Category:2021

2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.

The United Nations declared 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, and the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.

Like 2020, 2021 was 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 Eurovision Song Contest, 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.

January

 * January 1 – The African Continental Free Trade Area comes into effect.
 * January 4 – The border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopens.
 * January 6 – Supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol, disrupting certification of the 2020 presidential election, and forcing Congress to evacuate. Five people die during the riot, including a police officer, and a woman who is shot and killed inside the Capitol building. The event is classified as a domestic terrorist attack, and draws international condemnation.
 * January 10 – Kim Jong-un is elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, inheriting the title from his father Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.
 * January 13 – In Lyon, France, the first transplant of both arms and shoulders is performed on an Icelandic patient at the Édouard Herriot Hospital.
 * January 14 – The 2021 Ugandan general election is held.
 * January 15
 * The Lao People's Revolutionary Party elects Thongloun Sisoulith as its new General Secretary, replacing retiring chief Bounnhang Vorachith. Sisoulith is elected for a five-year term as top leader in Laos.
 * COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 passes 2 million.
 * January 20 – Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.
 * January 22 – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, comes into effect.
 * January 24 – 2021 Portuguese presidential election: Incumbent president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is reelected.
 * January 26 – COVID-19 pandemic: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide.
 * January 29 – COVID-19 pandemic: The European Union invokes Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol following a row over COVID-19 vaccine supplies before reversing the decision.
 * January 31 – Nguyễn Phú Trọng is re-elected for a third five-year term as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

February[edit source]
A protest in Myanmar following a coup d'état


 * February 1
 * A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule leading to widespread demonstrations across the country.
 * Kosovo officially establishes diplomatic ties with Israel and announces plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
 * COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 100 million.
 * February 4 – President Joe Biden announces that the United States will cease providing weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for use in the Yemeni Civil War.
 * February 9
 * COVID-19 pandemic: A joint WHO–China investigation into the source of the outbreak concludes. Investigators deem a Wuhan laboratory leak to be "extremely unlikely", with a "natural reservoir" in bats being a more likely origin.
 * The UAE's uncrewed Hope spacecraft becomes the first Arabian mission to successfully enter orbit around Mars.
 * February 13–17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.
 * February 18
 * Malaysian court orders Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak to enter defence on all three graft charges.
 * NASA's Mars 2020 mission (containing the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter drone) lands on Mars at Jezero Crater, after seven months of travel.
 * February 19 – The United States officially rejoins the Paris Agreement, 107 days after leaving.
 * February 20 – 2020–21 H5N8 outbreak: 7 people test positive for H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm in southern Russia, becoming the first known human cases.
 * February 22
 * COVID-19 pandemic: The United States becomes the first country to surpass 500,000 deaths from the virus.
 * Luca Attanasio, the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is murdered near Goma.
 * February 24 – COVID-19 pandemic: the COVAX vaccine-sharing initiative delivers its first vaccines, delivering 600,000 doses for healthcare workers in Ghana.
 * February 25
 * COVID-19 pandemic: The global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 2.5 million.
 * The Armenian military calls for prime minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Pashinyan accuses the military of attempting a coup d'état.