2022

2022 saw the removal of nearly all COVID-19 restrictions and the reopening of international borders in most countries, and the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continued. The global economic recovery from the pandemic continued, though many countries experienced an ongoing inflation surge; in response, many central banks raised their interest rates to landmark levels. The world population reached eight billion people in 2022, though the year also witnessed numerous natural disasters, including two devastating Atlantic hurricanes (Fiona and Ian), and the most powerful volcano eruption of the century so far. The later part of the year also saw the first public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI starting an arms race in artificial intelligence which increased in intensity into 2023, as well as the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. 2022 was also dominated by wars and armed conflicts. While escalations into the internal conflict in Myanmar and the Tigray War dominated the heightening of tensions within their regions and each caused over 10,000 deaths, 2022 was most notable for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. The invasion caused the displacement of 15.7 million Ukrainians (8 million internally displaced persons and 7.7 million refugees), and led to international condemnations and sanctions and nuclear threats, the withdrawal of hundreds of companies from Russia, and the exclusion of Russia from major sporting events. January 1 – The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the largest free trade area in the world, comes into effect for Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. January 2 – Abdalla Hamdok resigns as Prime Minister of Sudan amid deadly protests. January 4 – The five permanent members of the UN Security Council—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—issue a rare joint statement affirming that "a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.