The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns, and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
[1] Geospatial World also called 2020 "the worst year in terms of climate change" in part due to major climate disasters worldwide, including major bushfires in Australia and the western United States, as well as extreme tropical cyclone activity affecting large parts of North America.
[2] A United Nations progress report published in December 2020 indicated that none of the international Sustainable Development Goals for 2020 were achieved.
It spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January, and assessed the outbreak had become a pandemic on 11 March.