2021

Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple COVID-19 variants.

The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued in 2021.

Most major events scheduled for 2020 that were postponed due to the pandemic were hosted in 2021, including the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Expo 2020, and sporting events such as UEFA Euro 2020, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the 2021 Copa América.

[1] 2021 additionally witnessed numerous advancements in space exploration, particularly by the United Arab Emirates, NASA and SpaceX, including the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Civil unrest grew in 2021, with coups occurring in Sudan, Myanmar, Mali and Guinea, and insurrections occurring in Armenia and the United States.

Clockwise from top-left: the James Webb Space Telescope is launched; protesters in Yangon , Myanmar , following the coup d'état ; a civil demonstration against the October coup in Sudan ; supporters of then United States president Donald Trump stormed the country's Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election ; the container ship Ever Given gets stuck in the Suez Canal , blocking international shipping for six days; the 2020 Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo , Japan ; the Ingenuity helicopter after deployment on the Martian surface by the Mars Perseverance rover ; Taliban fighters on a captured Humvee following the fall of Kabul at the end of the War in Afghanistan .
Crowd outside the US Capitol on January 6
Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the Suez canal on 24 March 2021
UK coalition forces assist a child during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul
Military parade in Kaloum , a day after the coup
The Governor-General of Barbados Sandra Mason is sworn in as the country's first President
Artistic conception of the James Webb Space Telescope
Nobel medal
Nobel medal