2024 will be a groundbreaking year: dozens of elections will be held around the world, unresolved conflicts in Ukraine and Israel-Gaza will have to be addressed, and further milestones are expected to occur in everything from global temperature to space exploration to artificial intelligence.
Here are some of the major events planned for this year.
January
January 1
Energy price cap comes into effect
UK rejoins EU Horizon
BRICS expansion: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and possibly Argentina
January 7
Bangladesh general elections
Golden Globe Awards Ceremony. See the full list of nominees here
January 12th
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases 2023 World Temperature Report
January 13th
Taiwan Presidential Election
January 13th to February 11th
Africa Cup of Nations
January 14-28
Australian Open
January 15-19
Davos World Economic Forum
January 19th
Japanese moon sniper attempts landing
January 23
Academy Award nominee
US Republican Primary, New Hampshire
January 27th
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
World's largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, sets off on maiden voyage
January 28th
Finland Presidential Election
20 years since the Hutton Report was released
February
Taylor Swift attends the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February 2023. Photo: David Fischer/Rex/Shutterstock
February 2nd – March 16th
Six Nations Rugby Tournament
February 4th
Grammy Awards
February 6-8
US Republican Primary, Nevada
February 7
Azerbaijan Presidential Elections
February 8
Pakistan General Elections
February 9-17
Carnival of Rio
February 10
Lunar New Year
February 11th
American Football Super Bowl
February 11-15
Taylor Swift Academic Conference “Swiftposium”
February 14
Indonesian General Elections
February 16
German man accused of kidnapping Madeleine McCann goes on trial
February 17
The EU Digital Services Act comes into force
February 18
British Academy Film Awards
February 23
2nd Anniversary of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine
February 24th
US Republican Primary, South Carolina
February 25
Elections in Belarus, Iraqi Kurdistan and Senegal
February
NATO to launch Steadfast Defender, largest military exercise since the Cold War
march
President Vladimir Putin at a polling station in Moscow during the Russian presidential elections in March 2018. Photo: Yuri Kadubnov/AFP/Getty Images
March 1st
Iranian Legislative Elections
March 1-3
World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow
March 2
Brit Awards
March 5
US Super Tuesday presidential primary election day
March 7
World Book Day
March 7-10
Crufts, the world's largest dog show
March 8
International Women's Day
Ireland's Gender and Family Referendum
March 8-23
African Games in Ghana
March 10
Portuguese elections
Oscar
March 10th – April 9th
Ramadan
March 11
Four years since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic
March 17
Russian Presidential Election
March 23
WWF Earth Hour
March 30
Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
March 31
Ukrainian presidential elections expected
Elections expected in Slovakia and Togo
April
A total solar eclipse over Madras, Oregon, US, on August 21, 2017. Photo: Aubrey Gemignani/AFP/Getty Images
April 4th
NATO's 75th Anniversary
April 5
30 years since Kurt Cobain's death
April 8
Total solar eclipse across North America
April 10
South Korean elections
April 20th – November 24th
Venice Biennale
April 21
London Marathon
April 22
Earth Day
April May
Indian elections. Also Maldives, North Macedonia, Solomon Islands
May
London's National Gallery will celebrate its 200th anniversary with a year-long celebration of “art, creativity and imagination”. Photo: Ian West/PA
May 2
London Mayoral Election
UK local elections
May 3
World Press Freedom Day
May 5
Panama elections
May 10
200th Anniversary of the National Gallery, London
May 11
Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden
Great Wall Marathon, China
May 12
Lithuanian presidential election (general election in October)
British Academy Television Awards
May 13-19
PGA Championship
May 14-25
Cannes Film Festival
May 19
Dominican Republic Elections
May 20th – June 9th
French Open
May 21-25
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
May 22
UEFA Europa League Final
May 23 – June 2
Hay Festival
Ivor Novello Award
May 25
FA Cup Final
European Rugby Champions Cup Final
May 26th – June 9th
French Open
Elections expected in Madagascar and South Africa
China plans to launch a robotic lander sample-return mission called Chang'e-6 to the far side of the moon.
June
Elton John performs on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Somerset, on June 29, 2023. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA
June 1
UEFA Champions League Final
Icelandic Presidential Election
June 2
Mexican elections
The “devil comet” that came closest to Earth
June 4-30
ICC Men's T20 World Cup
June 5
World Running Day
June 6
80th Anniversary of the Normandy Landings
June 6-9
European Parliament elections
June 9
Belgian Federal Elections
June 10-16
US Open Golf Tournament
June 13-15
Italy to host 50th G7 Summit
June 13th
Women's Fiction Award
June 14th – July 14th
UEFA Euro
June 14-19
Hajj
June 16-21
World Biodiversity Forum
June 18-24
Royal Ascot
June 20
World Refugee Day
June 26-30
Glastonbury Festival begins
June 27-28
European Council Summit
June 29th – July 21st
The Tour de France begins
Elections expected in Kiribati, Mauritania and Mongolia
July
The Olympic rings were unveiled in Paris in 2017. Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
July 1
Hungarian EU Presidency
July 1st – 14th
Wimbledon Tennis Championships Begins
July 9-11
US hosts NATO summit
July 14th
Euro Final
Copa America Final
July 15-18
United States Republican National Convention
July 15-19
The International Botanical Congress in Madrid is set to vote on a proposal to allow the renaming of culturally offensive animals.
July 18-21
British Open Golf Championship
July 19th – September 14th
BBC Proms
July 26th – August 11th
Paris Olympics
Summer 2024
South African elections, Croatia and North Macedonia
August
Stage 6 of the 2nd Tour de France Femme, July 28, 2023. Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images
August 2-26
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
August 12-18
Tour de France Fam
August 17
New city of Nusantara officially inaugurated as Indonesia's capital, replacing Jakarta
August 19-22
Democratic National Convention
August 26th – September 8th
US Open Tennis Championships
August 28th – September 8th
Paralympics
Elections expected in Rwanda
September
Self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, 1889. Photo: Fine Art/Corbis/Getty Images
September 1st – 8th
Tour of Britain Cycling Race
September 8
Great North Run
September 9
Last Night of the Proms
September 14th – January 19th, 2025
London's National Gallery opens major Van Gogh exhibition
September 18
First US Presidential Debate
September 22-23
UN Future Summit kicks off in New York
September 25
US Vice Presidential Debate
probably:
Mercury Prize
Women's T20 World Cup
Elections expected in Austria, Sri Lanka and Tunisia
Japan's space agency, JAXA, is set to launch the MMX (Martian Moons Exploration) mission to explore Mars' small moons Phobos and Deimos.
October
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August 2023. Photo: Reuters
October 1st
2nd US Presidential Debate
October 5
Singapore Gold Cup final race
October 6
The EU will begin implementing the Exit-Entry System (EES), requiring non-EU citizens to have their passports scanned when entering the Schengen free travel area.
October 9
US Presidential Election Final Debate
October 11
Nobel Peace Prize announced
October 23-27
Worldwide Music Expo (Womex), the music industry's largest conference, kicks off in Manchester
October 24th
Russia hosts BRICS summit in Kazan
October 26
Georgia elections
October 27
Uruguay's elections
Elections expected in Bosnia and Botswana
NASA plans to launch Europa Clipper, a probe to explore the habitability of Jupiter's icy moon Europa
Final America's Cup race to be held in Barcelona
October
Vatican holds synod to consider direction of Roman Catholic faith
November
A ballot box in the United States. Photo: Sefa Ozer/Getty Images/iStockphoto
November 5
US Elections
November 11-22
COP29 Climate Summit
November 13
Somaliland Elections
November 18
Brazil to host G20 summit
November 21-24
Kendall Mountain Festival
Elections expected in Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius and Namibia
November
US plans to launch first manned mission to the moon in 52 years
December
Construction work on the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, December 19, 2023. Photo: Ait Adjedjou Karim/Abaca/Rex/Shutterstock
December 1st
World AIDS Day
December 7
Ghana elections
December 8
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris reopens five years after fire
December 20
South Sudan Elections
Elections expected in Algeria, Croatia and Uzbekistan
Indian space agency ISRO is set to launch the Shukrayaan space probe to Venus.
Around 2024
An anti-malaria vaccine developed by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India will be distributed to 12 African countries.
Giant spherical structure dedicated to neutrino research begins operation in Jiangmen, China