2025 facts for kids
2025 was a year filled with many important events around the world. Countries saw changes in leadership, new agreements were made, and people faced challenges like natural disasters. Science and technology also continued to advance, showing how busy and exciting the year was.
Contents
What Happened in 2025?
January Highlights
.svg){kind=logo}
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
- January 1
- Poland began its turn leading the Council of the European Union. This means Poland helped guide the work of the European Union for a period.
- Bulgaria and Romania fully joined the Schengen Area. This means people can now travel between these countries and other Schengen countries without passport checks at land borders.
- Ukraine stopped transporting much of Russia's gas through its country. This happened after a five-year agreement ended. Ukraine also became a member of the International Criminal Court, which deals with serious international crimes.
- In New Orleans, United States, a terrible attack involving a vehicle and shooting happened. Fifteen people died, and many others were hurt.
- January 4 – The leader of Austria, Karl Nehammer, announced he would step down.
- January 6
- Justin Trudeau announced he would resign as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada. He had been in office for nine years.
- Indonesia became the tenth country to join BRICS, a group of major developing countries.
- January 7
- A strong 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. At least 126 people died, and many more were injured.
- The Greater Los Angeles area in California had some of its worst wildfires ever. Strong winds and dry weather made the fires spread quickly. Over 13,000 buildings were destroyed, including parts of Sunset Boulevard. At least 29 people died, and 180,000 people had to leave their homes.
- January 9 – Joseph Aoun, the head of the Lebanese Armed Forces, was elected as the 14th president of Lebanon. This ended a period where the country had no president for over two years.
- January 10 – The European Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded on Earth. It was the first time a full year was more than 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial times.
- January 11 – A gas station explosion in al-Bayda, Yemen, killed 40 people and injured many others.
- January 12 – Zoran Milanović was re-elected as president of Croatia for his second term.
- January 13 – A special comet, named C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), came closest to the Sun and was called The Great Comet of 2025.
- January 14 – February 2 – The 2025 World Men's Handball Championship was held in Croatia, Denmark, and Norway. Denmark won the championship.
- January 15
- The president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was arrested by police. This happened after a period of martial law and an impeachment vote in December.
- In the Gaza war, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire. The plan was to stop the fighting, exchange prisoners, and allow more international aid into the area. The ceasefire started on January 19.
- Scientists from Colossal Biosciences and the University of Melbourne created the world's first artificial womb for marsupials. This is part of their effort to bring back animals like the thylacine from extinction.
- January 16
- Blue Origin successfully launched its large New Glenn rocket for the first time. However, the rocket's first stage did not land back as planned.
- The country of Vanuatu held a general election.
- The National Liberation Army (ELN) launched several attacks in the Catatumbo region of Colombia. More than 100 people died in these clashes.
- January 18 – A fuel tanker exploded near Suleja, Nigeria, killing 98 people.
- January 19 – The Gaza war ceasefire began, but it ended on March 18 with a new attack by Israel.
- January 21 – A fire at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, Turkey, killed 78 people.
- January 23
- Micheál Martin was re-elected as the prime minister of Ireland for a second time.
- Thailand became the 38th country and the first in Southeast Asia to make same-sex marriage legal.
- January 24
- Storm Éowyn hit Ireland and the United Kingdom. Record-high winds of 183 kilometers per hour were recorded in Ireland, and over a million homes lost power.
- People in several Southeastern European countries started boycotting retail stores. They were protesting against high food prices and claims of price fixing.
- January 25 – The ancient Helmet of Coțofenești from the Dacian era was stolen from the Drents Museum in Assen. Thieves broke into the museum using explosives and also took three other gold artifacts.
- January 26 – The election in Belarus was held, and the current president, Alexander Lukashenko, was re-elected.
- January 27 – Technology company shares outside China dropped sharply after DeepSeek, a Chinese competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, was released. The chip company Nvidia lost almost $600 billion in value, which was the biggest drop for a single company in U.S. stock market history.
- January 29
- A United States Army helicopter crashed into a passenger plane over Washington, D.C.. All 67 people on both aircraft died.
- Ahmed al-Sharaa was named the new president of Syria. This happened after the previous government fell.
February Events
- February 4
- In the China–United States trade war, China announced new controls and taxes on some American goods. This was in response to similar actions by U.S. President Donald Trump.
- U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would take control of the Gaza Strip in an agreement with Israel. He said the U.S. military would lead the rebuilding of Gaza.
- February 9
- The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) connected their power grids with continental Europe's grid. This meant they disconnected from Russia's power grid.
- Liechtenstein held a general election, and the VU party remained the largest.
- February 10 – A bus fell off a bridge in Guatemala City, Guatemala, killing at least 55 people and injuring 9 others.
- February 12
- Konstantinos Tasoulas was elected as the new President of Greece.
- Klaus Iohannis resigned as President of Romania. He was the first Romanian president to do so since the Romanian revolution.
- February 15 – Mahamoud Ali Youssouf was elected as the new leader of the African Union Commission.
- February 17 – Many protests happened across Indonesia. People were protesting a new law that would increase the military's role in civilian government jobs.
- February 18
- After a change to the constitution, Nicaragua became a country with two leaders. Spouses Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo became co-presidents.
- Vladimir Putin announced that Russia and the United States had officially agreed to restart diplomatic relations. A four-hour meeting between the U.S. and Russia was held in Saudi Arabia.
- Egypt announced the discovery of Thutmose II's tomb by a joint British-Egyptian team. This was the first royal tomb found since Tutankhamun's in 1922.
- February 19 – Croatia completed the process of joining the European Economic Area.
- February 23 – Germany held a federal election earlier than planned. The center-right CDU/CSU party became the largest, and the far-right AfD party gained many votes, finishing in second place.
- February 25 – An Antonov An-26 plane from the Sudanese Air Force crashed in a residential area. All 17 people on board and 29 people on the ground died.
- February 28 – A meeting took place at the White House between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. Trump and Vice President JD Vance strongly criticized Zelenskyy, which raised concerns about future support for Ukraine and the end of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
March Milestones
_2.jpg)
- March 2 – Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to successfully land on the Moon without any problems, with its Blue Ghost Mission 1.
- March 3 – The Trump administration paused military aid to Ukraine. This followed the meeting with President Zelenskyy the previous week.
- March 4 – Colossal Biosciences created woolly mice as part of their 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 was violating a convention against genocide by supporting a group responsible for violence in Darfur.
- March 8 – More than 1,000 people, including civilians, were killed in a crackdown by security forces in the Alawite region of Syria.
- March 8–17 – The 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games were held in Turin, Italy.
- March 9 – Mark Carney, a former head of the Bank of Canada, became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He became the Prime Minister of Canada five days later.
- March 11
- Rodrigo Duterte, the former President of the Philippines, was arrested in the Philippines. This happened after an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for serious crimes.
- Greenland held a general election, and the center-right Democrats party became the largest, defeating the previous ruling party.
- March 12 – Belize held a general election, and the current People's United Party won a second term by a large margin.
- March 16 – Keith Rowley resigned as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago after nine years. Stuart Young took his place.
- March 18
- Israel launched widespread air attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children. This ended the ceasefire agreement that had been in place since January.
- The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, survived an attempt on his life.
- March 19 – Protests broke out across Turkey after the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested on charges of corruption and terrorism.
- March 20 – Kirsty Coventry was elected as the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee. She is the first woman and the first African person to hold this position.
- March 21
- A major power outage caused Heathrow Airport in London to completely shut down. This caused travel problems for thousands of flights around the world for days.
- Curaçao held a general election, and the current MFK party won a clear majority in parliament.
- South Korea experienced one of its worst wildfires in modern history. Over 87,000 hectares of land were destroyed in South Gyeongsang Province, and at least 28 people died.
- March 28 – A strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar. At least 4,400 people were killed, and 6,000 were injured. The damage reached as far as Bangkok, Thailand.
- March 31 – The Caribbean guilder was introduced as the new currency for Curaçao and Sint Maarten, replacing the old currency.
April Developments
- April 1 – Fram2, a spacecraft launched by SpaceX, became the first crewed mission to fly over Earth's poles in a special orbit.
- April 2 – U.S. President Donald Trump announced new trade taxes on many countries, including a 10% tax on all imports.
- April 3 – Hungary withdrew from the International Criminal Court.
- April 4 – The Constitutional Court of Korea officially removed President Yoon Suk Yeol from office. All eight judges agreed to uphold his impeachment.
- April 5 – Over 1,400 protest events happened across the United States against the actions taken by the Trump administration.
What's Expected to Happen?
Many important events are planned for the rest of 2025 and beyond.
- April 13 – October 13 – Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Japan.
- April 13 – The second round of the 2025 Ecuadorian general election is planned.
- April 28 – The 2025 Canadian federal election is scheduled.
- May 3 – The 2025 Australian federal election is scheduled.
- May 9 – May 25 – The 2025 IIHF World Championship for ice hockey is scheduled in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark.
- 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. The current president, Andrzej Duda, cannot run again.
- June 14 – July 13 – The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will take place in the United States.
- June 15 – June 17 – The 51st G7 summit will take place in Kananaskis, Canada. This is a meeting of leaders from seven major developed countries.
- June 24 – June 26 – A NATO summit will be held 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.
- September 9 – The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open in New York City, United States.
- 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, and his son Guillaume will become the new Grand Duke.
- October 27 – The 2025 Irish presidential election will be held by this date. The current president, Michael D. Higgins, cannot run again.
- November 10 – November 21 – The COP 30 climate summit will be held in Belém, Brazil.
- November 22 – The 2025 G20 Johannesburg Summit will take place in South Africa. This will be the first time a G20 summit is held in Africa.
- 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 football tournament will take place in Morocco.
Dates Still Unknown
- A special meeting of Christian churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, is planned for Nicaea. It will mark 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea.
- Norway aims to stop the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by this year.
Births
- February 7 – Princess Ines, Duchess of Västerbotten
|
See also
In Spanish: 2025 para niños
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
2025 Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.