Brazilian pianist (b. 1944)
• November 6
  • Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, 12th Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1948)
  • Yukhym Zvyahilsky, Acting Prime Minister of Ukraine (b. 1933)
• November 7 – Dean Stockwell, American actor (b. 1936)
• November 11
  • F. W. de Klerk, 7th and last State President of South Africa and Nobel laureate (b. 1936)
  • Graeme Edge, English drummer, songwriter and poet (b. 1941)
• November 12
  • Bob Bondurant, American racing driver (b. 1933)
  • Matthew Festing, 79th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (b. 1949)
  • Ron Flowers, English footballer (b. 1934)
• November 13 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-born South African novelist (b. 1933)
• November 14 – Bertie Auld, Scottish footballer (b. 1938)
• November 15 – László Z. Bitó, Hungarian physiologist and writer (b. 1934)
• November 23
  • Chun Doo-hwan, 5th President of South Korea (b. 1931)
  • Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell, 2nd Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (b. 1931)
• November 26 – Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist (b. 1930)
• November 27 – Apetor, Norwegian YouTuber (b. 1964)
• November 28
  • Virgil Abloh, American fashion designer and entrepreneur (b. 1980)
  • Alexander Gradsky, Soviet and Russian singer, songwriter and rock musician (b. 1949)
  • Norodom Ranariddh, 31st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1944)
  • Sir Frank Williams, English businessman, Formula One team owner and mechanic (b. 1942)
• November 29 – Kinza Clodumar, 7th President of Nauru (b. 1945)
• November 30 – Ray Kennedy, English footballer (b. 1951)

December

Main article: Deaths in December 2021

Mustafa Ben Halim

Vicente Fernández

Desmond Tutu

E. O. Wilson

• December 3
  • Lamine Diack, Senegalese businessman, sports administrator and athlete (b. 1933)
  • Horst Eckel, German footballer (b. 1932)
• December 5 – Jacques Tits, Belgian-born French mathematician (b. 1930)
• December 6 – Kåre Willoch, 30th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1928)
• December 7 – Mustafa Ben Halim, 3rd Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1921)
• December 8 – Robbie Shakespeare, Jamaican musician (b. 1953)
• December 9
  • Otar Patsatsia, 3rd Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1929)
  • Carmen Salinas, Mexican actress and politician (b. 1939)
  • Lina Wertmüller, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1928)
• December 10 – Michael Nesmith, American musician and television personality (b. 1942)
• December 11
  • Anne Rice, American author (b. 1941)
  • Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player (b. 1938)
• December 12
  • Sir Paulias Matane, 8th Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1931)
  • Vicente Fernández, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1940)
• December 13 – Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress (b. 1955)
• December 15 – Fayez Tarawneh, 31st Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1949)
• December 18 – Lord Richard Rogers, Italian–born British architect (b. 1933)
• December 19 – Robert H. Grubbs, American Nobel chemist (b. 1942)
• December 21 – Sir Carlyle Glean, 5th Governor-General of Grenada (b. 1932)
• December 23 – Joan Didion, American writer (b. 1934)
• December 25
  • Wayne Thiebaud, American painter (b. 1920)
  • Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter (b. 1963)
• December 26
  • Karolos Papoulias, 6th President of Greece (b. 1929)
  • Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop, activist and Nobel laureate (b. 1931)
  • E. O. Wilson, American biologist and writer (b. 1929)
• December 31 – Betty White, American actress (b. 1922)

Nobel Prizes

Nobel medal

• Chemistry – Benjamin List and David MacMillan
• Economics – David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens
• Literature – Abdulrazak Gurnah
• Peace – Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov
• Physics – Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi
• Physiology or Medicine – David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian