2020

"MMXX" redirects here. For the album by Sons of Apollo, see MMXX (album).

This article is about the year 2020. For the cricket format, see Twenty20. For other uses, see 2020 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years:	2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

2020 by topic:

Arts

Architecture – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Country, Rock, Metal, UK, US) – Radio – Photo – Television (UK, US) – Video gaming

Politics and government

Elections – International leaders – Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors

Science and technology

Archaeology – Aviation – Birding/Ornithology – Palaeontology – Rail transport – Spaceflight

Sports

American football – Association football – Athletics (sport) – Badminton – Baseball – Basketball – Chess – Golf – Ice hockey – Tennis – Volleyball

By place

Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Andorra – Angola – Antarctica – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bangladesh – The Bahamas – Barbados – Belgium – Benin – Bhutan – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Brazil – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon – Canada – Cape Verde – Central African Republic – Chad – Chile – China – Colombia – Costa Rica – Croatia – Cuba – Cyprus – Czechia – Denmark – Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Estonia – Ethiopia – European Union – Finland – France – Gabon – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – Guatemala – Guyana – Honduras – Hong Kong – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iraq – Iran – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Ivory Coast – Japan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kosovo – Kuwait – Kyrgyzstan – Laos – Latvia – Lebanon – Libya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macau – Madagascar – Malawi – Malaysia – Mali – Mexico – Moldova – Montenegro – Morocco – Mozambique – Myanmar – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – North Korea – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palestine – Peru – Philippines – Poland – Portugal – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia – Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – Somalia – South Africa – South Korea – South Sudan – Spain – Sri Lanka – Sudan – Sweden – Switzerland – Syria – Taiwan – Tanzania – Thailand – Tunisia – Turkey – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – Uruguay – Uzbekistan – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zambia – Zimbabwe

Other topics

Religious leaders

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works – Introductions Works entering the public domain

2020 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	2020 MMXX
Ab urbe condita	2773
Armenian calendar	1469 ԹՎ ՌՆԿԹ
Assyrian calendar	6770
Bahá'í calendar	176–177
Balinese saka calendar	1941–1942
Bengali calendar	1427
Berber calendar	2970
British Regnal year	68 Eliz. 2 – 69 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2564
Burmese calendar	1382
Byzantine calendar	7528–7529
Chinese calendar	己亥年 (Earth Pig) 4716 or 4656     — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 4717 or 4657
Coptic calendar	1736–1737
Discordian calendar	3186
Ethiopian calendar	2012–2013
Hebrew calendar	5780–5781
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2076–2077
- Shaka Samvat	1941–1942
- Kali Yuga	5120–5121
Holocene calendar	12020
Igbo calendar	1020–1021
Iranian calendar	1398–1399
Islamic calendar	1441–1442
Japanese calendar	Reiwa 2 (令和２年)
Javanese calendar	1953–1954
Juche calendar	109
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4353
Minguo calendar	ROC 109 民國109年
Nanakshahi calendar	552
Thai solar calendar	2563
Tibetan calendar	阴土猪年 (female Earth-Pig) 2146 or 1765 or 993     — to — 阳金鼠年 (male Iron-Rat) 2147 or 1766 or 994
Unix time	1577836800 – 1609459199

2020 (MMXX) is the current year, and is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2020th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 20th year of the 3rd millennium, the 20th year of the 21st century, and the 1st year of the 2020s decade.

2020 has been designated as Year of the Nurse and Midwife by the World Health Organization. The United Nations has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health. 2020 has been designated as International Year of Sound by the International Commission for Acoustics.

Events

January

• January 2 – The government of New South Wales, Australia, declares a state of emergency whilst the government of Victoria, Australia declares a state of disaster amid large bushfires that have killed as many as 500 million animals.
• January 3 – 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: A U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
• January 5 – Second Libyan Civil War: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces that Turkish troops will be deployed to Libya on behalf of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord.
• January 7 – Persian Gulf crisis: 56 people are reported killed and over 200 injured in a crush at the funeral of general Qasem Soleimani in the city of Kerman, Iran.
• January 8
  • Persian Gulf crisis: Iran launches ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases hosting American soldiers, injuring at least 11 people.
  • Persian Gulf crisis: Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by Iran's armed forces shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini Airport, killing all 176 people on board.
• January 9
  • A rare, circumbinary planet called TOI 1338-b is discovered.
  • ISIL militants assault a Nigerien military base at Chinagodrar, killing at least 89 Nigerien soldiers.
• January 10 – The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said, dies aged 79. Haitham bin Tariq is sworn in as his successor.
• January 18 – Yemeni Civil War: 111 Yemeni soldiers and five civilians are killed in a drone and missile attack on a military camp near Ma'rib.
• January 28 – President of the United States Donald Trump and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu announce the Trump peace plan.
• January 29 – U.S. President Donald Trump signs the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.
• January 30 – 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak: The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the outbreak of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the sixth time that this measure has been invoked since 2009.
• January 31 – The United Kingdom and Gibraltar formally withdraw from the European Union at 11PM (GMT), beginning an 11-month transition period.

February

• February 11 – 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak: The World Health Organization (WHO) names the disease COVID-19.
• February 13 – NASA publishes a detailed study of Arrokoth, the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft, which New Horizons passed by on its journey through the Kuiper belt.
• February 27 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges by 1,190.95 points, or 4.4%, to close at 25,766.64, its largest one-day points decline in history. This follows several days of large falls, marking the worst week for the index since 2008, triggered by fears of the spreading coronavirus.
• February 28 – Ambassadors of all 29 NATO Allies meet in the North Atlantic Council expressing solidarity with Turkey after 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike by the Syrian government forces during the ongoing Syrian civil war.
• February 29 – A conditional peace agreement is signed between the United States and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. begins gradually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan on March 9.

March

• March 5 – The International Criminal Court authorizes the Afghanistan War Crimes Inquiry to proceed, allowing for the first time for U.S. citizens to be investigated.
• March 8 – 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak: Italy places 16 million people in quarantine, more than a quarter of its population, in a bid to stop the spread of COVID-19. Two days later, the quarantine is expanded to cover the entire country.
• March 9 – Share prices fall sharply around the world, in response to a new oil price war and the impact of COVID-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges more than 2,000 points, the largest fall in its history up to that point. Oil prices plunge by as much as 30% in early trading, the biggest fall since 1991, after Saudi Arabia launches a price war.
• March 11 – 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic: The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
• March 12 – Global stock markets crash three days after Black Monday due to continued concerns over COVID-19 and the U.S. travel ban on the Schengen Area. The Dow Jones Industrial Average goes into free fall, closing at over -2,300 points, the worst losses for the index since 1987.
• March 14 – 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic: Spain goes into lockdown after the country is hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic the day before declaring the Alarm Status.
• March 16 – Oil prices fall into the $20 range, down 10 percent from the previous day amid the coronavirus pandemic, as The Fed cuts interest rates to zero.

Predicted and scheduled events

Scheduled

• May 7 – The first crewed flight of the Dragon 2 Spacecraft is expected to launch.
• May 12–16 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
• June 12 – July 12 – UEFA Euro 2020 will be held in 12 European countries, and the 2020 Copa América will be held in Argentina and Colombia.
• July 17 – Planned launch of NASA's Mars 2020 mission to study the habitability of Mars in preparation for future human missions.
• July 24 – August 9 – The 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan.
• October 18 – The 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be held in Australia in eight cities.
• October 20 – The 2020 World Expo will open in Dubai.
• December 31 – Following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union, the current transition period for negotiations on a future relationship is set to expire on this date.

Date unknown

• Earliest year that power aboard the space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is expected to terminate (though either probe may function past this date).
• Egypt, which has the highest rate of hepatitis C in the world, is expected to eradicate the disease by 2020 after an ambitious nationwide campaign against the disease.
• ESA's ExoMars Rover launches from Earth.
• Estimated completion date for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.
• Estimated completion of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Poland.
• Liberia will become the first nation of the world to completely stop cutting down its trees in return for development aid – Norway will pay the impoverished country $150 million to stop deforestation by 2020.
• The Grand Egyptian Museum, described as the largest archaeological museum in the world, is expected to be completed.
• The New Administrative Capital of Egypt is expected to be completed.
• The FIA Formula One World Championship with the Australian Grand Prix will be held in Melbourne. It was originally scheduled for March 15 but was cancelled indefinitely due to COVID-19.

Deaths

Further information: Category:2020 deaths

January

Main article: Deaths in January 2020

Qasem Soleimani

Neil Peart

Buck Henry

Qaboos bin Said

Terry Jones

Kobe Bryant

Mary Higgins Clark

• January 1
  • Don Larsen, American baseball player (b. 1929)
  • David Stern, American businessman and NBA commissioner (b. 1942)
• January 2 – John Baldessari, American conceptual artist (b. 1931)
• January 3
  • Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi-Iranian military commander (b. 1954)
  • Qasem Soleimani, Iranian general (b. 1957)
• January 5
  • Anri Jergenia, 4th Prime Minister of Abkhazia (b. 1941)
  • Hans Tilkowski, German football goalkeeper and manager (b. 1935)
• January 6 – Luís Morais, Brazilian football player (b. 1930)
• January 7
  • Khamis Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabian footballer (b. 1973)
  • Silvio Horta, American screenwriter and television producer (b. 1974)
  • Neil Peart, Canadian drummer and lyricist (b. 1952)
  • Elizabeth Wurtzel, American writer and journalist (b. 1967)
• January 8
  • Edd Byrnes, American actor (b. 1932)
  • Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter and television producer (b. 1930)
  • Infanta Pilar de Borbón, Spanish royal (b. 1936)
• January 9 – Mike Resnick, American science fiction author (b. 1942)
• January 10
  • Neda Arnerić, Serbian film actress (b. 1953)
  • Guido Messina, Italian racing cyclist (b. 1931)
  • Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman (b. 1940)
• January 12 – Roger Scruton, British philosopher and writer (b. 1944)
• January 13 – Isabel-Clara Simó, Spanish journalist and writer (b. 1943)
• January 15
  • Rocky Johnson, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1944)
  • Christopher Tolkien, British academic and editor (b. 1924)
• January 16 – Efraín Sánchez, Colombian footballer and manager (b. 1926)
• January 17
  • Pietro Anastasi, Italian football player (b. 1948)
  • Derek Fowlds, English actor (b. 1937)
• January 19
  • Jimmy Heath, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1926)
  • Shin Kyuk-ho, South Korean businessman (b. 1921)
• January 21
  • Hédi Baccouche, 6th Prime Minister of Tunisia (b. 1930)
  • Terry Jones, Welsh actor and comedian (b. 1942)
  • Tengiz Sigua, 2nd Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1934)
  • Theodor Wagner, Austrian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
• January 23
  • Alfred Körner, Austrian footballer (b. 1926)
  • Jim Lehrer, American journalist, novelist and screenwriter (b. 1934)
  • Gudrun Pausewang, German writer (b. 1928)
• January 24
  • Duje Bonačić, Croatian rower (b. 1929)
  • Juan José Pizzuti, Argentine footballer and manager (b. 1927)
  • Rob Rensenbrink, Dutch footballer (b. 1947)
• January 26
  • John Altobelli, American college baseball coach (b. 1963)
  • Kobe Bryant, American professional basketball player (b. 1978)
  • Louis Nirenberg, Canadian-American mathematician (b. 1925)
• January 28 – Nicholas Parsons, English radio and TV presenter (b. 1923)
• January 30 – Jörn Donner, Finnish writer, film director and politician (b. 1933)
• January 31
  • Mary Higgins Clark, American novelist (b. 1927)
  • Janez Stanovnik, 12th President of SR of Slovenia (b. 1922)

February

Main article: Deaths in February 2020

Daniel arap Moi

Kirk Douglas

Katherine Johnson

Hosni Mubarak

Freeman Dyson

• February 1 – Andy Gill, English musician (b. 1956)
• February 2 – Mike Moore, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1949)
• February 3 – George Steiner, French-American literary critic and essayist (b. 1929)
• February 4
  • José Luis Cuerda, Spanish filmmaker, screenwriter and producer (b. 1947)
  • Daniel arap Moi, 2nd President of Kenya (b. 1924)
• February 5
  • Stanley Cohen, American Nobel biochemist (b. 1922)
  • Kirk Douglas, American actor, director and producer (b. 1916)
• February 6 – Jhon Jairo Velásquez, Colombian hitman and drug dealer (b. 1962)
• February 7
  • Orson Bean, American actor, comedian and producer (b. 1928)
  • Li Wenliang, Chinese ophthalmologist (b. 1986)
  • Nexhmije Pagarusha, Albanian singer and actress (b. 1933)
• February 8 – Robert Conrad, American actor (b. 1935)
• February 9 – Mirella Freni, Italian soprano (b. 1935)
• February 11 – Joseph Shabalala, South African musician (b. 1941)
• February 12
  • Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (b. 1951)
  • Geert Hofstede, Dutch social psychologist (b. 1928)
• February 13 – Rajendra K. Pachauri, Indian scientist (b. 1940)
• February 14 – Lynn Cohen, American actress (b. 1933)
• February 15 – Caroline Flack, English presenter (b. 1979)
• February 16
  • Zoe Caldwell, Australian actress (b. 1933)
  • Harry Gregg, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1932)
  • Larry Tesler, American computer scientist (b. 1945)
• February 17
  • Mário da Graça Machungo, 1st Prime Minister of Mozambique (b. 1940)
  • Kizito Mihigo, Rwandan gospel singer, organist and peace activist (b. 1981)
  • Andrew Weatherall, English music DJ and producer (b. 1963)
• February 18
  • José Bonaparte, Argentine paleontologist (b. 1928)
  • Sonja Ziemann, German actress (b. 1926)
• February 22 – Kiki Dimoula, Greek poet (b. 1931)
• February 24
  • Clive Cussler, American author (b. 1931)
  • Katherine Johnson, American mathematician (b. 1918)
  • Diana Serra Cary, American child actress (b. 1918)
  • Jahn Teigen, Norwegian singer (b. 1949)
• February 25
  • Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher (b. 1919)
  • Hosni Mubarak, 41st Prime Minister and 4th President of Egypt (b. 1928)
  • Dmitry Yazov, Soviet and Russian marshal (b. 1924)
• February 26 – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (b. 1921)
• February 28 – Freeman Dyson, British-born American physicist and mathematician (b. 1923)
• February 29 – Éva Székely, Hungarian swimmer, Olympic champion (b. 1927)

March

Main article: Deaths in March 2020

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar

Max von Sydow

• March 1
  • Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan poet and priest (b. 1925)
  • Jack Welch, American business executive and writer (b. 1935)
• March 2
  • James Lipton, American writer, lyricist and actor (b. 1926)
  • Ulay, German performance artist (b. 1943)
• March 3 – Stanisław Kania, Polish politician, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (b. 1927)
• March 4
  • Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 137th Prime Minister of Peru and 5th United Nations Secretary-General (b. 1920)
  • Robert Shavlakadze, Georgian high jumper (b. 1933)
• March 6
  • Henri Richard, Canadian Hall of Fame ice hockey player (b. 1936)
  • McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist (b. 1938)
• March 8 – Max von Sydow, Swedish-French actor (b. 1929)
• March 9 – Richard K. Guy, British mathematician (b. 1916)
• March 11 – Charles Wuorinen, American composer (b. 1938)
• March 13 – Dana Zátopková, Czech javelin thrower (b. 1922)
• March 14 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and occultist (b. 1950)
• March 15 – Vittorio Gregotti, Italian architect (b. 1927)

In fiction

Main article: 21st century in fiction § 2020