2024

From left to right, top to bottom:

• The 2024 Summer Olympics are held in Paris, France;
• Flooded bridge in Kłodzko, Poland, as part of the European floods, which left 337 people dead;
• Blue screens caused by a worldwide faulty CrowdStrike software update at LaGuardia Airport, New York City;
• Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei leading the funeral prayer for Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was assassinated in Tehran by an Israeli attack;
• Donald Trump, winner of the U.S. presidential election, pays respect to Corey Comperatore, who was killed in an assassination attempt on Trump;
• People cheering after the resignation of Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who had held power for 15 years, during the non-cooperation movement;
• Krasnogorsk's Crocus City Hall music venue after a terrorist attack that killed 145 people and injured 551, the deadliest in Russia since 2004;
• People celebrate the fall of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime at the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus.

2024 (MMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2024th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 24th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2020s decade.

The year saw the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war, and the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel. Israel's war on Gaza led to widespread protests^[1][2][3] and spillover conflicts into numerous other countries, most notably Lebanon, which was invaded by Israel in October. This followed an intensification of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. In September, Israel escalated an offensive against the group, which resulted in the killing of the Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah.^[4] Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, had also been assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran in July, and his successor Yahya Sinwar was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in October. In November, heavy fighting resumed in the Syrian civil war, leading to the toppling of Ba'athist Syria, with Bashar al-Assad fleeing Syria in December. The year also saw a rise in activity by the Houthi movement which contributed to a crisis in the Red Sea that impacted global shipping.

Approximately 80 countries, representing around 4 billion people, conducted national elections throughout the course of the year,^{[5][6][7][8][9]} including eight out of the ten most populous countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, India, Mexico, Indonesia, and the United States)^[5] as well as France, the United Kingdom, and Japan.^[10] The European Parliament also held elections.^[11] Among democracies, over 80% saw the incumbent party lose support compared to the last election,^[12][13] including many significant losses.^[14][15] In countries like Japan, Botswana, and South Africa, incumbent parties that had dominated domestic politics for decades lost their majorities and either relinquished power or are holding on through coalitions with minor parties.^[16][17][18] Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the 2024 Senegalese presidential election, becoming the first opposition candidate to win in the first round since the country's independence.^[19] In Sri Lanka, voters delivered a landslide victory to the National People's Power, previously a minor party.^[20] Republican Donald Trump won the 2024 United States presidential election, becoming the first U.S. president to be elected to a nonconsecutive second term since 1892.^[21][22] The French and German governments lost votes of no confidence.^[23] In December, South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's attempt to declare and impose martial law was thwarted by members of parliament, sparking a political crisis that led to his impeachment and the impeachment of acting president Han Duck-soo.^[24]