3rd millennium

In contemporary history, the third millennium of the Anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change in the course of this period and beyond.

Millennia:	2nd millennium 3rd millennium 4th millennium
Centuries:	21st century 22nd century 23rd century 24th century 25th century 26th century 27th century 28th century 29th century 30th century

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Predictions and forecasts not included on this timeline

• List of future astronomical events
  • List of lunar eclipses in the 21st century
  • List of solar eclipses in the 21st century
• Projections of population growth
• Climate change
  • Representative Concentration Pathway
  • Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
• Extinction
• List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events
• Predictions and claims for the Second Coming
• Near future in fiction
• Works falling into the public domain in the United States

21st century

For coverage of past events, see 21st century and Timeline of the 21st century.

2000s

Main article: 2000s

• See: 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009

2010s

Main article: 2010s

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

2020s

Main article: 2020s

• See: 2020
• 2021
• 2022
• 2023
• 2024
• 2025
• 2026
• 2027
• 2028
• 2029

2030s

Main article: 2030s

2040s

"2040" redirects here. For the film, see 2040 (film).

"2042" redirects here. For the video game, see Battlefield 2042.

"2046" redirects here. For the film, see 2046 (film).

"2049" redirects here. For the film, see Blade Runner 2049.

• 2040:
• 2041:
  • The Antarctic treaty is scheduled to come under review.^[1][2]
• 2042:
  • September 17: A common computing representation of date and time on IBM mainframe systems will overflow with potential results similar to the year 2000 problem.
• 2047: On July 1, the present "one country, two systems" arrangement in Hong Kong is scheduled to end, as it was guaranteed for 50 years starting from July 1, 1997, provided under the Hong Kong Basic Law. The agreement was raised by Deng Xiaoping to deal with Hong Kong's reunification with the People's Republic of China in 1997, and stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984. What will be done is not stated in any document.^[3]
• 2048: On January 14, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is scheduled to come up for review.^[4][3]
• 2049:
  • December 20: The present "One country, two systems" with Macau, guaranteed for 50 years starting from 20 December 1999, provided under the Basic Law and the Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau, will expire.^[5]

2050s

"2050" redirects here. For the film, see 2050 (film).

"2055" redirects here. For the song, see 2055 (song).

• 2050:
  • Three-North Shelter Forest Program is expected to be completed.^[6]
  • The case files surrounding the 1943 death of the former lieutenant general of the Polish Army and first Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, Władysław Sikorski, is expected to be declassified this year by the British government.^[7] Due to tensions between The United Kingdom, The Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany, the circumstances of his death has led to disputes over whether the crash was deliberate or not. The official conclusion by the British government is that the crash was accidental, however, The Polish government refused to endorse this report on the basis of a lack of conclusive findings and contradictions within the British evidence.^[8] In 2008 an investigation was opened by the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation of the Institute of National Remembrance, and concluded in 2013 that there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove the sabotage theory.^[9]
• 2051:
  • April: One of the METI messages Cosmic Call 1 sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar in 1999 arrives at its destination, Gliese 777 star.

2060s

"2067" redirects here. For other uses, see 2067 (disambiguation).

• 2060:
  • The Chinese government aims for China to be carbon neutral.^[10]
• 2061:
  • December 31: Expiration of the Singapore-Malaysia Water Agreement.
• 2065:
  • The process of cleanup and decommissioning the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, is projected to be finished.^[11]

2070s

"2077" redirects here. For the video game, see Cyberpunk 2077.

• 2070: According to an announcement made by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in 2021, India will be carbon neutral.^[12]
• 2073: On January 1, assuming no further extensions to the term of copyrights become law in the interim, all media that was published before 1978 (including the first Star Wars film) will have fallen into the public domain in the United States. This year in particular is significant because this is the last year when the terms of the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act will apply; works published after 1977 will generally fall into the public domain after 70 years post mortem auctoris.^{[example needed]}
• 2079: For computer software using unsigned 16-bit binary day counts and an epoch of 1 January 1900, the counts will overflow after 65,536 (2¹⁶) days, which will occur on 6 June 2079.

2080s

"2081" redirects here. For the short film, see 2081 (film).

• 2085: The "secret" letter of Queen Elizabeth II will be opened in Sydney, Australia.^[13]
• 2088: The University of Bologna, the world's oldest university in continuous operation, will turn 1,000 years old.^[14]

2090s

"2091" redirects here. For the TV series, see 2091 (TV series).

"2099" redirects here. For the Marvel Comics imprint, see Marvel 2099.

• 2090: The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is set to expire.^[15]
• 2092:
  • Work on cleaning up the site of the Oldbury Nuclear Power Station^[a] is scheduled to be complete in 2092 (early estimate).^[16]
• 2094:
  • April 7: Mercury transits Jupiter, this is the only known such event of the decade.^[17]
• 2099:
  • The 99-year lease for Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York City is set to expire.^[18]
  • Ontario regains control of the Ontario Highway 407 when its 99-year lease expires.^[19]
  • 2099 is the maximum year that can be set on computers with BIOS firmware, as well as Microsoft's Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems, and Sony's PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS gaming platforms.

2100s

• 2100:
  • Silverstein Properties' 99-year lease on the World Trade Center expires.^[20]

22nd century

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see 22nd century (disambiguation), 2150 (disambiguation), the song 2120 South Michigan Avenue, the video games Battlefield 2142, Earth 2140 and Earth 2160, the short film 21-87, and SMPTE 2110 video networking standard

2100s

• 2103: Per an agreement between the National Archives and Caroline Kennedy, the jacket Jackie Kennedy wore on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated cannot be displayed in public until this year.^[21]
• FAT file systems theoretically support dates up to 31 December 2107 (though officially only up to 31 December 2099).^{[citation needed]}

2110s

• The Chernobyl New Safe Confinement reaches end of designed lifetime in the 2110s.
• 2111: The will of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is scheduled to become public knowledge.^[22]
• 2112:
  • The will of Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to become public knowledge.^[23]
• 2115:
  • The first book from the Future Library project will be published, 100 years after being submitted by author Margaret Atwood.^[24]
  • The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) initiated by Stanford University will be concluded.^[25][26][27]
• 2116: China Merchants Port's 99-year lease on Hambantota International Port in Sri Lanka is set to expire.^[28]
• 2117: A song titled "100 Years", composed by Pharrell Williams, will be released to the public. The song was performed by Williams at a private party in Shanghai, China, in 2017. The song is said to have addressed global warming.^[29]

2140s

"2140" redirects here. For the video game, see Earth 2140.

"2142" redirects here. For the video game, see Battlefield 2142.

• 2140: All Bitcoins are expected to be mined.^[30]

2150s

• 2155: The Year type in MySQL supports dates up to 31 December 2155.^[31]

2160s

"2160" redirects here. For the video game, see Earth 2160.

2170s

• 2178: On March 23, Pluto will have completed its first full orbit since its discovery in 1930.

2180s

• 2182: On September 24, asteroid 101955 Bennu has a 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth.^[32]

23rd century

• 2227–2247: Pluto will be closer to the Sun than Neptune for the first time since the year 1999.
• 2265: Return of the Great Comet of 1861.
• 2285: On March 22, Easter will occur on its earliest possible date for the first time since the year 1818.

24th century

"2312" redirects here. For the novel, see 2312 (novel).

"2359" redirects here. For the film, see 2359 (film).

For minor planets numbered 2301–2400, see List of minor planets: 2001–3000 § 301. For the similarly numbered century BC, see 24th century BC. For noteworthy numbers in the range 2301–2400, see 2000 (number).

• 2333: It is projected that the Dounreay nuclear site will be safe to use for other purposes.^[33]
• 2353: The date of Easter as conventionally calculated will be five weeks earlier than its hypothetical date according to astronomical principles, in a "negative equinoctial paradox". Along with 2372, this will be one of only two such occurrences between 2020 and 4000.^[34]
• 2372: The date of Easter will see another "negative equinoctial paradox", this time four weeks earlier than its hypothetical date. This will be the last such occurrence before the year 4000.^[34]
• 2391: Palm Sunday and Saint Patrick's Day will coincide for the first time since 1940; the "wearing of the shamrock and the palm together" was seen as presaging a great event in Ireland.^[35][36]
• 2400: The first century leap year since 2000.

25th century

• 2439 (estimated): The "Across the Universe" message broadcast by NASA in 2008 will reach Polaris.^[37]

26th century

• c. 2500: Climate projections predict a barren landscape for the Amazon rainforest amid low water levels due to vegetation decline.^[38][39]

27th century

• 2640: On September 5, the 639-year-long performance of John Cage's organ work As Slow as Possible (begun in 2001) is scheduled to finish at the St. Burchardi Church in Halberstadt, Germany.^[40]

28th century

29th century

"2894" redirects here. For the novel, see 2894 (novel).

• The St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery (Happy Valley) in Hong Kong lease on Wanzai's Saint Fulan gentleman street will end after a 999-year lease, assuming no legal status changes before that date.^[41]
• 2883: On January 4, the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) lease on the O&Q (Ontario and Quebec) will end, after a 999-year lease.^[42]

30th century

"3000 A.D." redirects here. For the film, see Captive Women.

• 2999:
  • The Longplayer composition is set to finish on 31 December 2999, marking the end of the thousand-year piece of music which began on 1 January 2000.

See also

• Timelines of the future
• Anthropocene
• Foresight (psychology)
• Outline of futures studies
• Technology forecasting

Notes

1. The Oldbury Nuclear Power Station is located in South Gloucestershire, England.

References

1. Jagadish Khadilkar (2017). Antarctica: The Frozen Continent's Environment, Changing Logistics and Relevance to India. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9789386643001.
2. "13 Indians take the harshest route in the world to save Antarctica". economictimes.indiatimes.com. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
3. . Archived from the original on 15 April 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
4. Brady, Anne-Marie (2017). China as a Polar Great Power. Cambridge University Press. p. 225. ISBN 9781316844670.
5. Leadbeater, Chris (13 April 2017). "10 fascinating facts about Europe's last colony in Asia – and the most crowded place on Earth". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
6. . State Forestry Administration, P.R.China (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
7. Roszak, Stanisław; Kłaczkow, Jarosław (2015). Poznać przeszłość: Wiek XX: Podręcznik do historii dla szkół ponadgimnazjalnych. Zakres podstawowy (in Polish). Warsaw: Nowa Era. ISBN 9788326724022.
8. Michael Alfred Peszke (2005). The Polish Underground Army, The Western Allies, And The Failure of Strategic Unity in World War II. McFarland. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7864-2009-4.
9. "Śledztwo ws. śmierci generała Sikorskiego umorzone". TVN24.pl. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
10. "China's new climate plan falls short of Cop26 global heating goal, experts say". The Guardian. 28 October 2021. from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
11. . Kyiv Post. 3 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012.
12. "India pledges net-zero emissions by 2070 — but also wants to expand coal mining". NPR. 3 November 2021. from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
13. "Queen Elizabeth II left a 'secret' letter that will stay unopened until 2085". The Independent. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
14. de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde: A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages 24 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-36105-2, pp. 47–55
15. "Senate approves bill to extend 9/11 victims fund". Associated Press. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
16. Strategy: effective from April 2011. The Stationery Office. 2011. p. 85. ISBN 9780108510472.
17. Albers, Steven (March 1979). "Mutual Occultation of Planets". Sky and Telescope. 57 (3): 220. Bibcode:1979S&T....57..220A.
18. "After Schumer, Maloney Push, NPS Approves Kaufman Astoria Studios application for a 99 year lease term". Charles E. Schumer. 16 October 2012.
19. Siekierska, Alicja (5 April 2019). "Worst deal ever? The 407 is worth $30B today – Ontario sold it for $3.1B in 1999". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
20. (Press release). Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 24 July 2001. Archived from the original on 4 September 2001.
21. Kaye, Randi. "Jackie Kennedy's pink suit locked away from public view". CNN. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
22. "Prince Philip's will to be secret for 90 years". BBC News. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
23. "Queen's will to be kept sealed and hidden for 90 years at undisclosed location". International Business Times. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
24. Flood, Alison (27 May 2015). "Into the woods: Margaret Atwood reveals her Future Library book, Scribbler Moon". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
25. "Stanford to host 100-year study on artificial intelligence". Stanford University. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
26. "Study to Examine Effects of Artificial Intelligence". The New York Times. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
27. "One-Hundred Year Study of Artificial Intelligence: Reflections and Framing". Eric Horvitz. 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
28. Panda, Ankit. "Sri Lanka Formally Hands Over Hambantota Port to Chinese Firms on 99-Year Lease". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
29. "Want to hear the new Pharrell song? You'll have to wait until 2117". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
30. Hayes, Adam. "What Happens After All 21 Million Bitcoin Are Mined?". Investopedia.
31. "11.2.4 The YEAR Type". Retrieved 21 May 2022.
32. "Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring". cneos.jpl.nasa.gov.
33. "Dounreay site available for reuse in the year 2333". BBC News. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
34. Zeyer, Klaus Peter (2020). "Häufigkeit von Osterparadoxien: Negative Äquinoktialparadoxien der Jahre 2353 und 2372 als seltenste Variante". Regiomontanusbote. 33: 5–10.
35. "Palm Sunday in old Ireland - World Cultures European". www.irishcultureandcustoms.com.
36. Year, the Fading (28 March 2021). "Irish Folklore for Palm Sunday – Domhnach an Iúir".
37. "NASA beaming Beatles tune to the stars". NBC News. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
38. Lyon, Christopher (September 2021). "Climate change research and action must look beyond 2100". Global Change Biology. 28 (2): 349–361. doi:10.1111/gcb.15871. ISSN 1354-1013. PMID 34558764. S2CID 230588117.
39. Dunhill, Alex; Beckerman, Andrew P.; Burke, Ariane; Allen, Bethany; Smith, Chris; Lyon, Christopher; Hill, Daniel J.; Saupe, Erin; McKay, James. "Our climate projections for 2500 show an Earth that is alien to humans". The Conversation. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
40. Steve Rosenberg (5 July 2008). "'World's longest concert' resumes". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
41. "Establishing the themed heritage trail -- The Happy Valley Heritage Trail: Seng Lou Beng Sei in Happy Valley" (PDF).
42. An Act to confirm the lease of the Ontario and Quebec Railway to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and for other purposes, S.C. 1884, c. 54, confirming the "Indenture of lease: The Ontario & Quebec Railway Company to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company". January 1884.