2050s

The 2050s (pronounced "twenty-fifties") is a decade of the Gregorian calendar that will begin on January 1, 2050, and will end on December 31, 2059.

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	2030s 2040s 2050s 2060s 2070s
Years:	2050 2051 2052 2053 2054 2055 2056 2057 2058 2059
Categories:

Notable predictions and known events

2050

• In July 2008, the G7 agreed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by half in 2050.[1]
• In November 2006, Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, “warned of a global collapse of all species being fished, if fishing continues at its current pace.”[2]
• In March 2006, Professor Gerry Gilmore predicted that ground-based astronomy would become impossible by this year because of pollution from aircraft exhaust trails and climate change.[3]
• Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy believes that solar power from North Africa can provide 100 GW to the entire continent of Europe.[4]
• Under a plan announced in July 2016, New Zealand aims to eradicate all non-native rats, possums, and mustelids by this year.[5]
• A time capsule in Rachel, Nevada is set to be opened in this year.[6]
• The United States Air Force is set to retire the B-52 bomber from service, this comes after prior retirement dates that had been set in the past for 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2040.[7]

2051

• April – One of the METI messages Cosmic Call 1 sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar in 1999 arrives at its destination, Gliese 777 star.
• June 1 – The Washington State Ferries time capsule will be opened, celebrating WSF's 100th anniversary.
• Over 1.7 million people in the United Kingdom will be suffering from dementia according to reports published in 2007 by the London School of Economics and Institute of Psychiatry.[8]

2052

• December 6 – The closest supermoon of the century will occur.[9]

2053

• The United States of America's armed forces are presumed to phase out the entire M1 Abrams fleet from service. By this time, the M1 Abrams will have seen 71 years of service with the U.S. Army and USMC. It will be presumably replaced by Main battle tanks or weapons systems resulting from either the cancelled Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, or cancelled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.

2054

• November 7 – The lease agreement International Speedway Corporation has with Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District expires.[10]
• Hawksbill Creek Agreement tax exempt status is scheduled to expire.

2057

• This year will see the very rare occurrence of two total solar eclipses in a single calendar year (on January 5 and December 26). The last time this occurred was 1889. The next time it will occur is 2252. (Eclipse predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC.)
• February – A METI message Cosmic Call 1 sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar arrives at its destination, 15 Sge star.
• May – A METI message, called the Teen Age Message, sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar arrives at its destination, HD 76151 star.
• December – A METI message, called the Teen Age Message, sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar arrives at its destination, 37 Gem star.
• In the UK the Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL) contract to run the M6 Toll expires.
• The world's oil supply could be depleted.[11]

2058

• The Beatles catalogue will enter the public domain, assuming that copyright is not extended again.

2059

• January – A METI message, called the Teen Age Message, sent from the 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar arrives at its destinations, HD 126053 star and HD 193664 star.
• Futurist Simon Hopkins predicts the collapse of modern economic systems.[12]

Population estimates

2050

• In November 2001, the United Nations Population Fund reported that the world population is projected to be 9.3 billion in 2050 from 6.1 billion then with most of the increase in developing countries even as the population of industrialized countries will "remain stable".[13] This figure was revised to 9.1 billion in 2005 and 9.2 billion in 2007. In 2008, the United States Census Bureau projected a world population of 9.5 billion.[14]
• Another study done by the European Commission, community research stated that the world population is expected to grow at a decreasing rate to 8.9 billion in 2050 and after 2030, the population in several countries including those in Europe and China will decrease. Stabilization in the population will happen in the second half of the century.[15]
• It is calculated there will be 601,000 centenarians (people at least a hundred years old – born before 1950) in the United States by 2050.[16]
• "The population continues to grow but at a slower pace", summarizes the demographer Thomas Buettner, author of UN report on "World population projections (1950–2050)", presented Thursday, February 24, 2005. According to this study, 9.075 billion people will inhabit Earth in 2050, against 7 billion today.
• This increase amounts to adding to the current world population the combined populations of China and India, stresses the population division of the United Nations.
• The general trend is, however, a slowdown in population growth compared to gains of twenty to fifty years, this tends to confirm a gradual stabilization of the overall population.
• Not surprisingly, population growth will be highest in poor countries already struggling to provide food security for its people. "Births planning and fertility decline explain this difference", stresses the UN report.
• The United Nations predicts that 2 out of every 9 people in the world will be 60 years or older. World life expectancy at birth is also expected to exceed 76 years.[17]

2051

• According to the United States Census Bureau, the population of the United States will reach 400 million in 2051.[18]

Fictional events

• 21st century in fiction

Television

The TV show 2057 on the Discovery Science Channel predicts advances in technology we will have by 2057.

References

1. Kuhn, Anthony (2008-07-08). "G-8 pledges to halve emissions by 2050". NPR. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
2. Kanter, James (2007-10-26). "U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment". The New York Times.
3. "Telescopes 'worthless' by 2050". BBC News. 2006-03-02. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
4. Alok Jha (July 22, 2008). "Saharan sun to power European supergrid". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
5. Ramzy, Austin (July 25, 2016). "New Zealand Vows to Wipe Out Rats and Other Invasive Predators by 2050". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
6. "ID4 - Rachel, Nevada - Time Capsules on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
7. Valerie Insinna (September 15, 2019). "US Air Force nears battle over next B-52 engine". Defense News. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
8. "1.7m 'will have dementia by 2051'", BBC News, 27 February 2007
9. Closest supermoon since 1948!, EarthSky, retrieved 14 November 2016
10. "Daytona International Speedway signs long-term lease". March 30, 2006.
11. "Tapped Out". Archived from the original on June 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
12. Hallman, Kenneth (1963). Speculations on the Coming Millenium. Hornbeck Press. pp. 215–217. [sic]
13. "U.N. Says Four Billion Will Be Living in Hunger by 2050". The New York Times. 2001-11-08. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
14. "Total Midyear Population for the World: 1950–2050". U.S. Census Bureau. December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 15, 2007. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
15. "Microsoft Word - WETO-H2 report-final.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-03-18.
16. National Geographic, November 2011.
17. "The World at Six Billion" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
18. Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg (2012-12-12). "Census: Economy slows U.S. population growth". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2015-11-11.