Predictions for 2020 | Future timeline

Read predictions for 2020, a year that will see the world transform in big and small ways; this includes disruptions throughout our culture, technology, science, health and business sectors. It’s your future, discover what you’re in for.

Quantumrun Foresight prepared this list; A trend intelligence consulting firm that uses strategic foresight to help companies thrive from future trends in foresight. This is just one of many possible futures society may experience.

Fast forecasts for 2020

The Paris climate change deal comes into effect with the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. 1
Giant Magellan Telescope goes into operation1
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL) goes into operation1
Venera-D space probe to reaches Venus1
China's "Great City" is fully built1
Scandinavia and Germany's "Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link" is fully built1
Congo's "Great Inga Dam" is fully built1
Germany's "HafenCity" is fully built1
China completes the world's largest rail system (120,000 km) 1
World's first robot Olympics held in Japan 1
Robot exoskeleton to help elderly persons remain active becomes widely available for purchase 1
Legal marijuana sales to hit $23B in the United States. 1
There are 6.1 billion smartphone users globally, overtaking basic fixed phone subscriptions. 1
More people will own a phone than have electricity. 1
The PS5 debuts. 1
Solar becomes more economical than regular electricity in more than half of the U.S. 1
United Nations member states agree to a 2020 treaty to regulate the high seas, which covers half the planet yet lacks adequate environmental protection. (Likelihood 80%)1
China completes its reform of its military, shrinking it by 300,000 soldiers and modernizing how it operates overall. 1
China wants to land probe on dark side of the moon. 1
India completes a massive optical fiber network that connects 600 million rural citizens to the Internet. 1
Japan completes exaflop supercomputer using ARM processors. 1
World's first robot Olympics held in Japan. 1
Robot exoskeleton to help elderly persons remain active becomes widely available for purchase. 1
The Voyager program is expected to terminate. 1
China's first space station is scheduled to launch. 1
2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo, Japan. 1
The ESA (Europe), CNSA (China), FKA (Russia), and the SRO (India) each plan to send a human mission to the Moon. 1
The interaction of the three main decadal solar cycles suggests an upcoming reduction in solar activity, with a low-energy period centered on 2020. 1
Voyager 2 is expected to stop transmitting back to Earth. 1
Video game release schedule for 2020: Click the links 1
Movie release schedule for 2020: Click the link 1

Movie release schedule for 2020: Click the link 1
Video game release schedule for 2020: Click the links 1,2

Japan completes exaflop supercomputer using ARM processors. 1
India completes a massive optical fiber network that connects 600 million rural citizens to the Internet. 1
China wants to land probe on dark side of the moon. 1
China completes its reform of its military, shrinking it by 300,000 soldiers and modernizing how it operates overall. 1
The Paris climate change deal comes into effect with the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. 1
Solar becomes more economical than regular electricity in more than half of the U.S. 1
The PS5 debuts. 1
More people will own a phone than have electricity. 1
There are 6.1 billion smartphone users globally, overtaking basic fixed phone subscriptions. 1
Legal marijuana sales to hit $23B in the United States. 1
Robot exoskeleton to help elderly persons remain active becomes widely available for purchase 1
World's first robot Olympics held in Japan 1
Cost of solar panels, per watt, equals 1.2 US dollars 1
China completes the world's largest rail system (120,000 km) 1
Congo's "Great Inga Dam" is fully built 1
Scandinavia and Germany's "Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link" is fully built 1
China's "Great City" is fully built 1
Venera-D space probe to reaches Venus 1
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL) goes into operation 1
Giant Magellan Telescope goes into operation 1
World population forecasted to reach 7,758,156,000 1
Share of global car sales taken by autonomous vehicles equals 5 per cent 1
World sales of electric vehicles reaches 6,600,000 1
(Moore's Law) Calculations per second, per $1,000, equals 10^13 (one mouse brain) 1
Average number of connected devices, per person, is 6.5 1
Global number of Internet connected devices reaches 50,050,000,000 1
Predicted global mobile web traffic equals 24 exabytes 1
Global Internet traffic grows to 188 exabytes 1
Largest age cohort for the Brazilian population is 15-24 and 35-39 1
Largest age cohort for the Mexican population is 20-24 1
Largest age cohort for the Middle East population is 20-24 1
Largest age cohort for the African population is 0-4 1
Largest age cohort for the European population is 35-39 1
Largest age cohort for the Indian population is 0-9 and 15-19 1
Largest age cohort for the Chinese population is 30-34 1
Largest age cohort for the United States population is 25-29 1