2010s

The 2010s (pronounced "twenty-tens" or "two thousand (and) tens") is the current decade in the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2010 and will end on December 31, 2019.

Pronunciation

Two pronunciations are used to mention specific years of the 21st century in English. For example, 2016 is either pronounced "twenty-sixteen" or "two thousand (and) sixteen".

Global financial crisis

See also: § Economy

The 2010s began amidst a global financial crisis that started in the late 2000s. In particular, the Eurozone debt crisis, which began during 2009, continued into the 2010s. Despite the crisis, the American Dow Jones Industrial Average had its longest stretch of gains since the late 1990s tech boom. However, economic issues, including inflation and an increase in commodity prices, sparked unrest in many lower-income countries. In some countries, particularly those in the Arab world, political unrest evolved into socioeconomic crises. This set off numerous revolutions, including those in Kyrgyzstan and Tunisia in 2010, and Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Egypt in 2011 and 2012. This trend is commonly known as the Arab Spring.

Wars

Main articles: List of wars 2003–2010 and List of wars 2011–present

The prominent wars of the decade include:

International wars

• The War on Terrorism (2001–) – refers to ideological, military and diplomatic campaigns aimed at putting an end to the activities of non-state actors and organizations involved in international terrorism, by stopping organized groups of non-state actors who use violence against civilians to invoke fear and achieve political objectives. (The United Nations applies this label to Islamist groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda). In the US this campaign attempts to prevent such groups from posing a threat to the country and its allies (or, in the case of Russia's and China's wars on terror, a threat to internal targets), and to put an end to state sponsorship of terrorism. Major campaigns with this objective were launched by the United States, with support from NATO and other allies. Anti-terror campaigns are not specific to the United States and its close allies. China is engaged in an internally focused war on terror (largely in response to attacks launched by Uighur separatists), and Russia, as well as countries in Central Asia, have made counterterrorism a major policy focus. Variants of the term War on Terrorism are used internationally and are not specific to US campaigns.
  • War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) – on October 7, 2001, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia and Canada intervened in Afghanistan seeking to oust the Taliban, destroy Al-Qaeda and find Osama bin Laden. Combat operations were declared over on December 28, 2014, though several thousand troops remain in the country to support Afghanistan's military.
  • Iraq War (2003–2011) – on August 19, 2010, the last American combat brigade left Iraq after more than seven years. About 50,000 troops remained there through 2011, designated as "advise and assist brigades" assigned to non-combat operations – but retaining the ability to revert to combat operations as necessary. The war was declared formally over on December 15, 2011.
• Military intervention in Libya (2011) – On 19 March 2011, a multi-state coalition led by France, Britain and the United States began a military intervention in Libya during the Libyan Civil War (2011) in support of anti-Gaddafi forces known as the National Transitional Council. NATO would later take command of military operations against Gaddafi forces on 31 March 2011. NATO flew 26,500 sorties over Libya since it took charge of the mission until fighting ended in late October following the Death of Muammar Gaddafi during the Battle of Sirte.
• Military Intervention against ISIL (2014–) – In response to rapid gains made in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL and Daesh), a coalition including the United States, France, Turkey, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark and others launched airstrikes in support of the Iraqi Armed Forces and Kurdish fighters. Most Western coalition members are engaged only in Iraq, while most Middle Eastern members are engaged only in Syria. The United States, United Kingdom and Morocco are engaged in both. A separate campaign is waged by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its ally, the Lebanese Shi'a militant militia, Hezbollah.
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen (2015–) – The intervention began in response to requests for assistance from the internationally recognized but domestically contested Yemeni government, due to a Houthi offensive aimed at its provisional capital of Aden. Saudi Arabia and its allies launched airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis and loyalists forces.
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War (2015-) – This intervention began in response to requests for assistance from the Syrian Government against militant groups including the al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in the Levant), the Free Syrian Army, the Islamic State and the Army of Conquest.
• Arab–Israeli conflict (1948–) – ongoing armed conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The conflict is between the State of Israel and the Palestinians. One side is composed mainly of Israeli security forces and the other side is composed mostly of Palestinian militant or paramilitary forces such as Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Resistance Committees (all designated by the United States and European Union, Israel and many other western countries as terrorist groups).

Civil wars, guerrilla wars and political revolutions

• Mexican Drug War (2006–) – an armed conflict fought between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. Mexican drug cartels became more powerful after the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. They now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, led to increasing violence as cartels fought for control of trafficking routes into the United States.
• War in North-West Pakistan (2004–) – an armed conflict between the Pakistani Armed Forces and Islamic militants made up of local tribesmen, the Taliban, and foreign Mujahideen (Holy Warriors). The conflict began in 2004 when tensions rooted in the Pakistan Army's search for al-Qaeda members in Pakistan's mountainous Waziristan area (in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas) escalated into armed resistance by local tribesmen. The violence has displaced 3.44 million civilians and more than 7,000 civilians have been killed.
• Houthi insurgency in Yemen (2004–2010) – a civil war in the Sadaa Governorate of Yemen. It began after the Shia Zaidiyyah sect launched an uprising against the Yemeni government. The Yemeni government accused Iran of directing and financing the insurgency. Thousands of rebels and civilians were killed during the conflict.
• War in Somalia (1992–) – largely involved the forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops, who fought against various militant Islamist factions for control of the country. The violence displaced thousands of people residing in Mogadishu, the nation's capital. 1,739 people in total were killed between January 1, 2009 until January 1, 2010.
• Conflict in the Niger Delta (2004–) – a conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The conflict arose from tensions between oil companies and Niger Delta minority ethnic groups who felt they were being exploited, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw. The competition for oil wealth has led to a cycle of violence between the local ethnic groups, causing the militarization of nearly the entire region that was occupied by militia groups as well as Nigerian military and the forces of the Nigerian Police.
• Chadian Civil War (2005–10) – involved Chadian government forces and rebel groups. The government of Chad estimated in January 2006 that 614 Chadian citizens had been killed in cross-border raids.
• Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002-) – Algeria has been the subject of an Islamic insurgency waged by the Sunni Islamic Jihadist militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). GSPC allied itself with the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb against the Algerian government. The conflict spread to other neighbouring countries.
• Colombian Armed Conflict (1964–) – President Juan Manuel Santos took office in 2010 and sought to continue Álvaro Uribe's policy about the conflict. The weakened FARC and ELN guerrillas began negotiating with the government. Paramilitary forces demobilized, but irregular drug-trafficking forces called "Bacrim" gained control over much of the areas that the AUC paramilitaries previously held. The "Bacrim" gangs have allied with guerrillas in some regions of the country such as Chocó and Antioquia.
• Northern Mali Conflict (2012–2013) – a rebellion by Tuaregs in Northern Mali begun in January 2012. After Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d'état, Tuaregs captured Northern Mali. In April 2012, the "Independent State of Azawad" was declared by the MLNA, a Tuareg organization. Islamist groups Ansar Dine, AQIM and MOJWA seized Northern Mali from the MLNA and imposed sharia law. France and various African states are helping the Malian military to recapture the area.

Arab Spring

See also: Arab Spring and Impact of the Arab Spring

• Arab Spring (December 17, 2010–) – a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests in the Arab world that began Friday, December 17, 2010. Protests began in Tunisia and Algeria.
  • On January 14, 2011, the President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, resigned after 23 years as President.
  • On January 25, 2011, protests against President Hosni Mubarak began in Egypt. Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011. Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood won the 2012 Egyptian presidential election. In November 2012, protests against Morsi began, intensifying in June 2013. On July 3, 2013, the Egyptian military ousted Morsi in a coup d'état. Post-coup violence in Egypt continued.
  • Libyan Civil War (February 15, 2011 – October 13, 2011) – a series of demonstrations and riots held against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule. Widespread demonstrations, which erupted in response to the high unemployment rate in Libya and the lack of development in the country, rapidly escalated into a civil war as Gaddafi used his military force against the Libyan rebels. As a result, fifty thousand Libyans have died. Gaddafi was killed during the Battle of Sirte on October 20, 2011.
  • Protests started in other Arab countries, including Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
  • Syrian Civil War (March 15, 2011–) On March 15, 2011, protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began in Syria. In April 2011, the uprising intensified, and the Syrian Army was deployed by the government to quell the popular uprising. a series of demonstrations and riots held against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Opposition forces soon became more organized, eventually resulting in the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). On July 15, 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross declared the uprising to be a civil war.

Political events

Coups

Main article: List of coups d'état and coup attempts since 2010

The most prominent coups d'état committed against the ruling governments during the decade include:

• 2010 Nigerien coup d'état (February 18, 2010)
• 2011 Egyptian coup d'état (February 11, 2011)
• 2012 Malian coup d'état (March 22, 2012)
• 2012 Guinea-Bissau coup d'état (April 12, 2012)
• 2013 Egyptian coup d'état (July 3, 2013)
• 2014 Thai coup d'état (May 22, 2014)

Terrorist attacks

Main article: List of terrorist incidents § 1970–present

The most prominent terrorist attacks committed against civilian populations during the decade include:

2

Nuclear weapons

• In 2005, Iran's nuclear program became a source of tension due to fears that Iran could possibly divert civilian nuclear technology into a nuclear weapons program. This led the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran on select companies linked to Iran's nuclear program, causing further economic isolation of Iran. In 2015, the US and Iran agreed to trade sanctions relief for explicit constraints on Iran's nuclear program, including permanently closing their plutonium reactor, shipping enriched uranium to Russia, reducing the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges by two-thirds and allowing some inspections of nuclear facilities. In January 2016 the US certified that Iran had complied with the agreement. Iranians convicted of sanctions violations were traded for imprisoned Americans as part of the certification.
• In April 2010, the United States and Russia signed a treaty in Prague to reduce the stockpiles of nuclear weapons in both nations. A week later, U.S. President Barack Obama hosted a Nuclear Security Summit where the attending nations decided to secure their nuclear arms to make sure no terrorists could obtain access to weapons of mass destruction.
• During the 2013 Korean crisis, North Korea's actions suggested that North Korea might launch a nuclear attack against the United States, Japan or South Korea. In 2016, North Korea claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb, although the US disputed this claim.

Cyber security and hacking

• Cyber security incidents (such as incidents of hacking, leaks or theft of sensitive information) gained increased attention of governments, corporations and individuals.
• WikiLeaks published three massive sets of documents pertaining to the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War and US diplomacy, among others. This affected legislation and regulations in multiple countries.
• Edward Snowden leaked files through the Guardian newspaper detailing NSA privacy policies, including PRISM, the NSA call database, and Boundless Informant. These leaks raised serious questions for civilians on whether their privacy should be breached in the name of public safety and whether that had already happened. Leaks also revealed covert actions against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and have damaged diplomatic relations in Europe and Brazil.
• The Office of Personnel Management of the U.S. government was hacked, resulting in a massive data breach. The incident is currently under investigation by U.S. authorities.
• The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hid their assets from public scrutiny.

Prominent political events

The prominent political events include:

Americas

Obama and Medvedev signing the New START treaty in Prague.

• January 2010 – A trial to determine the constitutionality of same-sex marriage in the United States was held in California.
• March 2010 – The House of Representatives approved the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• October 2010 – Dilma Rousseff is elected as the first female President of Brazil.
• November 2010 – The Republican Party won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and a majority of the nation's governorships.
• September 17, 2011 – Hundreds of protesters marched into the financial district of Wall Street in New York City beginning the Occupy Wall Street movement. The movement started a series of demonstrations and hundreds of encampments in cities across the nation, forming the Occupy movement.
• February 5, 2011 – New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation, entered into force.
• July 1, 2012 - The Institutional Revolutionary Party won the Mexican general election with Enrique Peña Nieto as its candidate, to serve as President of Mexico from 2012-2018.
• November 6, 2012 – Barack Obama won the re-election, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
• March 5, 2013 – President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died at 58 after governing the country for 14 years.
• March 13, 2013 – Pope Francis of Argentina was elected as the first Pope from the Americas.
• March 5, 2014 – Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, severed diplomatic and political ties with Panama, accusing Panama of involvement in a conspiracy against the Venezuelan government.
• March 11, 2014 – Michelle Bachelet was re-elected president of Chile.
• April 28, 2014 – United States President Barack Obama's new economic sanctions against Russia go into effect, targeting companies and individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• November 2014 – The Republican Party gained control of the U.S. Senate, giving the Republican Party control of both houses of Congress.
• December 17, 2014 – Obama announced the resumption of normal relations between the US and Cuba and an end to the United States embargo against Cuba, for the first time since January 1961.
• June 26, 2015 – Same-sex marriage was legalized in all 50 U.S. states due to a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States.
• July 20, 2015 – Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations.
• October 19, 2015 – Justin Trudeau was elected Prime Minister of Canada by defeating incumbent Stephen Harper.
• November 22, 2015 – Mauricio Macri was elected President of Argentina.
• December 6, 2015 – The PSUV lost their majority in the National Assembly of Venezuela to the opposition for the first time since 1999.

Asia

Benigno S. Aquino III taking his oath of office as the 15th President of the Philippines.

• April 7, 2010 – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled Bishkek amid fierce riots, sparking a sociopolitical crisis. Former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva was placed at the head of an interim government as the opposition seized control.
• June 30, 2010 – Benigno S. Aquino III was inaugurated as the 15th President of the Philippines at the Quirino Grandstand.
• November 13, 2010 – The Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her house arrest after being incarcerated since 1989.
• March 15, 2011 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain declared a three-month state of emergency as troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council were sent to quell the civil unrest.
• December 17, 2011 – Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il of North Korea died after governing the country for 17 years. His death stirred insecurity and fear for the stability of the Asian region; the son of the deceased leader, Kim Jong-un, succeeded his father.
• November 8–14, 2012 – The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. On November 15, Xi Jinping was chosen as the new General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission after Hu Jintao handed over the chairmanship.
• December 19, 2012 – Park Geun-hye was elected President of South Korea, the first woman to hold the position. She inaugurated on February 25, 2013.
• December 26, 2012 – Shinzō Abe was re-elected Prime Minister of Japan.
• March 2013 – The Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea broke all peace pacts with South Korea and started a new nuclear weapons plan. Tension rose in the peninsula as new nuclear tests began. Kim Jong-un made threats against South Korea, Japan and the U.S..
• May 22, 2014 – Prayut Chan-o-cha was appointed prime minister of Thailand.
• May 23, 2014 – Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is home-arrested in the wake of a military coup.
• May 26, 2016 - Narendra Modi is sworn in as the Prime Minister of India after his landslide victory in the 2014 General Elections.
• October 20, 2014 – Joko Widodo was inaugurated as the 7th President of Indonesia.
• January 22, 2015 – After Houthi forces seized the presidential palace, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigns after months of unrest.
• January 23, 2015 – Abdullah, the King of Saudi Arabia from 2005 to 2015, dies and is replaced by King Salman.
• March 23, 2015 – Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, dies.
• June 6, 2015 – India and Bangladesh officially ratify their 1974 agreement to exchange enclaves along their border.
• November 7, 2015 – Chinese leader and Taiwanese president, Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou, formally meet, the first time any leader of their respective country met since 1949.
• November 8, 2015 – The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi wins a sweeping victory in Myanmar's first openly contested election since 1990.
• January 16, 2016 – Tsai Ing-wen was elected President of Taiwan, the first woman to hold the position.
• May 9, 2016 – Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines.

Europe

Benedict XVI in popemobile at his final Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square on 27 February 2013.

• May 6, 2010 – The 2010 United Kingdom election resulted in the first "hung parliament" since 1974. Labour, under Prime Minister Gordon Brown, lost its overall majority in the House of Commons. The Conservatives, led by David Cameron, became the largest party. The Conservates and the Liberal Democrats formed the first peace-time coalition government since the 1930s, leading to talks for more than a week between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. Cameron became Prime Minister upon Brown's resignation on 11 May 2010. Clegg became deputy prime minister.
• February 15, 2011 – Italian long-time prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was indicted for allegedly paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer, and ordered to stand trial. Mario Monti was appointed prime minister and held the office until 2013.
• May 5, 2011 – The Scottish National Party won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election under Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond. The SNP's transition from a minority government to a majority government allowed them to pledge to have a referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom.
• April 22, 2012 – François Hollande was elected as the new President of France, defeating incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
• February 28, 2013 – Benedict XVI resigns as pope, the first to do so since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.
• April 8, 2013 – Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, died.
• April 20, 2013 – Amid growing financial tensions, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano won re-election, the first ever president to do so. The centre-left leader Enrico Letta formed a new government to face the crisis.
• April 30, 2013 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated in favour of her son Willem-Alexander.
• November 21, 2013 – Euromaidan protests began in Ukraine, followed by the parliament's removal of President Viktor Yanukovych who escaped to Russia. In response, Russian troops occupied the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, in February 2014. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, following a referendum widely regarded by Western nations as fraudulent. Tensions continued in the region as of December 2014 as conflict escalated between the government of Ukraine, which was headed by newly elected president Petro Poroshenko and separatist groups in the east of the country supported by Russia.
• February 13, 2014 – Matteo Renzi, after becoming the new leader of the Italian Democratic Party, forced Enrico Letta to resign and was elected Prime Minister, starting a program of radical constitutional reforms.
• May 22, 2014 – The UK Independence Party received 32.9% of United Kingdom votes in the European election, more than any other UK party.
• May 24, 2014 – The French National Front won the most votes in the European election in respect of France, leading to fears of a growing far-right in mainland Europe.
• September 18, 2014 – In the Scottish independence referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom, with 55.3% of votes against independence while 44.7% voted in favour.
• June 19, 2014 – King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe VI.
• January 26, 2015 – Alexis Tsipras, of the anti-austerity Syriza party was elected as Prime Minister of Greece.
• February 12, 2015 – Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France reached an agreement on the conflict in Eastern Ukraine that included a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. However, several days later, the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels claimed that, within its first day, the ceasefire was broken 139 times, as both sides failed to withdraw their heavy weapons and fighting had continued.
• May 7, 2015 – The 2015 United Kingdom election resulted in a Conservative majority government, led by PM David Cameron. The Conservatives gained seats in the House of Commons, the Scottish National Party took control of all but three seats in Scotland and the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats lost seats.
• May 23, 2015 – The Republic of Ireland voted to legalize same-sex marriage, becoming the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.
• July 1, 2015 – Greek government-debt crisis: Greece became the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund in the fund's 71-year history.
• November 13, 2015 – A series of deadly attacks occurred in Paris, France, killing hundreds, as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility.
• March 22, 2016 – Three coordinated nail bombings occurred in Belgium, for which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility.
• June 23, 2016 – The United Kingdom is to hold a referendum on whether or not to continue being a member of the European Union.

Africa

2011 Egyptian revolution: Demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square on February 8, 2011

• January 9–15, 2011 – A referendum was held in Southern Sudan on whether the region should remain part of Sudan. An overwhelming majority of 98.83 percent voted in favour of separation and formed the new country of South Sudan.
• January 14, 2011 – Amidst anti-government demonstrations, Tunisia's president, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, dissolved the government, declared a state of emergency and resigned from office.
• January 25 – February 11, 2011 – Inspired by the Tunisian demonstrators, thousands of protesters in Egypt called for the departure of longtime President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak resigned on 11 February 2011.
• February 15 – October 23, 2011 – A popular revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule over Libya led to thousands of deaths and UN sanctions against the nation's government following a brutal crackdown against protesters.
• January 16, 2012 – February 8, 2013 – An Islamist revolt in northern Mali threatened to gain control of the country. A coalition, led by France, intervened to restore peace.
• March 25, 2013 – Séléka rebels conquered the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui and forced President Francois Bozize to flee and form a new government, resulting in widespread sectarian violence.
• July 3, 2013 – Amid mass protests across Egypt, President Mohamed Morsi was deposed in a military coup d'état, leading to widespread violence.
• December 5, 2013 – Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, died.
• October 31, 2014 – President of Burkina Faso Blaise Compaoré resigned and fled to the Ivory Coast in the face of widespread protests, ending 27 years of rule.
• November 29, 2014 – Former Egypt President Hosni Mubarak was found not guilty for charges of killing protesters in the 2011 Egyptian protests and was also cleared of corruption charges.
• March 12, 2015 – Nigeria's Boko Haram merged with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to form the so-called "West African Province".
• April 26, 2015 – Burundi faces unrest as President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a third term in office, resulting in hundreds killed and thousands more fleeing the country.

Oceania

• June 2010 – Julia Gillard succeeded Kevin Rudd as the Prime Minister of Australia, becoming Australia's 27th, and first female, prime minister after a leadership spill on 24 June 2010.
• August 2013 – Same-sex marriage was legalized in New Zealand, making it the first country in the Oceania region, and the fifteenth country globally, to allow same-sex couples to marry.
• September 17, 2014 – Former Fijian military commander, Frank Bainimarama wins Fiji's first democratic election since a coup in 2006, officially ending years of military rule.
• July 4, 2015 – Tupou VI was crowned King of Tonga, succeeding his brother George Tupou V, who died in 2012.
• September 15, 2015 – Malcolm Turnbull succeeded Tony Abbott as Prime Minister of Australia, becoming Australia's 29th prime minister after a leadership spill on 14 September 2015.

Gallery of notable world leaders

Note: State leaders in bold have led their respective states throughout this decades' entirety, without interruption, as of July 2024.

• 
  Barack Obama
• 
  Vladimir Putin
• 
  Hu Jintao
• Xi Jinping
  Xi Jinping
• 
  Angela Merkel
• 
  François Hollande
• 
  David Cameron
• 
  Pope Francis
• 
  Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
• 
  Mauricio Macri
• 
  Julia Gillard
• 
  Tony Abbott
• 
  Malcolm Turnbull
• 
  Dilma Rousseff
• Michel Temer
  Michel Temer
• 
  Stephen Harper
• 
  Justin Trudeau
• 
  Michelle Bachelet
• 
  Sebastián Piñera
• 
  Raúl Castro
• 
  Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
• 
  Alexis Tsipras
• 
  Viktor Orbán
• 
  Joko Widodo
• 
  Manmohan Singh
• 
  Narendra Modi
• 
  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
• 
  Hassan Rouhani
• 
  Benjamin Netanyahu
• 
  Matteo Renzi
• 
  Shinzō Abe
• 
  Kim Jong-un
• 
  Park Geun-hye
• 
  Najib Razak
• 
  Enrique Peña Nieto
• 
  Thein Sein
• 
  John Key
• 
  Benigno Aquino III
• 
  Lee Hsien Loong
• 
  Mariano Rajoy
• 
  Bashar al-Assad
• 
  Ma Ying-jeou
• 
  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
• Prayut Chan-o-cha
  Prayut Chan-o-cha
• 
  Nicolás Maduro
• 
  Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
• 
  Jacob Zuma
• 
  Mahmoud Abbas
• 
  Viktor Yanukovych
• 
  Petro Poroshenko
• 
  Pope Benedict XVI

Assassinations, targeted killings and assassination attempts

Main article: List of assassinations and assassination attempts

Osama bin Laden

Muammar Gaddafi

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:

• January 1, 2011 – Reynaldo Dagsa, Philippine Barangay official from Caloocan, was assassinated by two men during New Year's Eve.
• January 8, 2011 – Federal judge John Roll and 5 others were killed and Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Representative from Arizona, and 13 others were injured in a shooting near Tucson. The shooting was reported to be an assassination attempt. Giffords was critically injured in the head.
• May 2, 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant Islamist group Al-Qaeda, was killed in a targeted killing in Abbottabad, Pakistan in an operation conducted by a team of United States Navy SEAL commandos.
• August 15, 2011 – Esmael Mangudadatu, Governor of Maguindanao was a victim of a car bomb in Tacurong city, Sultan Kudarat. Two people were killed, including a Maguindanao board member, while six others were wounded.
• September 30, 2011 – Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior talent recruiter, planner and spiritual leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in a targeted killing in the northern al-Jawf province of Yemen, using two US Predator drones fired Hellfire missiles.
• October 20, 2011 – Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's ousted leader, was shot to death in Sirte.
• September 4, 2012 – Pauline Marois, Premier-designate of Quebec, escaped death during her victory speech after Richard Henry Bain opened fire at the Metropolis in Montreal, killing one person and critically injuring another.
• October 9, 2012 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Women's rights activist was the victim of assassination attempt by the Taliban in Pakistan.
• February 6, 2013 – Chokri Belaid, Tunisian opposition leader of the Democratic Patriots' Unified Party was fatally shot.
• May 22, 2013 – Lee Rigby, a British Army soldier was killed by Islamic extremists with links to Al-Qaeda, this first such attack by the group in the United Kingdom since 2005.
• January 25, 2015 – Zulkifli Abdhir, suspected member of Jemaah Islamiyah, was killed in a police operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
• February 27, 2015 – Boris Nemtsov, Russian physicist, statesman and politician, was assassinated by Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadaev in Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, Central Moscow, Russia.
• March 5, 2015 – Mark Lippert, United States Ambassador to South Korea, was rushed into hospital after he was attacked by a knife-wielding man identified as Kim Ki-jong at a restaurant attached to Sejong Center in downtown Seoul, where Lippert was scheduled to give a speech at a meeting of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation.
• August 26, 2015 – Alison Parker and Adam Ward, news reporter and camera operator of CBS affiliate WDBJ of Roanoke, Virginia were shot and killed on live television during an interview in Moneta, Virginia.

Disasters

The most prominent disasters include:

Non-natural disasters

Aviation

• April 10, 2010 – Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 other people, including dozens of government officials, were killed in a plane crash.
• January 25, 2010 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on board.
• May 12, 2010 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashed on a runway at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, killing all but one of the 104 passengers and crew.
• May 22, 2010 – Air India Express Flight 812 overshot the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.
• July 28, 2010 – Airblue Flight 202 en route from Karachi to Islamabad crashed in the Margalla Hills near Islamabad, killing all 152 aboard.
• June 3, 2012 – Dana Air Flight 992 crashed in the Nigerian city of Lagos, killing all 153 people aboard. 10 people on the ground also perished.
• August 18, 2012 – A plane carrying four people – two pilots, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Jesse Robredo and his aide, crashed off the shore of Masbate Island en route to Robredo's hometown of Naga City from Cebu City. His aide survived the crash, however the Secretary and the two pilots did not survive.
• July 6, 2013 – Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco airport killing 3 and injuring 181 people.
• March 8, 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The bulk of the plane is still missing, with all 239 people on board presumed dead. The first remains of the aircraft were found on July 29, 2015, after they washed ashore on Réunion Island,
• May 14, 2014 – A Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force airplane crashed in northern Laos, killing several prominent Laotian statesmen, including Defense Minister, Douangchay Phichit.
• July 17, 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine and crashed near the Ukrainian-Russian border, killing all 298 people on board.
• July 24, 2014 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 crashed in southern Mali, killing all 116 passengers and crew.
• December 28, 2014 – Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed in the Java sea after an attempt to avoid heavy thunderstorms, leaving all 162 people dead.
• February 4, 2015 – TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crashed in the Keelung River in Taiwan, killing 38.
• March 9, 2015 – Two helicopters collided in mid-air in a remote area of northwestern Argentina leaving at least ten dead. Among the dead were a group of French sports stars participating in a reality-television show called Dropped.
• March 24, 2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board.
• May 8, 2015 – Ambassadors Leif Larsen of Norway, Domingo Lucenario of the Philippines, Burhan Muhammad of Indonesia and other diplomats and the two helicopter pilots were killed in a helicopter crash in Pakistan.
• June 30, 2015 – A Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Indonesian Air Force crashed into a crowded residential neighborhood in Medan shortly after take-off from Soewondo Air Force Base, killing 143 people including 22 on the ground, marking the second-deadliest air disaster to ever occur in Medan and the deadliest crash in Indonesian Air Force peacetime history.
• August 22, 2015 – A Hawker Hunter T7 crashes into vehicles on the A27 trunk road during a failed barrel roll attempt at the Shoreham Airshow in Shoreham-by-Sea, England, killing 11 people on the ground, making it the deadliest air show disaster since the 1952 Farnborough air show crash, which killed 31 people.
• October 31, 2015 – Metrojet Flight 9268, an Airbus A321 airliner en route to Saint Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, crashes near Al-Hasana in Sinai, killing all 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.
• November 24, 2015 – Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.
• 19 May 2016 - EgyptAir Flight 804 was an international passenger flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Cairo International Airport, operated by EgyptAir, that went missing over the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Karpathos. There were 66 people on board and they are still missing.

General

• January 27, 2013 – 242 people were killed in a fire near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
• April 24, 2013 – An eight story factory building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh killing 1,129 people and injured over 2,000 more, becoming the deadliest structural failure in human history.
• November 12, 2013 – The roof of a shopping centre in Zolitūde, Latvia collapsed, killing 54 people and resulting in the resignation of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis.
• May 13, 2015 – At least 72 were killed in a fire inside the Kentex Manufacturing slipper factory in Valenzuela City. The incident was the third worst fire in Philippine history.
• August 13, 2015 – Two explosions occurred within 30 seconds of each other at a container storage station at the Port of Tianjin in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China, killing at least 173.
• September 11, 2015 – A crane toppled over at Mecca, killing 111 people, weeks before the official Hajj pilgrimage.
• September 24, 2015 – A stampede during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, killed at least 2,200 people and injured more than 900 others, with more than 650 missing.
• October 30, 2015 – A fire broke out at a nightclub in Bucharest, Romania, killing 63 people and resulting in widespread protests that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
• 5 November 2015 - The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster occurred in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, when an iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues, a subdistrict of Mariana, Brazil, suffered a catastrophic failure, causing flooding and at least 17 deaths. At least 16 people have been injured. This incident has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history.

Marine

• January 13, 2012 – The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a reef and partially capsized off the cost of Isola del Giglio in Italy, about 100 miles north of Rome. 32 people died and 64 people were injured out of the 4232 people aboard.
• April 16, 2014 – South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsized while carrying 476 people on board, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School (Ansan City). Over 290 people were confirmed dead with 8 people missing, while 172 people survived the disaster; the school principal who organized the trip later committed suicide.
• June 1, 2015 – The river cruise ship Dong Fang Zhi Xing capsized in the Yangtze River after being hit by a waterspout. Out of the 454 people on board there were only 12 survivors, making it the deadliest maritime disaster in China's peacetime and the worst since the sinking of the Taiping in 1949.
• July 2, 2015 – MB Kim Nirvana, a motorized jukung bound for Camotes Islands from Ormoc, Leyte which carried 173 passengers, capsized off the coast of Ormoc killing 62 of its passengers.

Pollution

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on May 24, 2010

• April 20, 2010 – An explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, operating in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, left eleven crewmen dead and resulted in a fire that sank the rig and caused a massive-scale oil spill that became the worst environmental disaster in United States history. The spill was stopped 86 days later.
• March 11, 2011 – A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sendai caused a tsunami that severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants. The damage resulted in the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster, contaminating water, soil and crops in the area with iodine-131 and caesium-137.
• April, 2014 – The city of Flint, Michigan's water source was changed from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River, where officials had failed to apply corrosion inhibitors. This decision led to the water being contaminated by lead and eventual nationwide outrage about the alleged coverup. This crisis has also led to the resignations of and lawsuits against various officials and public entities involved in the contaminations.

Natural disasters

Damage in downtown Port-au-Prince, 13 January 2010

Chileans look at tsunami-provoked damage in the city of Pichilemu, following the 2010 Chile earthquake.

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami: An aerial view of tsunami damage in Tōhoku

The eye of Irene as viewed from the International Space Station

Animated enhanced infrared satellite loop of Typhoon Haiyan from peak intensity to landfall in the Philippines

The April 2015 Nepal earthquake causing heavy damage in Nepal's capital Kathmandu and the rural areas in Central Nepal.

• January 12, 2010 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, causing widespread destruction in Port-au-Prince. Haitian authorities believe that the disaster killed between 200,000 and 250,000 people. Over 2 million people were affected and over 3 million needed emergency aid.
• February 27, 2010 – An 8.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Chile, triggering a tsunami across the Pacific and killing 497. One of the largest earthquakes in recorded history, this rare megathrust earthquake likely shifted Earth's axis and slightly shortened its days. Another earthquake that year, of magnitude 6.9, occurred on 11 March, centred in Pichilemu, Cardenal Caro Province.
• Early 2010 – Eruptions of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano of Iceland in April caused unprecedented disruption to international air travel, rendering transatlantic flight impossible and closing airways across much of Europe, affecting the travel plans of millions of passengers. Volcanic activity beginning in 2009 increased through March 2010, culminating in the second phase eruption in April 2010. The event was the largest air traffic shut-down since World War II. The International Air Transport Association estimated that the airline industry worldwide would lose €148 million or £130 million a day during the disruption.
• April 4, 2010 (Easter Sunday) – A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Mexicali and Baja, killing four and injuring one hundred. US border towns in Imperial Valley, California were affected.
• April 13, 2010 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in western China, killing at least 2,200 and injuring more than 12,000.
• Early November 2010 – Mount Merapi erupted in Indonesia, killing hundreds and grounding flights to Singapore, Jakarta and other Southeast Asian cities.
• July 2010 – Flooding occurred in Pakistan after record monsoon rains. Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was the worst affected. At least 1,600 were killed, thousands were rendered homeless, and more than thirteen million people were affected. Estimates from rescue service officials suggest the death toll might have reached 3,000.
• October 18, 2010 – Typhoon Megi hit the Philippines, killing at least 69 and causing $709 million in damage. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone to ever hit the Philippines.
• January 11–12, 2011 – Floods and mudslides killed more than 900 in 7 cities in Rio de Janeiro and left damage of more than a billion dollars, Brazil's worst-ever natural disaster.
• February 22, 2011, – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 185 and leaving 200 missing.
• March 11, 2011 – A 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit near Sendai, Japan. It created a 30 feet (9.1 m) high tsunami, leaving 15,893 dead, 2,565 missing and over 150,000 displaced. The earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear reactor. This was the worst recorded earthquake in Japan. Damages exceeded 25 trillion yen (US$300 billion), making it the country's costliest natural disaster.
• April 25–28, 2011 – A tornado outbreak in the United States killed 348 (324 of which were directly related to tornadoes), injured thousands and caused billions of dollars of damage from the 362 confirmed tornadoes. It was the largest and one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in United States history. Two weeks before, many of the same states had been impacted by another tornado outbreak that left 43 dead.
• May 21–26, 2011 – Another US tornado outbreak took place over six days. 178 were killed from 242 confirmed tornadoes. After a record active April, May was relatively quiet until a strong low-pressure area and associated dry line and cold front tracked eastward towards the Midwest. Almost all of the 178 deaths were attributed to the EF5 Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22 that killed 158 (four other deaths were not directly due to the tornado) and injured 1,150. It ranked as both the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history. The damage total for the outbreak was about $7 billion.
• August 22—25, 2011 – Hurricane Irene wrought havoc across the Caribbean, made landfalls as a Category 3 in the Bahamas and threatened over 65 million people on the East Coast during late August. Irene made landfalls in North Carolina, New Jersey and New York over a two-day span. Overall, 55 fatalities and over 1 billion dollars in damage were attributed to the hurricane.
• October 23, 2011 – A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Turkish city of Van, leaving over 610 dead and thousands injured.
• October 29, 2011 – A rare October snow storm hit the northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic United States days before Halloween, leaving millions without power and killing 15.
• December 16, 2011 – Tropical Storm Washi caused catastrophic damage on the Philippine island of Mindanao. More than 1,000 were died and thousands were injured or missing.
• October 25–29, 2012 – Hurricane Sandy caused immense destruction in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the US east coast, shutting down New York City. Also known as "Superstorm Sandy", the storm ultimately became the largest and second-costliest Atlantic storm ever.
• December 2—3, 2012 – Typhoon Bopha, a Category 5 Super-Typhoon, struck the southern Philippines (including areas already affected by Tropical Storm Washi in 2011), killing over 1,000 and leaving hundreds more missing.
• Early February 2013 – A massive blizzard hit the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, killing 18 and dropping a near-record amount of snow.
• May 20, 2013 – A tornado killed 24 and wounded over 300 in Moore, Oklahoma.
• June 2013 – Massive flooding occurred in Alberta, causing historic flooding in downtown Calgary.
• October 15, 2013 – A 7.2 magnitude earthquake jolted the Visayas region in the Philippines, killing over 200 people.
• November 7–8, 2013 – Typhoon Haiyan hits the Philippines, killing at least 6,000 and causing billions of dollars in damage,, proving to be the deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines.
• December 6–7, 2014 – Typhoon Hagupit hit the Philippines killing at least 18 and causing $114 million in damage.
• February 24–28, 2015 – An avalanche killed 310 people and wounded over 129 in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan.
• March 13, 2015 – Cyclone Pam was recognized as the worst natural disaster in Vanuatu killing a total of 15 people with over $300 million in damages.
• April 25, 2015 – A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal killed more than 9,000 people, injured more than 23,000 and left nearly 3.5 million people homeless.It was the worst natural disaster in the country's history.
• May 12, 2015 – A second major earthquake hit Nepal, measuring 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale, killed 218.
• May 24, 2015 – A heatwave in Southern India resulted in over 800 deaths in areas such as Chennai.
• June 20, 2015 – A heatwave in Pakistan resulted in over 1,400 deaths in areas such as Karachi.
• September 16, 2015 – An 8.3 magnitude earthquake jolted Chile, killing over 14.
• October 17–19, 2015 – Typhoon Koppu hit the Philippines and killed at least 48 and caused $235.8 million in damage.
• October 23, 2015 – Hurricane Patricia was the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere and second most intense globally, with winds of 215 miles per hour (346 km/h) and a pressure of 872 millibars (872 hPa).
• February 20, 2016 – Cyclone Winston strucks Fiji, killing 44 people and a total of $1.4 billion in damages.
• April 16, 2016 - The 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, beneath Kumamoto City of Kumamoto Prefecture, resulted in over at least 44 deaths and about 3,000 injured. More than 44,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.
• April 16, 2016 - The 2016 Ecuador earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 7.8 and resulted in over 525 killed, 1,700 missing and 4,027 injured. The very large thrust earthquake was centered approximately 27 km (17 mi) from the towns of Muisne and Pedernales.
• May 1, 2016 - A wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, destroying more than 2,400 homes and buildings and forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history. The wildfire may become the costliest disaster in Canadian history.

Epidemics

• December 6, 2013 – January 14, 2016 – The West African Ebola virus outbreak became the most lethal outbreak of the virus in history, sickening and killing thousands. In August 2014, the World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency of international concern. On January 14, 2016, the WHO has declared the epidemic to be over, despite continuing small flare-ups.
• April 2015 – Present – A Zika virus spreads rapidly throughout Latin America, with imported cases being reported worldwide.
• May 20, 2015 – July 28, 2015 – South Korea faced an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome, resulting in over thirty deaths and the quarantine of thousands more.

Economy

In the United States, a Gallup poll in 2011 found that more than half of Americans believed the country was still in a recession. Global oil production in 2014 reached an historic peak, reaching 93 million barrels/day.

A sovereign-debt crisis in Europe began in early 2010, and the Greek government admitted that it was having difficulties servicing its large sovereign debt. In the summer and fall of 2011 bond yields for Italy and Spain spiked above 6 percent. By 2015 bond rates had returned to normal ranges across Europe, save for Greece, which accepted another, even more stringent bailout package. The size of the European Financial Stability Facility was increased from €440 billion to €2 trillion.

China became the second largest global economy, surpassing Japan.

In August 2011, the S&P downgraded the United States' credit rating from triple AAA to AA-plus.

India became the fastest growing major economy of the world in 2015, surpassing China.

Japan also saw a rating downgrade due to debt burden.

Society and trends

Template:Globalize/West Many countries reported declining fertility rates in their 2010 censuses. Young people now spent their entire lives in the context of online interactive technology.

Aging

The 2010s are the decade in which most baby boomers in developed nations are to retire, putting pressure on pension programs and other safety net programs. The consequences of an aging society were felt hardest in Europe, Russia and Japan, which were the first to experience substantial population decline. Over 20% of Japan's population is over the age of 65, making it the most elderly nation. As a result, Japan examined alternative solutions for elder care, including robots. In the United States, proposals for revising Medicare and Social Security proliferated, including raising the age of retirement or adjusting benefit amounts. Opponents instead wanted to increase benefit levels.

In 2010, France debated and raised the retirement age to 62 from 60, despite widespread demonstrations in opposition. A few years later the threshold was lowered back to 60.

Political polarization

Political polarization increased as conservatives and progressives clashed over the role of government and other social, economic and environmental issues. US polls showed a divided electorate regarding job creation, debt reduction and taxation. Street movements protesting the increasing numbers of refugees from Islamic nations have developed, such as the English Defence League and Pegida.

LGBT rights

Acceptance of LGBT people slowly increased. In June 2011 the United Nations passed its first motion in support of LGBT rights. Although many nations allowed gays to serve in their militaries, a major milestone came in September 2011 when the US abolished its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Marriage for same-sex couples was an ongoing debate in many nations, while over eighteen nations legalized same-sex marriage. Ireland, in 2015, became the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage via referendum.

In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that criminalized expression of homosexuality. Prior to its passage, St. Petersburg drafted its own ban on homosexual expression, and banned pride events as well.

Youth culture

In 2013, Baauer's "Harlem Shake" was the first Internet meme song to reach the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 100, reflecting a shift in popular culture as Internet memes became mainstream.

The youth of the 2010s were called the "best-behaved generation on record." In May 2014, the US Centers for Disease Control released a report stating that teenage pregnancies and their uses of drugs and alcohol reached record lows. A 2013 survey showed that the rate of teen smoking dropped to 15.7%, the rate of teenagers having underage sex dropped to 34% and the rate of teenagers participating in a physical fight dropped to 25%, much lower than their counterparts 22 years earlier. E-cigarette and other smokeless tobacco product use among teenagers rose.

Other social trends

New urbanism and urban revival influenced urban planning in the United States and other developed countries. However, growth of American suburbs still outpaces urban growth.

Environmentalism gained, though action on curbing fossil fuels has been limited.

China was increasingly called a superpower in the early 2010s, including at the 2011 meeting between Hu Jintao and Barack Obama. China overtook the US as the world's largest trading nation, filing the most patents, expanding its military, landing its lunar rover Yutu on the moon, ending the nearly four-decade malaise of moon exploration and creating China's Oriental Movie Metropolis as a major film and cultural center. China was projected to have the world's largest economy by 2018 with an estimated GDP per capita equal to the US by the late 2050s.

In America, migration declined to its lowest level since tracking began in 1948.

AIDS, a pandemic responsible for killing over 30 million people since its discovery in the early 1980s, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, became a treatable condition, though only one case had been cured. With good treatment patients can generally expect normal lives and lifespans. However, as of 2011 only some 5 million of the 12 million afflicted have access to such treatment.

Science and technology

List of years in science (table)
… 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

NASA announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars on 5 August 2011.

The first collisions of CERN's Large Hadron Collider took place on 31 March 2010.

Science

Significant Scientific Researchs

These are the 10 most significant scientific researchs by year based on the annual award Breakthrough of the Year made by the AAAS journal, Science.

2

Nobel Prize Winners of Decade

Year	Physics	Chemistry	Physiology or Medicine	Literature	Peace	Economics
2010	Andre Geim; Konstantin Novoselov	Richard F. Heck; Ei-ichi Negishi; Akira Suzuki	Robert G. Edwards	Mario Vargas Llosa	Liu Xiaobo[F]	Peter A. Diamond; Dale T. Mortensen; Christopher A. Pissarides
2011	Saul Perlmutter; Adam G. Riess; Brian Schmidt	Dan Shechtman	Bruce Beutler; Jules A. Hoffmann; Ralph M. Steinman	Tomas Tranströmer	Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Leymah Gbowee; Tawakel Karman	Thomas J. Sargent; Christopher A. Sims
2012	Serge Haroche; David J. Wineland	Brian K. Kobilka; Robert J. Lefkowitz	John B. Gurdon; Shinya Yamanaka	Mo Yan	European Union	Alvin E. Roth; Lloyd S. Shapley
2013	François Englert; Peter W. Higgs	Martin Karplus; Michael Levitt; Arieh Warshel	James E. Rothman; Randy W. Schekman; Thomas C. Südhof	Alice Munro	Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons	Eugene F. Fama; Lars Peter Hansen; Robert J. Shiller
2014	Isamu Akasaki; Hiroshi Amano; Shuji Nakamura	Eric Betzig; Stefan Hell; William Moerner	John O'Keefe; May-Britt Moser; Edvard Moser	Patrick Modiano	Kailash Satyarthi; Malala Yousafzai	Jean Tirole
2015	Takaaki Kajita; Arthur B. McDonald	Tomas Lindahl; Paul L. Modrich; Aziz Sancar	William C. Campbell; Satoshi Ōmura; Tu Youyou	Svetlana Alexievich	Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet	Angus Deaton

Technology

Technological Trends of the Decade

3

Technological Marks by Field

Information and communications

• 2010 - Sales for PCs decline in favor of tablet computers and laptop convertibles.
• 2010 - Apple Inc. launches the iPad, its first tablet computer, which offers multi-touch interaction. The iPad became an immediate bestseller and only months after its release became the best selling tech gadget in history.
• 2011 - The supply of IPv4 internet addresses was exhausted. An early period of transition to IPv6 continued during 2011.
• 2011 - More than 2 billion people used the Internet.
• 2011 - One billion mobile broadband users predicted and 4.6 billion people worldwide were subscribed to mobile phones.
• 2011 - Americans spent more time using mobile apps than using the World Wide Web.
• 2012 - Tablet and smartphone sales overtook netbooks.
• 2012 - Samsung overtook Nokia for the first time as the largest mobile phone maker in the world.
• 2012 - Google Chrome became the world's most used web browser, displacing Internet Explorer.
• 2012 - The Wikimedia Foundation, starts developing Wikidata, its first new project in six years.
• 2013 - In developed countries smartphones sales surpassed feature phones.
• 2013 - Streaming media and rental kiosk services such as Netflix and Redbox forced video rental chains such as Blockbusters to close.
• 2014 - Transparent display screens, 3D glass pyramid holograms and curved touchscreen displays entered the market.

Medicine and biotechnology

• 2011 - Indefinite life extension began to be considered.
• 2013 – Google created Calico in order to research ways to combat aging.

Software and legal issues

• 2011 – Collaborative source code sharing website GitHub became the world's most popular open source hosting site.
• 2011 - Oracle sued Google over the use of Java-related technology in Google's popular Android operating system.
• 2012 – Following an unprecedented internet protest and blackout campaign, the widely criticised Stop Online Piracy Act bill was temporarily withdrawn in the US Congress.
• 2012 - The Cybercrime Prevention Act in the Philippines was adopted.

Space

• 2011 – The United States' Space Shuttle program ended following its last mission, STS-135, flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis.
• 2012 – SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft became the first private commercial spacecraft to successfully attach to the International Space Station, the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with another spacecraft.
• 2012 – The United States landed the Curiosity Rover in Gale Crater on Mars.
• 2013 – The Chinese Chang'e 3 landed on the moon, the first Lunar landing in 37 years.
• 2011 – NASA announced that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured photographic evidence of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons.
• 2014 – The Philae probe from the Rosetta spacecraft lands successfully on the surface (at a site named Agilkia) of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
• 2014 – The Orion spacecraft completed its first test, an unmanned orbital and reentry flight.
• 2015 – NASA's Dawn probe entered orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet.
• 2015 – NASA's New Horizons probe became the first spacecraft to reach Pluto, completing its main mission.
• 2015 – NASA announced that liquid water has been found on Mars.
• 2015 – A Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed, the first such rocket to make a successful return and vertical landing.
• 2016 – NASA's Juno spacecraft will reach Jupiter on July 4.

Transport

• 2011 – Google developed the world's first self-driving car to be licensed for use on public roads, followed in 2014, by a prototype that had neither steering wheel nor pedals.
• 2013 – Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk proposed the Hyperloop mass transit system. Multiple companies were formed to develop the concept.
• 2015 – Automaker Volkswagen is alleged to have been involved in worldwide rigging of diesel emissions tests, affecting an estimated 11 million vehicles globally.

Notable events

• September 15–16, 2010 – Mexico celebrated the 200th year anniversary of its Independence and 100th anniversary of its Revolution.
• October 13, 2010 – 2010 Copiapó mining accident: Thirty-three miners near Copiapó, Chile, trapped 700 metres (2,300 feet) underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, were rescued after surviving for a record 69 days.
• April 29, 2011 – A television audience of an estimated two billion people watched the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton.
• February 6, 2012 – Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, which marked the 60th anniversary of her accession.
• March 13, 2013 – Pope Francis became the first non-European Pope in over 500 years.
• April 27, 2014 – Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were canonized.
• July 27, 2014 – Approximately 2 million members of the Iglesia ni Cristo joined the worship rites held at the Philippine Arena for its centennial celebration.
• January 18, 2015 – An estimated 6 to 7 million attended the Concluding Eucharistic Celebration in Manila on the Feast Day of Santo Niño de Cebú, ending the 5-day apostolic and state visit of Pope Francis in the Philippines, the largest papal crowd in history.

• 
  Federal District buildings at the Zócalo in Mexico City decorated for the 2010 celebrations as seen from rooftop restaurant of Hotel Majestic.
• 
  2010 Copiapó mining accident
• 
  Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton
• 
  Queen Elizabeth II arriving at St Paul's Cathedral for the service of thanksgiving on 5 June 2012
• 
  Pope Francis appears to the public for the first time as pope
• 
  Canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II
• 
  An Iglesia ni Cristo event being held at an arena in Bulacan, Philippines
• 
  Aerial shot of Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines during the public Mass, January 18, 2015.

Popular culture

Architecture

The Burj Khalifa became the world's tallest building when completed in 2010.

Postmodernism and green design were common architectural themes. "Sustainable design " emphasized natural lighting, green/white roofs, better insulation and other cost-saving features. China and the Middle East led in large-scale development.

In 2010, Dubai's Burj Khalifa became the tallest man-made structure ever built, standing at 828 m (2,717 ft).

One World Trade Center, completed in 2014, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 feet.

Art

In 2015 Excessivism emerged. Trends that began since earlier decades are continuing into this decade are: Pop art, Altermodern, Cynical realism, The Kitsch Movement, Post-contemporary, Metamodernism, Pseudorealism, Remodernism, Renewable energy sculpture, Street art, Stuckism, Superflat, Superstroke, Urban art, Videogame art and Virtual art.

Fashion

Main article: 2010s in fashion

The 2010s have been defined by a revival of interwar, austerity era, 1980s (2010–13), early 1990s and skater fashions. In the early 2010s, many late 2000s fashion trends remained popular, especially the indie pop and grunge look which largely draws upon 1960s Mod clothing combined with elements of 1970s garage rock and contemporary alternative fashion.

Latin American teens and young adults, who began keeping up with general Western fashion more closely in the mid-1990s, proved to be more conservative

Hipster subculture and the "Thrift Shop" look had a considerable impact upon mainstream fashion. Full-printed T-shirts with diverse patterns (cosmic, clouds, historic architecture, and tribal) trended.

In many Western countries, the growing of a full beard became a popular trend among young males in the early-to-mid 2010s, with some suggesting this was due to the influence of the hipster subculture and the Movember campaign.

Film

See also: 2010s in film, 2010 in television, 2011 in television, 2012 in television, 2013 in television, 2014 in television, and 2015 in television

Movies and television struggled to maintain their position, as online viewing grew rapidly. Piracy was a major concern for the industry. In 2012 Viacom launched a US$1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for copyright infringement. In early 2012, the United States Congress began debating the SOPA and PIPA bills that were heavily lobbied by the entertainment industry.

3D films gained popularity, led by Avatar in late-2009. In 2010, Avatar became the first film to gross more than US$2 billion. Other 3D releases were also successful. The video game and television industries also released 3D content.

Animated films in the 2010s remained predominately computer-generated. Older styles lost favor, although (2D) Anime remained popular. Traditionally animated television shows for children remained popular. In 2010, Toy Story 3 became the first animated film to gross more than US$1 billion worldwide.

In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to receive the Academy Award for Best Director for the 2009 movie The Hurt Locker.

Superhero and science fiction films became box office leaders. In 2016, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) became the third highest grossing film of all time.

Academy Award for Best Picture winners

• The King's Speech (2010)
• The Artist (2011)
• Argo (2012)
• 12 Years a Slave (2013)
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
• Spotlight (2015)

Palme d'Or winners at the Cannes Film Festival

• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
• The Tree of Life (2011)
• Amour (2012)
• Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
• Winter Sleep (2014)
• Dheepan (2015)

César Award for Best Film winners

• Of Gods and Men (2010)
• The Artist (2011)
• Amour (2012)
• Me, Myself and Mum (2013)
• Timbuktu (2014)
• Fatima (2015)

Best films of the Sight & Sound annual poll

• The Social Network (2010)
• The Tree of Life (2011)
• The Master (2012)
• The Act of Killing (2013)
• Boyhood (2014)
• The Assassin (2015)

Music

Main article: 2010s in music

EDM, synthpop, indie, and trap see mainstream success throughout the early to mid 2010s. R&B and hip-hop grew again around 2013. Digital music sales in 2012 topped CD sales.

The use of Auto-Tune and talk box declined in the decade. Dance and pop music surged into the 2010s, with EDM achieving mass commercial success. In the early 2010s, dubstep and drumstep, originating in the United Kingdom, rose in popularity globally. Drumstep is continuing to grow in popularity along with drum and bass. It mirrors the electronic-leaning musical trends elsewhere, while hardstyle is becoming increasingly popular in Australia and North America, with music festivals such as Defqon 1, IQON and The sound of Q-dance.

Streaming services such as Pandora Radio and Spotify became the preferred music delivery systems.

Record of the Year Grammy Winners

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Sports

• The Los Angeles Rams made their long-awaited return to Los Angeles in 2016, after a 21-year absence.
• Usain Bolt became the most successful sprinter in Olympic history, holding world records in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay.
• Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian after winning his 22nd medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
• Major League Baseball saw the rise of the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series three times in the first half of the decade.
• The Spain national football team became the first International football team to win three consecutive major tournaments in 2012.
• IRB Sevens World Series expand from 8 to 10 legs, and rugby seven is part of the Olympic program in 2016.
• Jason Collins became the first active male professional athlete in a major American professional team sport to publicly come out as gay.
• Early in the decade, LeBron James led the NBA, playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat.
• Manchester City became the fifth team to win the Premier League, doing so in 2012 and 2014.
• Atletico Madrid won the 2014 La Liga competition, becoming the first team besides FC Barcelona and Real Madrid to win La Liga since 2004.
• Individual transfer fees in association football exceeding £50m became more common, with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester Utd, AS Monaco and Manchester City all making at least one signing worth £50m or more. Real Madrid set the record for highest fee with their £85.6m signing of Gareth Bale in September 2013.
• In May 2014, Real Madrid became the first team to have won ten European Cups.
• On May 27, 2015, Football's world governing body FIFA was accused of bribery totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. Fourteen individuals were indicted.
• The Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings led the NHL winning the Stanley Cup for most of the first half of the decade.

Television

Cable providers saw a decline in subscriber numbers as cord cutters switched to lower cost online streaming services such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon.com's Prime service. These non-cable, internet-based media streaming services even began producing their own programming.

TV sets, such as the Samsung SmartTV, started offering online streaming via television.

The American soap opera format lost popularity in favor of reality television and daytime talk shows. Long-lived but canceled shows All My Children and One Life to Live return in 2013 as online content. Prime-time television serials and Spanish-language telenovelas remain popular globally.

Primetime Emmy Award for Best Drama

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Theatre

In 2013 for the first time, the four nominees for the Best Musical Tony Award were all based on movies.

Tony Award for Best Musical

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Video gaming

See also: 2010s in video gaming

PlayStation 4 was released in the November 2013 and so far it has been the best-selling gaming console of the decade. (37.7 million units sold worldwide as of December 2015)

The Nintendo 3DS is the first gaming device released to feature 3D gaming without the need for stereoscopic glasses.

Cloud gaming, stereoscopic 3D gaming, and ongoing improvements in graphics were some of the biggest trends. Video game sales declined in the early-2010s, most likely due to the effects of the Great Recession. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, released in late-2011, made over US$775 million in one-week, matching the highest grossing films. According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average age of a person who plays video games is 30.

The decade began dominated primarily by seventh generation consoles, such as Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and Wii. Games such as the Sims franchise and many of Blizzard's popular titles remained popular on PCs and expanded to other devices. The OnLive console was released in 2010 becoming the first massively produced cloud gaming-based gaming device. 2012 introduced the first console regarded to be in the eighth generation, the Wii U, followed in late 2013, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. They faced stiff competition from tablet and smartphones.

The Nintendo 3DS, released in early 2011 introduced a glasses-free interface for 3D. The 2D PlayStation Vita was released in 2012. The Wii introduced the sensor bar with compatible sensitive controllers, followed by the PlayStation Move and Kinect. This expanded the video game market to the elderly and those interested in physical therapy.

Game of the Year

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See also

Timeline

The following articles contain brief timelines of each year:

• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2015
• 2016
• 2017
• 2018
• 2019