Future Scale:
How the future looks as of September 21, 2010
Brian Gongol


What's new since the last update

2010 0 Google Chrome operating system released Google 2009.07.07
2010 0 Delta Air Lines expected to reach profitability Salt Lake Tribune 2008.09.09
2010 0 GM Volt (electric car) in production Globe and Mail 2007.02.14
2010 0 Mass production of 50%-efficient solar cells University of Delaware 2007.07.23
2010 0 Retirement of Space Shuttle USA Today 2005.08.08
2010 0 Nissan begins production of electric car AutoWeek 2008.03.10
2010 0 Microsoft releases Windows 7 Engadget 2008.03.13
2010 0 Florida surpasses New York as third-largest state in the US Orlando Business Journal 2007.11.19
2010 0 Vancouver Winter Olympics International Olympic Committee 2007.08.09
2010 0 GE Ecomagination products and services reach $20 billion in sales GE 2007.05.24
2010 0 First deliveries of HondaJet (8-passenger air taxi) Honda 2007.06.27
2010 0 Netherlands completes first residential area exclusively of amphibious houses Der Spiegel 2005.09.26
2010 0 Biofuels production causes decline in gas prices Dow Jones Newswires 2007.07.30
2010 0 Israel has a missile-defense shield in place Jerusalem Post 2007.08.23
2010 0 Chrysler introduces electric car Detroit News 2008.09.23
2010 0 Movie theaters installed at 300 gas stations in India Economic Times 2007.09.21
2010 0 Fully functional prosthetic arms that respond to direct neural control DARPA 2007.08.27
2010 0 “Deep bleeder” cuff stops internal bleeding non-invasively using ultrasound Discover Magazine 2008.10.02
2010 0 $600 million, 984-foot tower in Mexico City is completed New York Times 2007.09.19
2011 1 First private commercial spaceflight of "VSS Enterprise" (originally scheduled for 2009) Los Angeles Times 2009.12.08
2011 1 Katie Couric's contract to anchor CBS Evening News expires Broadcasting and Cable 2008.04.10
2011 1 New safe containment structure completed at Chernobyl Government Accountability Office 2007.07
2011 1 4G cellular phone networks deployed in United States PC Magazine 2007.06.20
2011 1 O'Hare airport opens two additional runways City of Chicago 2007
2011 1 Chicago Spire completed and opened to first occupants The Chicago Spire 2007.09.19
2011 1 US Air Force implements counter-anti-satellite system Aviation Week 2008.03.16
2011 1 Supercomputer built to reach 10 petaflops New York Times 2007.08.06
2011 1 90% of retailers have in-store digital video displays (like Wal-Mart TV) Online Video Insider 2007.09.17
2011 1 300-megawatt solar thermal facility goes online in Florida St. Petersburg Times 2007.09.27
2011 1 Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan enter customs union Templeton Thorp 2007.10.08
2011 1 US reuses 50% of coal combustion ash Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2011 1 20th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm National Security Archive 2001.01.17
2011 1 US airliners equipped with real-time turbulence forecasts based on radar University Corporation for Atmospheric Research 2007.09.06
2011 1 EPA requires all communities with combined sewers to implement corrective plans Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2012 2 XO-3 released by One Laptop Per Child campaign Forbes 2009.12.22
2012 2 China completes construction of 42 high-speed (200 mph) rail lines Red Orbit 2009.12.27
2012 2 Mobile phone makers converge on common standard for phone chargers Chicago Tribune 2009.02.17
2012 2 Mainstream adoption of universal online identity managers SXIP 2007.08.13
2012 2 NYC taxi fleet completely converted to hybrid engines City of New York 2007.05.22
2012 2 Regeneration of heart valves from the patient's own stem cells The Independent 2007.09.03
2012 2 US EPA requires 8% reduction in water impairments over 2002 levels Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2012 2 260 million people use mobile online dating services worldwide Wireless Week 2007.09.17
2012 2 First phase of Kyoto Protocol complete BBC News 2007.08.27
2012 2 London Summer Olympics International Olympic Committee 2007.08.09
2012 2 Hugo Chavez's second term as Venezuelan president expires CNN 2009.02.03
2012 2 First private hotel in space opens for tourists RTE News 2007.08.10
2012 2 Federal law mandates production of 1 billion gallons of biodiesel per year Brownfield 2007.12.20
2012 2 Interactive environments reach photorealistic quality virtually indistinguishable from film ScienCentral 2007.09.20
2012 2 Bioengineered kidneys enter production Charleston Regional Business Journal 2006.08.21
2012 2 Final year to collect $20 million in Google's Lunar X-Prize Google 2007.09.13
2012 2 Mitsubishi begins production of regional jet Business Week 2008.03
2012 2 Personal genome maps integrated into routine medical care University of Alberta 2007.09.20
2012 2 Wireless e-mail reaches commodity status Tekrati 2007.07.26
2013 3 Second phase of Kyoto Protocol takes effect Economic Times 2009.12.28
2013 3 Banana crops worldwide critically threatened by fungal disease The Guardian 2003.01.16
2013 3 End of Hubble Space Telescope's useful life Discovery Channel 2007.12.21
2013 3 US segment of NEPTUNE undersea monitoring network completed National Geographic 2007.08.27
2013 3 ADS-B (advanced air traffic and weather detection for aircraft) ground infrastructure operating across US Washington Technology 2007.09.17
2013 3 NASA launches James Webb Space Telescope NASA 2007.08.23
2013 3 Medicare becomes insolvent Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees 2008.03.25
2013 3 All new cars in US required to have side-impact protection (air bags) to prevent head injuries National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2007.08.30
2013 3 Best Buy reaches $80 billion in annual sales Minneapolis Star-Tribune 2008.06.25
2014 4 Sochi Winter Olympics International Olympic Committee 2007.08.09
2014 4 Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai produce 5.6 million vehicles annually in US Ward's AutoWorld 2007.08.01
2014 4 No Child Left Behind requires all students to test in reading and math at grade level Washington Post 2007.03.14
2014 4 Ontario closes all coal-fired power plants Toronto Star 2007.07.13
2014 4 Worldwide temperatures average 0.5°F above 2004 temperatures BBC News 2007.08.09
2014 4 Earliest date for Turkey to join the EU Forbes 2007.07.23
2014 4 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square uprising Frontline 2006.04.11
2014 4 All US residents have electronic medical records Ars Technica 2006.07.19
2014 4 Panama Canal widening project complete The Independent 2007.09.03
2015 5 Genomes of stomach, breast, liver, mouth, brain, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers fully recorded BBC News 2009.12.16
2015 5 GE offers net-zero-energy homes to consumers CNet 2009.07.14
2015 5 Deaths outnumber births in EU International Herald Tribune 2008.08.26
2015 5 Common currency in place for several Persian Gulf nations Gulf News 2007.10.02
2015 5 55% of the area around Chernobyl allowed to return to use International Atomic Energy Agency 2006
2015 5 Canadian industrial air pollution cut by 50% over 2007 levels Environment Canada 2007.04.26
2015 5 Mass production of self-driving cars PC Magazine 2007.06.20
2015 5 One-third of US combat vehicles are unmanned The Guardian 2007.08.18
2015 5 Honda recycles 95% of used vehicle components in Japan Honda 2005
2015 5 Corn yields average 200 bushels per acre in US National Corn Growers Association 2007.03.01
2015 5 Earliest projections for peak oil production National Petroleum Council 2007.07.18
2015 5 Medical spending on credit cards reaches $150 billion annually Fort Wayne Journal Gazette 2008.09.07
2015 5 Iran has its first nuclear weapon Washington Post 2005.08.02
2015 5 Minnesota utilities required by law to get 15% of energy from renewable sources Austin Daily Herald 2007.09.13
2015 5 Prototype vertical farm completed in Dongtan, China Electric New paper 2008.11.25
2015 5 Thin-film photovoltaics market reaches $7.2 billion (7 times larger than in 2007) Nanomarkets 2007.08.06
2015 5 22 cities around the world have more than 10 million inhabitants Daily Telegraph 2007.09.03
2015 5 India becomes world's third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide International Energy Agency 2007.11.07
2016 6 Auto sales in India reach 3,000,000 vehicles per year Bloomberg 2007.05.03
2016 6 Ultra-HDTV debuts PC Magazine 2007.06.20
2016 6 UK landfills full The Guardian 2007.04.27
2016 6 US Air Force uses 50% synthetic (non-petroleum) fuels for aircraft Air Force Times 2007.07.23
2016 6 Seniors (over 65) outnumber children (under 15) in South Korea Korea Times 2007.10.01
2016 6 Energy production in British Columbia is carbon-neutral CBC 2007.10.01
2017 7 China allows Hong Kong to democratically elect its chief executive South China Morning Post 2007.12.21
2017 7 Domestic robots express emotions and provide companionship Daily Telegraph 2007.02.18
2017 7 Second Life exceeds size of the Internet The Register 2007.08.01
2017 7 All Canadian border guards armed with guns The Economist 2007.09.15
2017 7 US produces 35 billion gallons of ethanol per year National Research Council 2007.10.10
2017 7 First "vertical farm" (skyscraper for hydroponic production) constructed Popular Science 2007.07
2017 7 US general aviation fleet exceeds 250,000 aircraft FAA 2005
2017 7 US commercial airlines fly 1.256 trillion passenger miles FAA 2005
2017 7 5000 microjets in service in US airspace FAA 2005
2017 7 GPS units become accurate to a matter of centimeters throughout the US National Geodetic Survey 2007.02.12
2018 8 Stem cells routinely banked from extracted wisdom teeth The Telegraph 2008.08.22
2018 8 China's GDP exceeds US GDP The Independent 2009.10.07
2018 8 Completion of modernization program at O'Hare airport FAA 2005.10.30
2018 8 US Air Force adds new long-range bomber Government Executive 2007.06.13
2018 8 US power plants reduce sulfur dioxide emisions by 73% over 2002 levels White House 2002.02.14
2019 9 Medicare trust fund exhausted Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees 2007.04.23
2019 9 Demonstration of commercial-scale nuclear hydrogen production Department of Energy 2005
2019 9 Flexible OLED screens reach mass market PC Magazine 2007.06.20
2019 9 Cumulative shortfall in US drinking-water infrastructure investment reaches $100 billion Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2019 9 Cumulative shortfall in US wastewater infrastructure investment reaches $120 billion Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2020 10 Four 1400-megawatt nuclear power plants completed for UAE New York Times 2009.12.27
2020 10 20% of all plastics in Japan come from renewable sources Plastics Today 2009.10.04
2020 10 75 million Africans suffer water shortages due to climate change Nature Reports 2007.07
2020 10 Solar energy industry employs 2 million Americans Newsweek 2007.10.08
2020 10 20% of US teenagers are Latinos National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy 2003.04
2020 10 Turkey becomes largest country in Europe The Economist 2007.03.15
2020 10 All US aircraft equipped with ADS-B advanced air traffic and weather detection system FAA 2007.06.29
2020 10 Self-piloted vehicles reach mainstream Channel 4 2005.08.03
2020 10 Texas has high-speed rail system linking Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio Daily Texan 2009.02.02
2020 10 Russia launches independent space station Daily Tech 2009.02.03
2020 10 Maritime sector becomes largest source of major air pollutants in Europe EU Commission 2005.09.21
2020 10 Scotland's population enters long-term decline General Register Office for Scotland 2005.10.20
2020 10 UK builds 3 million additional homes over 2007 levels London Evening Standard 2007.09.14
2020 10 China places a robotic rover on the moon BBC News 2005.08.12
2020 10 Substantially all US urban wastewater infrastructure built under Clean Water Act reaches end of useful life Environmental Protection Agency 2006.09.29
2020 10 NASA's Orion spacecraft carries out first manned trip to Moon NASA 2007.08.08
2020 10 Ireland gets 500 megawatts of electricity from wave power The Guardian 2007.09.20
2020 10 Australia begins withdrawing money from sovereign development fund ANZ Investment Bank 2007.06.27
2020 10 Commercialization of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells US Department of Energy 2005.12
2020 10 All new homes in France are built to be energy self-sufficient Agence France-Presse 2007.09.27
2020 10 Launch date for asteroid interceptor with nuclear warheads Flight International 2007.08.03
2020 10 Connecticut law requires 20% of all energy in state to come from renewable sources Mass High Tech 2009.02.03
2020 10 China employs 7.7 million people in auto industry China Economic Net 2007.09.14
2020 10 Germany gets 25% of its energy from renewable sources Washington Post 2007.05.05
2020 10 120 million passengers pass through Heathrow Airport every year Times of London 2007.11.22
2020 10 F-16 fighters reach end of useful life in USAF The Hill 2009.02.03
2020 10 Britain has 195,000 residential wind turbines generating electricity Daily Telegraph 2008.11.24
2020 10 China launches orbiting space station The Guardian 2010.09.20
2020 10 World "middle class" includes 3.2 billion people Brookings Institution 2010.03.15
2021 11 China has 23 million single males Texas A&M University 2005.09
2021 11 Iran sends its first astronaut to space The National (Abu Dhabi) 2009.02.04
2022 12 Annual increase in life expectancy exceeds 365 days Reason Magazine 2007.07.27
2022 12 Geni project creates alternative to conventional Internet The Guardian 2007.08.01
2022 12 Federal law mandates production of 36 billion gallons of biofuels per year FarmWeek 2007.12.20
2022 12 Ken Burns's contract with PBS goes up for renewal PBS 2007.01.13
2022 12 India has 150 million skilled workers Times of India 2010.09.20
2023 13 Australia raises pension-eligibility age to 67 Herald Sun 2009.12.28
2023 13 US domestic oil reserves exhausted National Petroleum Council 2007.07.18
2023 13 Computers with equivalent to human brain capacity sell for $1,000 The Guardian 2003.09.23
2024 14 Universal access to basic sewage treatment in Brazil International Water and Sanitation Centre 2006.02.07
2024 14 US establishes permanent manned base on Moon CNN 2006.12.05
2025 15 Britain opens 250-mph rail line between London and West Midlands BBC News 2009.12.27
2025 15 75% of obese people worldwide live in developing nations The East African 2009.12.28
2025 15 Mag-lev trains connect major cities in Japan Engadget 2008.01.01
2025 15 75% of Americans live in coastal counties NOAA 2000
2025 15 Health care takes up 25% of US GDP Wall Street Journal 2008.11.24
2025 15 India's population exceeds China's United Nations Population Division 2006
2025 15 Minnesota utilities required by law to get 30% of energy from renewable sources Austin Daily Herald 2007.09.13
2025 15 25% of electricity in Minnesota comes from renewable sources Winona Daily News 2008.09.07
2025 15 US faces shortage of 500,000 registered nurses Muskogee (OK) Daily Phoenix 2008.09.06
2025 15 India becomes world's third-largest net importer of oil MeriNews 2007.11.10
2025 15 ESA conducts human mission to the Moon European Space Agency 2002.10.11
2025 15 Two-thirds of world population faces water shortages The Futurist 2007.07
2025 15 One-third of people on Earth suffer water shortages Albany Times-Union 2008.09.07
2025 15 Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and sites found nationwide in the US US Department of Energy 2005.12
2025 15 0.6% of adults in US infected with HIV/AIDS United Nations Population Division 2006
2025 15 China puts an astronaut on the Moon The Guardian 2010.09.20
2026 16 Maximum expected life of original Chernobyl containment structure International Atomic Energy Agency 2006
2026 16 High-resolution recording of an individual's entire life experience Daily Telegraph 2006.12.13
2026 16 Las Vegas metro population reaches 3.3 million Nevada State Demographer's Office 2006.07
2027 17 Oil prices reach $150 per barrel The Independent 2007.09.17
2027 17 China's GDP exceeds US GDP The Economist 2007.06.28
2028 18 Medicare and Medicaid consume 10% of US GDP Congressional Budget Office 2007.07.25
2028 18 Medicare expenditures exceed Social Security expenditures Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees 2008.03.25
2029 19 Dementia affects 1.4 million people in Britain Times of London 2009.02.04
2029 19 Youngest Baby Boomers reach age 65 US Census Bureau 2006.01.03
2030 20 Coal accounts for 29% of world energy supply The Telegraph 2009.12.27
2030 20 Ratio of non-working pensioners to working taxpayers reaches 2:1 in Canada Calgary Herald 2009.12.27
2030 20 Number of nuclear power plants worldwide reaches 860 (double the number in 2009) JoongAng Daily 2009.12.28
2030 20 World's urban population reaches one billion Daily Telegraph 2009.12.28
2030 20 350 million people worldwide have diabetes Indian Express 2009.10.07
2030 20 Wind provides 20% of US electricity Montana State University 2008.10.14
2030 20 80% of world's population lives in developing countries UN Population Fund 2007
2030 20 Mormons make up less than 50% of Utah's population Salt Lake Tribune 2007.11.19
2030 20 5 billion people live in cities worldwide International Herald Tribune 2007.09.28
2030 20 5 million Americans live in nursing homes Chicago Tribune 2007.11.18
2030 20 Japan inaugurates manned moon base Discover Magazine 2006.11.28
2030 20 Thames Barrier effectiveness falls to half of design capacity UK Environment Agency 2007
2030 20 EU gets 50% of its natural gas from Russia The Economist 2007.09.13
2030 20 Photovoltaic solar energy is price-competitive with any other low-emissions generation technology PhysOrg 2005.11.16
2030 20 Inter-city train service in UAE starts service in bid to discourage construction of skyscrapers Gulf News 2007.09.13
2030 20 Florida's population reaches 28.6 million Orlando Business Journal 2007.11.19
2030 20 Road traffic in Japan is 2.6% lower than in 2005 due to falling birthrates and rising ages Japan Times 2008.11.27
2030 20 65% of European energy comes from imports International Herald Tribune 2007.09.19
2030 20 US corn production averages 300 bushels per acre Ethanol Producer 2007.10
2030 20 Ozone levels in low atmosphere cause widespread respiratory problems Institute of Physics 2005.06.08
2030 20 World oil demand exceeds 2008 levels by 35% Marketwatch 2008.06.10
2030 20 China has 270 million vehicles on the road Wired 2007.11.07
2030 20 California has high-speed rail system connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles California High-Speed Rail Authority 2008.11
2030 20 ESA conducts first human mission to Mars European Space Agency 2006.01.09
2030 20 Global electricity demand is double that of 2009 Gulf News 2009.02.03
2030 20 US inflation rate reaches 4% per year Newsweek 2007.09.24
2030 20 Ratio of workers to retirees is 2:1 in Europe European Parliament 2008.11.25
2030 20 US electricity consumption 45% above 2005 levels Energy Information Administration 2007.02
2030 20 Russia has 40 more nuclear reactors than in 2007 Radio Free Europe 2007.09.29
2030 20 China's per-capita emissions of carbon dioxide exceed those of western Europe International Energy Agency 2007.11.07
2030 20 Jamaica achieves 'developed nation' status Government of Jamaica 2007.01
2030 20 Fossil fuels provide 75% of world energy National Petroleum Council 2007.07.18
2030 20 Biofuels supply 4% of world road fuel International Energy Agency 2006
2030 20 One-third of world relies on primary biofuels (like wood and charcoal) for most energy International Energy Agency 2006
2030 20 Internet access regularly reaches 50% of world population The Hindu 2009.02.04
2030 20 World "middle class" includes 4.9 billion people Brookings Institution 2010.03.15
2031 21 100% of population growth in Canada comes from immigration Vancouver 24 2007.10.26
2031 21 UK population rises to 71 million Office of National Statistics 2007.10.23
2031 21 34 million people live in Mumbai metro area Economic Times 2007.09.28
2031 21 Married adults a minority in England The Guardian 2005.09.30
2032 22 Shortages force per-capita water consumption in Sydney to fall by half of 2007 levels Daily Telegraph 2007.08.30
2032 22 50th anniversary of EPCOT Center 2719 Hyperion 2007.07.24
2033 23 China's population reaches 1.5 billion The Guardian 2008.02.28
2035 25 India has 373 million vehicles on the road Economic Times 2009.12.28
2035 25 EU population peaks at 521 million International Herald Tribune 2008.08.26
2035 25 China reaches "large-scale utilization" of solar energy Meridian Institute 2009.02.03
2036 26 Average Australian baby weighs 10 pounds at birth News.com.au 2008.06.11
2036 26 US telephone numbers exhausted North American Numbering Plan Administration 2006.10
2036 26 Near-Earth passage of asteroid Apophis NASA JPL 2006.10.19
2036 26 Bacteriophages widely used to prevent food-borne infections ABC News 2006.11.02
2040 30 US population reaches 400 million USA Today 2007.09.12
2040 30 Russia runs out of oil profits RIA Novosti 2008.06.03
2040 30 Computer processors reach parity with human brain capacity Metro Halifax 2009.02.03
2040 30 Neurodegenerative conditions overtake cancer as world's leading cause of death Science Daily 2008.06.10
2040 30 Middle class in southern and eastern Asia totals 2 billion people Motley Fool 2007.10.25
2040 30 HCFCs eliminated worldwide under Montreal Protocol United Nations 2007.09.13
2040 30 California's population reaches 60 million Brentwood Press 2007.09.29
2040 30 Global warming eliminates most Arctic sea ice National Geographic 2006.12.12
2040 30 World oil production peaks Times of London 2009.02.03
2040 30 Texas state population reaches 50 million Daily Texan 2009.02.02
2041 31 Social Security trust fund exhausted Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees 2008.03.25
2042 32 United States has no racial majority NPR 2009.10.06
2045 35 US Postal Service has $1 trillion in unfunded liabilities for health care Miami Herald 2008.06.06
2045 35 Global life expectancy reaches 75 years United Nations Population Division 2006
2046 36 Oldest Baby Boomers reach age 100 US Census Bureau 2006.01.03
2047 37 25% of Australian population is over age 65 Herald Sun 2009.12.28
2047 37 Hong Kong's status as special administrative region of China expires Heritage Foundation 2007
2048 38 Ozone layer returns to pre-1980 levels over most of planet Daily Mail 2010.09.20
2050 40 South Korea is fifth-largest producer of "green" energy products JoongAng Daily 2009.12.28
2050 40 Half of people in developed nations are over age 40 Daily Telegraph 2008.11.27
2050 40 100 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's Hartford Courant 2008.09.07
2050 40 India has 51 million people over age 80 Times of India 2007.09.30
2050 40 50% of agricultural lands in Latin America lost to desertification and salinization Nature Reports 2007.07
2050 40 Biofuels account for 13% of liquid fuels in the US MIT Technology Review 2007.09.13
2050 40 Netherlands surrenders 222,000 acres of land to new river floodplains National Geographic 2001.09.04
2050 40 Russia's population falls below 100 million Radio Free Europe 2006.05.19
2050 40 Minnesota utilities required by law to get 80% of energy from renewable sources Austin Daily Herald 2007.09.13
2050 40 Average age in European Union is 49 European Parliament 2008.11.25
2050 40 One-third of EU residents are over age 65 BBC News 2007.09.13
2050 40 20% of Americans are over age 65 Washington Post 2008.11.22
2050 40 World population reaches 9.2 billion United Nations Population Division 2006
2050 40 48.3 million Americans have diabetes WISN-TV 2008.10.14
2050 40 Earliest expected date for the B-52 to be retired from the US Air Force Air Force Link 2007.10
2050 40 China plans to gain 'electronic dominance' over rival nations, including the US Times of London 2007.09.08
2050 40 Medicare and Medicaid consume 20% of US GDP Congressional Budget Office 2007.07.25
2050 40 Japan's population falls below 100 million New York Times 2005.12.17
2050 40 Two-thirds of all existing US structures less than 40 years old Los Angeles Times 2007.09.21
2050 40 Antarctic ozone hole repaired BBC News 2000.12.03
2050 40 India's GDP exceeds US GDP The Economist 2007.06.28
2050 40 Pensions absorb 25% of GDP in Greece Kathimerini 2007.11.10
2050 40 25% of US population is of Hispanic origin USDA 2007.09.19
2050 40 China and India represent 50% of world's "middle-class" consumption Brookings Institution 2010.03.15
2050 40 Robots beat the best human soccer players in the world The Register 2010.09.14
2050 40 India's economy reaches third-largest in world Times of India 2010.09.17
2060 50 Ocean acidification reduces Maine's shellfish harvest by 25% over early-2000s levels MaineBiz 2009.10.05
2060 50 Irish population exceeds pre-famine levels Irish Herald 2008.08.27
2060 50 First fighter aircraft designed and built in India reaches production India Defence 2007.10.25
2060 50 Irish women reach average life expectancy of 91 years Irish Independent 2007.10.18
2060 50 UK has the largest population of any country in Europe Press Association 2008.08.27
2061 51 27% of population of New Zealand is over age 65 New Zealand Herald 2009.12.28
2070 60 Himalayan glaciers 40% smaller than in early 2000s The Guardian 2009.10.04
2070 60 Vietnam completely cleared of mines from civil war VietNamNet 2008.08.17
2070 60 Autonomous police cars patrol streets Silicon.com 2008.08.13
2073 63 Ozone layer returns to pre-1980 levels over entire planet, including poles Daily Mail 2010.09.20
2075 65 Health-care spending reaches 46.2% of US GDP Congressional Budget Office 2007.11
2080 70 20% decline in world food production potential over 2007 levels due to global warming Voice of America 2007.09.13
2080 70 British women reach an average life expectancy of 100 years The Telegraph 2007.01.10
2082 72 Health care takes up 49% of US GDP Wall Street Journal 2008.11.24
2082 72 Robotic police officers with human-like features TechRadar.com 2008.08.12
2090 80 Aspen trees extinct in Rocky Mountains due to "sudden aspen decline" Treehugger 2009.09.26
2090 80 Worldwide temperatures average 7°F above 1990s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007.02.05
2100 90 Sea levels rise by 43 inches over levels in 2000 BBC News 2007.03.01
2100 90 Quebec's pure Francophone population falls to 4 million Montreal Gazette 2007.09.27
2100 90 Japan gets 53% of electricity from nuclear power plants Japan Times 2008.11.27
2105 95 Arctic Ocean becomes seasonally ice-free University of Arizona 2005.08.22


Additions since the last update: