2025 facts for kids

The year 2025 has seen ongoing conflicts in places like Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza. Several countries, including Bangladesh, Ecuador, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Somalia, and South Korea, faced internal challenges. In South Korea, these issues led to the removal of President Yoon Suk Yeol from office. Brief conflicts also happened, such as one between India and Pakistan in May, and another between Iran and Israel in June.

In the world of money and business, Donald Trump became the U.S. president again. His return brought new taxes on goods imported into America, which changed global trade. This also restarted the China–United States trade war. The technology world saw a new Chinese chatbot from DeepSeek, which competes with ChatGPT. In aviation, Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad, India. Space exploration also had exciting moments, like the first spaceflight to orbit the Earth over its poles and the first successful Moon landing by a private company.

2025 (MMXXV) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2025th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 25th year of the 3rd millennium, the 25th year of the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2020s decade.

Major Events of 2025

January

A collapsed house in Tibet after the 2025 Tibet earthquake

The Palisades Fire burning a building on January 8 during the 2025 Southern California wildfires

• January 1
  • Poland took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
  • Bulgaria and Romania fully joined the Schengen Area, removing land border checks.
  • Liechtenstein became the 37th country to make same-sex marriage legal.
  • Ukraine stopped transporting much of Russia's gas through its country. This happened after a five-year agreement ended. Ukraine also joined the International Criminal Court.
  • A vehicle attack and shooting in New Orleans, United States, killed 15 people and injured 57.
  • A shooting in Cetinje, Montenegro, killed 13 people and injured 3.
• January 6 – Indonesia became the tenth country to join BRICS, a group of major emerging economies.
• January 7
  • A strong 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Tibet, China. It killed at least 126 people and injured 338.
  • Greater Los Angeles experienced very destructive wildfires. Strong winds and dry conditions caused them. Over 13,000 buildings were destroyed, including much of Sunset Boulevard. At least 29 people died, and 180,000 people had to leave their homes.
• January 9 – Joseph Aoun was chosen as the 14th president of Lebanon. This ended a power gap that had lasted over two years.
• January 10 – The European Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded. It was the first year to go above the important 1.5 °C warming limit.
• January 15
  • The President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was arrested after a second attempt by police. This followed a martial law declaration and his removal from office in December.
  • Gaza war: Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. It aimed to end the war, exchange prisoners, and allow aid into Gaza. It started on January 19.
  • Scientists created the world's first artificial womb for marsupials. This is part of a project to bring back the thylacine, an extinct animal.
• January 16
  • Blue Origin successfully launched its large rocket, New Glenn, for the first time.
  • The National Liberation Army (ELN) launched attacks in northeastern Colombia. Over 100 people died in these clashes.
• January 18
  • A fuel tanker explosion near Suleja, Nigeria, killed 98 people.
  • Two judges were killed at the Supreme Court of Iran in Tehran.
• January 20 – Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States.
• January 23 – Thailand became the 38th country and the first in Southeast Asia to make same-sex marriage legal.
• January 27 – Global technology shares outside China fell sharply. This was due to the release of DeepSeek's chatbot, a Chinese competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
• January 29 – A United States Army helicopter crashed with a passenger plane in Washington, D.C.. All 67 people on board both aircraft died.

February

Members of the Guatemalan Army and National Civil Police helping after 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. They discussed support for Ukraine.

• February 4
  • China announced new export controls and tariffs on some American imports. This was in response to Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods.
  • A gunman opened fire at an adult education center in Örebro, Sweden. At least 11 people died, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.
  • Donald Trump announced that the United States would take control of the Gaza Strip in an agreement with Israel. The U.S. military would be in charge of rebuilding Gaza.
• February 9 – The Baltic states connected their power grids with continental Europe's grid. This disconnected them from Russia's grid.
• February 10 – A bus fell off a bridge in Guatemala City, Guatemala. At least 55 people died, and 9 were seriously injured.
• February 18
  • Nicaragua became a country with two leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, as co-presidents.
  • Vladimir Putin announced that Russia and the United States had agreed to restart diplomatic relations. A four-hour meeting between the two countries was held in Saudi Arabia.
  • Egypt announced the discovery of Thutmose II's tomb. This was the first royal tomb found since Tutankhamun's in 1922.
• February 25 – A military plane crashed in a residential area near Wadi Seidna Air Base in Sudan. All 17 people on board and 29 people on the ground died.
• February 28 – A meeting took place between U.S. president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Trump and V.P. JD Vance strongly criticized Zelenskyy. This raised questions about future support for Ukraine.

March

A picture of Blue Ghost Mission 1 which landed on March 2

Remains of a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, after a fire on March 16. The fire killed 62 people and injured 195.

Rescue efforts at a collapsed building in Thailand after the 2025 Myanmar earthquake on March 28

• March 2 – Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to successfully land on the Moon without problems. This was with its Blue Ghost Mission 1.
• March 3 – The Trump administration stopped military aid to Ukraine. This followed the meeting with Zelenskyy the week before.
• March 4 – Scientists created woolly mice. This is part of efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth.
• March 5 – Sudan filed a case against the United Arab Emirates at the International Court of Justice. Sudan claimed the UAE supported forces responsible for serious actions in Darfur.
• March 8 – More than 1000 people were reported killed in a crackdown by Syrian government forces in the Alawite region. This was described as the worst violence in the country for years.
• March 9 – Mark Carney became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He then became the Prime Minister of Canada five days later.
• March 11
  • The former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested in the Philippines. This was due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for very serious actions.
  • Militants blew up railway tracks and took 450 people hostage on a train in Pakistan.
• March 16 – A fire broke out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia. At least 59 people died, and 155 were injured.
• March 18
  • Israel launched widespread attacks on the Gaza Strip. At least 591 people, including children, were killed. This ended the ceasefire agreement from January.
  • The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, survived an attack on his convoy. At least 10 people died.
• March 19 – Nationwide protests started across Turkey. This was after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
• March 20 – Kirsty Coventry was elected as the 10th and first female African President of the International Olympic Committee.
• March 21 – South Korea experienced one of its worst wildfires in modern history. Over 87,000 hectares of land were destroyed, and at least 28 people died.
• March 28 – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake happened in Myanmar. It killed 5,413 people and injured 11,402.
• March 31 – The Caribbean guilder was introduced. It replaced the Netherlands Antillean guilder as the money for Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

April

Possible signs of life were found in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b (artist's idea of the planet)

Smoke rising after the Port of Shahid Rajaee explosion on April 26

A view from Madrid's Preciados Street during the 2025 Iberian Peninsula blackout on April 28. Preciados is still dark, while Callao has some power.

• April 1 – Fram2 launched aboard a SpaceX rocket. It became the first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit.
• April 2 – U.S. President Donald Trump issued new trade taxes on many countries. This included a 10% tax for all imports.
• April 3 – Hungary left the International Criminal Court. This happened after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Budapest, despite an arrest warrant against him.
• April 4 – The Constitutional Court of Korea fully supported Yoon Suk Yeol's removal from office.
• April 7 – Scientists showed three grey wolves that were changed to look like dire wolves.
• April 8 – A nightclub roof collapsed during a concert in Santo Domingo. At least 231 people died, and more than 200 were injured.
• April 17 – The atmosphere of K2-18b, a planet that might be a water world, was found to have large amounts of certain compounds. On Earth, these compounds are only known to be made by living things.
• April 21 – Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, died at age 88. Many world leaders paid tribute.
• April 26
  • The funeral of Pope Francis was attended by leaders from 164 countries and 250,000 people.
  • An explosion at a port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, killed at least 70 people and injured over 1200.
  • At least 11 people died and 20 were injured in a vehicle attack at a festival in Vancouver, Canada.
• April 28 – A large power outage affected Spain and Portugal for hours.
• April 30 – The Ukraine–United States Mineral Resources Agreement was signed. This agreement gives the U.S. economic reasons to keep helping Ukraine. In return, the U.S. gets access to Ukraine's energy and mineral resources.

May

Robert Francis Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV in the 2025 papal conclave on May 8. He became the first pope from North America and the first from Peru or the U.S.

• May 3
  • The Australian Labor Party won reelection in Australia.
  • The People's Action Party won reelection in Singapore.
• May 6 – India launched missiles into Pakistani territory. This was in response to an attack two weeks earlier.
• May 7–8 – 133 cardinals elected Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Francis's successor. He took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first pope from North America, the first with Peruvian or U.S. citizenship, and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.
• May 12 – The Kurdistan Workers' Party announced it was ending. This followed a ceasefire with Turkey.
• May 13–17 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was held in Basel, Switzerland. The Austrian singer JJ won with the song "Wasted Love."

June

California National Guard and protestors during the 2025 Los Angeles protests on June 9

The wreckage of Air India Flight 171's tail section after crashing in Ahmedabad

Explosions in Tehran during the June 2025 Israeli strikes on Iran on June 13

• June 1 – Karol Nawrocki was elected President of Poland.
• June 3 – Lee Jae Myung won the 2025 South Korean presidential election. This election was moved forward after the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol.
• June 6 – Protests started in Los Angeles. They were in response to arrests and deportations of immigrants.
• June 10 – 10 people died and over 30 were injured after a gunman opened fire at a school in Graz, Austria.
• June 12 – Air India Flight 171, a plane flying to London, crashed into a building after taking off from Ahmedabad, India. 229 passengers, 12 crew, and 19 people on the ground died. One passenger survived.
• June 13 – Iran–Israel war: Israel carried out air strikes against Iran's nuclear sites. Iran responded with its own attacks.
• June 14 – No Kings protests happened in many cities. These protests were against Donald Trump.
• June 16–17 – The 51st G7 summit was held in Kananaskis, Canada.
• June 22 – The United States carried out airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.
• June 23 – Iran launched missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar and Iraq. This was in response to the previous day's strikes.
• June 24–25 – A NATO summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands.
• June 25 – The Axiom Mission 4 was launched. It included the first astronauts from Poland and India since the end of the Cold War.
• June 27 – The U.S., with help from Qatar, helped create a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This ended their conflict that started in 2022.

July

An aerial photo of the July 2025 Central Texas floods near Hunt

• July 1 – The Constitutional Court of Thailand suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from her duties.
• July 4–7 – At least 134 people died and dozens went missing during a flood in Central Texas, United States.
• July 16 – Israeli airstrikes hit the Syrian Presidential Palace and military headquarters in Damascus.

Upcoming Events

• August 7–17 – The 2025 World Games will take place in Chengdu, China.
• September 9 – The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open in New York City.
• September 12–28 – The 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship will take place in the Philippines.
• September 13–21 – The 2025 World Athletics Championships will take place in Tokyo, Japan.
• October 3 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, will step down from his role. His son Guillaume will become the new Grand Duke.
• November 10–21 – The COP 30 summit will be held in Belém, Brazil.
• November 22 – The G20 Johannesburg Summit will take place in South Africa. This is the first time a G20 summit will be held in Africa.
• December 13 – The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 is scheduled to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia.
• December 21–January 18 – The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will take place in Morocco.

Date unknown

• October – Timor-Leste will become the 11th member of ASEAN. This is the first time ASEAN has grown since 1999.
• A meeting of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church is planned for Nicaea. It will mark 1,700 years since the Council of Nicaea.
• Norway aims to stop the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by this year.

Nobel Prizes

The winners of the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace are usually announced in October. The awards ceremony takes place on December 10, 2025.

See also

In Spanish: 2025 para niños

• List of elections in 2025