The 2000s decade reshaped global politics, economics, and technology, marked by the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, and the rise of the internet.
Key Facts
- World population growth
- 6.1 billion to 6.9 billion people
- Internet coverage expansion
- 7% to 26% of world population
- Births during decade
- approximately 1.35 billion people
- Deaths during decade
- approximately 550 million people
- 2008 financial crisis origin
- US housing and credit crisis beginning 2007
- Warmest decade on record
- Possibly warmest since records began in 1850
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
Rapid globalization, the emergence of the internet, the geopolitical fallout from the September 11, 2001 attacks, and unchecked growth in US housing and credit markets set the conditions for a decade of profound change. Meanwhile, fast-growing Asian economies like China and India began asserting significant economic influence on the world stage.
The 2000s spanned January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009, encompassing the War on Terror, the US-led invasion of Iraq, the global spread of the internet and social media, accelerating climate concerns, major natural disasters including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and the outbreak of the 2008 global financial crisis and ensuing Great Recession.
The decade's conflicts reshaped the Middle East and global security policy, while the 2008 financial crisis triggered the Great Recession across much of the industrialized world. Internet penetration fundamentally altered communication and commerce, and climate change rose to the top of the international policy agenda, with the 2000s recorded as potentially the warmest decade since 1850.