2025 facts for kids

The year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts.

Events

January

Logo of Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Collapsed house in Tibet after an earthquake on January 7

Photo from the Palisades Fire, part of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires

Zoran Milanović is re-elected in the 2024–25 Croatian presidential election on January 12

Alexander Lukashenko is declared to be the winner in the 2025 Belarusian presidential election on January 26, securing his seventh term in a called sham election by international bodies. Lukashenko is the only president of Belarus since the office's creation in 1994.

On January 27, following the announcement and release of DeepSeek, a Chinese large language model and competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, chip giant Nvidia loses almost $600 billion of its value, the biggest drop for a single company in U.S. stock market history.

• January 1
  • Poland takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Hungarian presidency.
  • Bulgaria and Romania complete the process of joining the Schengen Area, lifting land border controls.
  • Liechtenstein becomes the 37th country to legalize same-sex marriage.
  • Ukraine halts the transportation of many Russian gas supplies through the country following the expiration of a five-year transit deal, while also becoming a state party in the International Criminal Court.
  • Fifteen people are killed (including the perpetrator), and 57 others are injured during a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.
• January 4 – The Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, announces his resignation.
• January 6
  • Justin Trudeau announces his pending resignation as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada after nine years in office.
  • Indonesia becomes the tenth member to join BRICS.
• January 7
  • A 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes the Tibet Autonomous Region of Southwestern China, killing at least 126 people, whilst another 338 are injured.
  • Greater Los Angeles experiences the most destructive wildfires in its history, fueled by strong winds and prolonged drought conditions. Over 13,000 structures are destroyed, including most of Sunset Boulevard. At least 29 deaths are reported, while 180,000 people are evacuated, with fires continuing for days.
• January 9 – The Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Joseph Aoun, is elected the 14th president of Lebanon by parliament, ending the power vacuum that lasted over two years.
• January 10 – The European Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that 2024 was the world's hottest year on record, and the first calendar year to pass the symbolic threshold of 1.5°C of global warming.
• January 11 – A gas station explosion in al-Bayda, Yemen, results in 40 deaths and dozens of others injured.
• January 12 – 2024–25 Croatian presidential election: Zoran Milanović is re-elected for a second term.
• January 13 – C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), a non-periodic comet, reaches perihelion, and is dubbed The Great Comet of 2025.
• January 14 – February 2 – The 2025 World Men's Handball Championship takes place in Croatia, Denmark and Norway. It is won by Denmark.
• January 15
  • The President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, is successfully arrested after a second attempt by police following a martial law declaration and successful impeachment motion last December.
  • Gaza war: Israel and Hamas approve a ceasefire agreement that intends to end the war, exchange Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and allow in international aid. It took effect on January 19.
  • Colossal Biosciences and University of Melbourne create the world's first artificial womb in marsupials as part of their project toward de-extinction of the thylacine.
• January 16
  • Blue Origin successfully launches its heavy-lift launch vehicle, New Glenn, on its first attempt, though fails to land its first stage booster as intended.
  • The 2025 Vanuatuan general election is held.
  • The National Liberation Army (ELN) launches multiple attacks in the Catatumbo region, northeastern Colombia. More than 100 people are killed during the clashes.
• January 18
  • 98 people are killed in a fuel tanker explosion near Suleja, Niger State, Nigeria.
• January 19 – Gaza war: A ceasefire goes into effect, lasting until an Israeli surprise attack on 18 March.
• January 21 – 78 people are killed after a fire breaks out in a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, Turkey.
• January 23
  • Micheál Martin is re-elected prime minister (Taoiseach) of Ireland by Dáil Eireann for a second non-consecutive term.
  • Thailand becomes the 38th country and the first in Southeastern Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
• January 24
  • Storm Éowyn hits Ireland and the United Kingdom. Record high wind speeds of 183 km/h (114 mph) are recorded in Ireland, while over a million homes are left without power.
  • A series of ongoing boycotts in Southeastern European countries took place of several retail stores in that region, in response to raised food prices and alleged price fixing.
• January 25
  • The Dacian-era Helmet of Coțofenești, on loan from the National History Museum of Romania, is stolen along with three other gold artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen by thieves who broke into the museum using explosives.
• January 26 – The 2025 Belarusian presidential election is held, with incumbent Alexander Lukashenko (independent, but of the Belaya Rus alliance) being re-elected.
• January 27 – Global technology shares outside China fall sharply in response to the release of DeepSeek's chatbot, a Chinese competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Chip giant Nvidia loses almost $600 billion of its value, the biggest drop for a single company in U.S. stock market history.
• January 29
  • 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision: A United States Army Black Hawk helicopter with three occupants on board, collides with a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines with 64 occupants on board in Washington, D.C., United States. There are no survivors.
  • Ahmed al-Sharaa is appointed as the president of Syria, after a one-month vacancy following the fall of the Assad regime.

February

Members of the Guatemalan Army and National Civil Police participating in the search and rescue efforts following the Guatemala City bus crash on February 10

The meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump, and JD Vance in the Oval Office on February 28, where Trump and Vance argued with Zelenskyy, increasing diplomatic tensions between their countries

• February 4
  • China–United States trade war: China announces export controls and increased tariffs on certain American imports in retaliation for Donald Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods.
  • US President Donald Trump announces that the United States will take control of the Gaza Strip in an agreement with Israel, and that the U.S. military will be in charge of Gaza's reconstruction.
• February 9
  • The Baltic states complete synchronization of their power grids with continental Europe's grid, disconnecting from Russia's grid.
  • The 2025 Liechtenstein general election is held, in which the VU led by Brigitte Haas remains the largest party.
• February 10 – A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing at least 55 people, and seriously injuring 9 others.
• February 12
  • Konstantinos Tasoulas is elected President of Greece by the Hellenic Parliament after four rounds in the 2025 Greek presidential election.
  • Klaus Iohannis resigns as President of Romania, making him the first Romanian president to do so post-revolution.
• February 15 – Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected as the chairperson of the African Union Commission.
• February 17 – 2025 Indonesian protests: A series of ongoing nationwide protests are held following the enactment of a legislation increasing military involvement in civilian government roles.
• February 18
  • Following a constitutional reform, Nicaragua becomes a diarchy with spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo as co-presidents.
  • Vladimir Putin announces that Russia and the United States have officially agreed to restore diplomatic relations. A four-hour summit between the US and Russia is held in Saudi Arabia.
  • Egypt announces the discovery of Thutmose II's tomb by a joint British-Egyptian team, the first royal tomb to be discovered since Tutankhamun's in 1922. It is the 15th and final pharaoh tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt to have been found by archeologists.
• February 19 – Croatia completes the process of joining the European Economic Area.
• February 23 – 2025 German federal election: After being pushed forward as a result of the 2024 German government crisis, the centre-right CDU/CSU becomes the largest party, with big gains from the far-right AfD, resulting in a second-place finish.
• February 25 – An Antonov An-26 of the Sudanese Air Force crashes in a residential area, near the Wadi Seidna Air Base. All 17 occupants onboard and 29 people on the ground die.
• February 28 – A meeting between the President of The United States, Donald Trump, and the President of Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelenskyy takes place at the White House. Trump and the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance sharply criticise Zelenskyy, raising questions about the support for Ukraine, the proposed end to the war, as well as the country's future in general.

March

A rendering of Blue Ghost Mission 1

In the 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, Mark Carney becomes the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, becoming the Prime Minister of Canada five days later.

Anti-government protests break out across Turkey following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu by the national police on March 19.

Kirsty Coventry is elected as first female and first African President of the International Olympic Committee.

Damage caused by the 2025 Myanmar earthquake

• March 2 – Firefly Aerospace becomes the first commercial company to successfully land on the Moon with no technical issues, with its Blue Ghost Mission 1.
• March 3 – The Trump administration pauses military aid to Ukraine, following the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy the previous week.
• March 4 – Colossal Biosciences creates woolly mice as part of de-extinction efforts for the woolly mammoth.
• March 5 – Sudan files an application against the United Arab Emirates before the International Court of Justice, alleging violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the UAE through its support for the RSF, which is responsible for the genocide in Darfur.
• March 8 – More than 1,000 people, including civilians, are killed in a crackdown by Syrian transitional government security forces in the Alawite region.
• March 8–17 – The 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games is held in Turin, Italy.
• March 9 – 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election: The former governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, becomes the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, becoming the Prime Minister of Canada five days later.
• March 11
  • The former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is arrested in the Philippines after being served an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
  • 2025 Greenlandic general election: The center-right Democrats become the largest party, defeating the incumbent Inuit Ataqatigiit.
• March 12 – 2025 Belizean general election: The incumbent People's United Party wins a second term in a landslide victory.
• March 16
  • Keith Rowley resigns as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago after nine years in office, and is succeeded by Stuart Young.
• March 18
  • Israel launches widespread aerial bombardments and attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children, ending the ceasefire agreement reached in January.
  • The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, survives an assassination attempt.
• March 19 – Nationwide protests erupt across Turkey following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on charges of corruption and terrorism.
• March 20 – Kirsty Coventry is elected as the 10th, first female and African President of the International Olympic Committee in the first round of voting in the 144th IOC Session.
• March 21
  • A major power outage causes Heathrow Airport in London to completely shut down, with disruption expected to last for days, affecting thousands of flights around the world.
  • 2025 Curaçao general election: The incumbent MFK wins an absolute majority in parliament.
  • South Korea experiences one of its worst wildfires in modern history; over 87,000 hectares of land are destroyed in South Gyeongsang Province, killing at least 28 people.
• March 28 – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake occurs in Myanmar, resulting in at least 4,400 killed and 6,000 injured, with destruction taking place as far away as Bangkok, Thailand.
• March 31 – The Caribbean guilder is introduced, replacing the Netherlands Antillean guilder as the currency for Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

April

• April 1 – Fram2, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, becomes the first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit, i.e., to fly over Earth's poles.
• April 2 – US President Donald Trump issues sweeping trade tariffs on many countries, including a 10% baseline tariff for all imports.
• April 3 – Hungary withdraws from the International Criminal Court.
• April 4 – Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol: The Constitutional Court of Korea unanimously upholds Yoon's impeachment in an 8–0 vote, officially removing him from office.
• April 5 — Over 1,400 protest events occur across the United States against the actions taken by the Second Trump administration.

Predicted and scheduled events

• April 13 – October 13 – Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Japan.
• April 13 – The second round of the 2025 Ecuadorian general election is scheduled to be held.
• April 28 – The 2025 Canadian federal election is scheduled to be held.
• April 30 – The 2025 Caymanian Islands general election is scheduled to be held.
• May 3 – The 2025 Australian federal election is scheduled to be held.
• May 4 – The first round of the 2025 Romanian presidential election is scheduled to be held, following the annulment of the previous election.
• May 9 – May 25 – The 2025 IIHF World Championship is scheduled to take place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark.
• May 11 – The 2025 Albanian parliamentary election is scheduled to be held.
• May 12 – The 2025 Philippine general election is scheduled to be held.
• May 13–17 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is scheduled to be held in Basel, Switzerland.
• May 18
  • The first round of the 2025 Polish presidential election is scheduled to be held; incumbent president Andrzej Duda is ineligible for re-election.
  • The 2025 Portuguese legislative election is scheduled to be held.
• May 25
  • The 2025 Surinamese general election is scheduled to be held.
  • The 2025 Venezuelan parliamentary election is scheduled to be held.
• June 3 – If not triggered earlier, the 2025 South Korean presidential election will occur no later than this date following the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol.
• June 15 – June 17 – The 51st G7 summit will take place in Kananaskis, Canada.
• June 14 – July 13 – The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will take place in the United States.
• June 24 – June 26 – A NATO summit will be held at the World Forum in The Hague, Netherlands.
• July 11 – August 3 – The 2025 World Aquatics Championships will take place in Singapore.
• August 7 – 17 – The 2025 World Games will take place in Chengdu, China.
• August 17 – The 2025 Bolivian general election is scheduled to be held.
• September 3 – The 2025 Saint Helena general election is scheduled to be held.
• September 8 – The 2025 Norwegian parliamentary election is scheduled to be held.
• September 9 – The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open in New York City, United States.
• September 12–28 – The 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship will take place in Pasay and Quezon City in the Philippines.
• September 13–21 – The 2025 World Athletics Championships will take place in Tokyo, Japan.
• September 27 – The 2025 Seychellois general election is scheduled to be held.
• October 3 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, will abdicate the throne in favor of his son Guillaume, who will reign as Guillaume V.
• October 5 – The 2025 Cameroonian presidential election is scheduled to be held.
• October 26 – The 2025 Argentine legislative election is scheduled to be held.
• October 27 – The 2025 Irish presidential election will be held no later than this date. Incumbent president Michael D. Higgins is ineligible for re-election.
• November 10 – November 21 – The COP 30 summit will be held in Belém, Brazil.
• November 15 – The 2025 Haitian general election is scheduled to be held.
• November 16 – The 2025 Chilean general election is scheduled to be held.
• November 21 – December 7 – The 2025 FIFA Futsal Women's World Cup will take place in the Philippines.
• November 22 – The G20 Johannesburg Summit will take place in South Africa, the first time a G20 summit has been held in Africa.
• November 23 – If not triggered earlier, the 2025 Singaporean general election will be held no later than this date, with the current Parliament to be dissolved no later than August 24.
• November 27 – December 14 – The 2025 World Women's Handball Championship will take place in Germany and the Netherlands.
• December 21 – January 18 – The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will take place in Morocco.

Date unknown

• An ecumenical meeting of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church at Nicaea is scheduled to be held to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
• Norway aims to ban the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by this year.
• The next Czech parliamentary election is expected to be held by October 2025.

Births

• February 7 – Princess Ines, Duchess of Västerbotten

Deaths

Nobel Prizes

Laureates for Nobel Prizes in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace will be presumably announced in October, with the awards ceremony taking place on 10 December 2025.

See also

In Spanish: 2025 para niños