The
2000s is the
decade that started on January 1, 2000 and will end on December 31, 2009. It is the current decade.
The decade has been dominated by several wide-ranging topics, including
international trade and a growing concern over
energy supplies; the explosion in
telecommunications and
data communications; the
ecological crisis; a
widespread economic failure in the last quarter of the decade; further
integration and dependence on
technology; concerns with international
terrorism and
war; natural disasters, including the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami; an escalation of the social issues of the
1990s, and the debate over how to address
global warming.
Overview of the decade
Economic developments in the first half of the 2000s focused on the explosion of
Asia and
South America's economic and political potential, and its impact on the world market.
India’s economy has become technologically integrated with those of the world’s more developed nations. China has experienced immense
economic growth, and has obtained the status of a
world power. Many fast-growing economies throughout the world, especially in
Asia, have been a major factor in the rapidly increasing demand for
fossil fuels, which—along with fewer new
petroleum finds, greater extraction costs, and political turmoil—forced two other trends: a soar in the
price of petroleum products and a push by governments and businesses to promote the development of
environmentally friendly technology (known informally as "Green" technology). However, a side-effect to the push by some industrial nations to "go green" and utilize
biofuels has been a decrease in the supply of food and a subsequent increase in the price of the same. This, in turn, may threaten the world's poorer nations with an even more severe shortage of food. The economic developments in the latter third of the decade were dominated by a worldwide economic downturn, which appears to have started with the
crisis in housing and credit in the
United States in late 2007, and led to the bankruptcies of entities as large as
Iceland and
California.
Technological advancements have been as revolutionary and diversified as previous decades. In the field of
digital electronics, advancements have been considerable.
Mobile phones,
digital cameras, and
digital audio players became household items over the course of a few years.
Email and
broadband Internet connections have become nearly ubiquitous in the industrialized world. The entertainment industry has struggled to find digital delivery systems for music, movies, and other media that reduce piracy and preserve profit.
Internet commerce has become standard for reservations, stock trading, promotion of music, arts, literature, and film, shopping, and other activities.
Many major political events in the 2000s have revolved around the
War on Terrorism; this was triggered by the
September 11 attacks by
Al Qaida in 2001, and led to the 2001
invasion of
Taliban-led
Afghanistan and the 2003
Iraq War. The War on Terrorism generated extreme controversy around the world, with questions regarding the justification for U.S. actions leading to a loss of support for the
American government, both in and outside the
United States. Additional armed conflict occurred in the Middle East, including Israel's wars with
Hezbollah in south Lebanon and
Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Major natural disasters affected millions of people during the decade, with the 2004
tsunami killing around a quarter-million people and displacing well over a million others. In 2005,
Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly the entire city of
New Orleans and killed hundreds of persons.
Social issues which became more pronounced included issues pertaining to
gay rights, in particular the issue of homosexual unions.
Bisexuality has become more of an accepted sexual orientation.
Same-sex marriage was legalized by some major developed nations, and in others, varying degrees of civil recognition were granted to gay relationships. However, such unions continued to meet resistance in many countries and in
most U.S. states. Other social issues of worldwide concern during the 2000s have been
gender equality and
human rights. In the United States,
health care and
civil liberties have also been prominent issues.
Global warming, which originally was seen by most as a purely
environmental issue, has evolved into a major
economic and
political issue. While scientists evaluate the
origins, severity and existence of climate change, politicians and economists debate the cost and efficacy of public policies to address it.
Names of the decade
In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called, for instance "the Twenties", "the Sixties", "the Nineties" and the like, the decade beginning in 2000 has no universally accepted name. Some refer to the decade as the "two thousands". In written form, this could appear as "the '00s" or "the 2000s", but writing "the 2000s" or simply
saying "the two-thousands" can cause confusion, since this could refer to the entire 21st century or even the entire
millennium.
Determining a name for the decade has been problematic, especially in the United States. In 1999, anticipating the upcoming awkwardness, a U.S. group calling itself "Project Naughtie" ran a viral campaign in an attempt to popularize "the
Naughties" as the decade's name,, deriving from the word
naught, meaning "nothing" or "zero". A limited number of the media has made some use of the term as well, including the
BBC (using the common British spelling,
nought). The Naughties version was also broadcast regularly in morning news bulletins on UK radio station
Atlantic 252 between the end of 1998 and Christmas 1999. An Australian website used the name from 1998. The Noughties is also used in the UK. Both spellings have gained some currency among the legitimate press in the United Kingdom (for example,
Tim Footman's book about the period,
The Noughties: A Decade That Changed The World), Ireland, and Australia, but there still remains no consensus on what term to use.
Other proposed names include:
*aughts, aughties, and double-aughts, from aught, which, like naught, means "zero" (aughts was one of the more popular terms in the early 20th century)
*oughts, oughties, and double-oughts, from ought, an archaic variant of aught
*nils and nillies, from nil, meaning "nothing"
*2Ks, from the Greek term khilioi, meaning "thousand"
*ōzies and the Twenty-Os, ohs, double ohs, oh-ohs, ohties, and twenty ohs, from the practice of calling the number zero "O"
*zeroes, double zeroes, oh-zeroes
The
United Nations General Assembly has declared the decade of 2001–2010 the "
Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World".
See also
