Photo by William Iven on UnsplashThe world has seen tremendous changes in the last 20 years, including politics, technology, innovation, global demographics, war, and financial crisis among others.Whether these changes have been good or bad, the world has witnessed remarkable dynamics that would remain memorable in the years ahead.To start with, in early 1999, cellphone and smartphone.
Social Media became a reality, self-driving cars were still unimaginable, the internet was at its infancy.Two decades on, it is now apparent that the world has undergone serious changes that most of these phenomena have become obvious.This article seeks to walk you through some of the dramatic transformations that have happened in the world in a span of just two decades.The global population has spiraled.
As the world was warming up for a takeoff on most of its key drivers of the economy, politics, and innovation, its population broke the 6 billion mark after many years of stagnation.Today, twenty years on, the worlds population is estimated to be 7.6 billion while the U.S population ballooned from 276 million to 327 million people during the last two decades.A majority of the people are now residing in cities and towns.
According to the World Bank Report of 2019, less than 50 percent of the global population was living in cities and towns twenty years ago, but a lot has shifted since then.In 2007, the global population living in urban areas had risen to 55 percent and this figure could very well surpass 66 percent by 2050, the report indicates.This will mean putting a lot of strain on the already constrained housing, sanitation, and social services, the UN report says.
America is now grappling with an aging population, a reason many U.S-based companies are opting to outsource foreign workforce.High-rise Buildings are Taking the World by StormsThe world is now witnessing the construction of buildings with unimaginable heights.For example, the Petronas Twin Towers of Malaysia that stood 1,483 ft became the tallest building beating the Chicagos Sears Tower by 33 feet.But this was never to stay longernumerous skyscrapers have come up and they have kept getting taller and taller by the day.
Today, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands more than 1,000 feet is the building to beat with the Petronas Twin Towers of Malaysia appearing position 15 on the list of the tallest building on earth.Overall, Asia is fast becoming the worlds leader in international business, according to the New York Times.Today, it is incomprehensible to live without the internet, but this was never the case twenty years ago.In 1998, for example, 41 percent of the adult American population was connected to the internet compared to 89 percent today, the Pew Research Center says.
Just before 1999, a small company called Google was conceived, which has now transformed the way people search the internet.Today, Google has changed our ways of life from the way we communicate, to how we shop around, consume news and socialize.Social Media Took Over the Way People InteractThe internet is taking the entire world by storms, with social media being the top gainer of this tremendous innovation.It is estimated that there is close to 3 billion social media users worldwide.
Today, more than 70 percent of Americans are connected on Facebook, which is the most popular platform and the figure is projected to increase in the years to come.But other social media platforms have come up such as Instagram, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn and other similar platforms that are slowly gaining ground.Instagram, one of the fastest-growing platforms is the hype of the moment.
This is where people can interact seamlessly by sharing videos, photos that can be circulated around the world.Followers can view and like them.Ideally, marketers are now leveraging the power of social media to target and reach the intended clientele in an easy and cost-effective way.
The fact that information on Instagram is appealing makes it fun to look at hence many people are likely to view them whenever they are shared.As such, the last 20 years have seen a significant shift from conventional marketing strategies to internet-driven approaches.Online shopping such as the coming in of eBay, Amazon, and Banggood in China has redefined the way people trade online.
These online shopping platforms have demolished the physical boundaries and made it possible for people to shop in the comfort of their seats and while on the go.The greatest Financial Crisis of a Century Hit America and The Rest of the WorldThe world saw the economic downtime in history after a boom that lasted 10 years between 1991 and 2001.The 2008 global financial crisis led to a loss in confidence in financial institutions with only 8% of U.S citizens reporting they had confidence in banks in 2016.Photo by NASA on UnsplashThe collapse of Wall Street and the quest for income equality are some of the things that changed the perception of people about the financial systems.Climate Change is Shaping Environmental Policies WorldwideClimate change and global warming have become a grim reality in our times with researchers warning of impending effects on our environments.Weather conditions and trends are changing dramatically at an unprecedented rate.
For example, the last four years have been considered the hottest in history, giving us some of the hottest periods.The whole world is grappling with the effects of these changes from across the continents with people reporting migrations due to submerged areas of residence among other reasons.Environmental changes have and continue to shape the global environmental policies with the Paris Climate Accords of 2015 being some of the recent policy proposals.The World Welcomed Americas First Black President2008 was the moment in history; the world was treated to a historical win of the U.S presidential elections by Barrack Obama, a Black American.
The world watched the TV screens as 69 million Americans approved of his candidature.The U.S demonstrated that the dreams of the founding president were alive and real in our times and that the nations democracy has the capacity to regenerate.The overwhelming creed that Yes We Can brought hope to shattered dreams, a testimony that humanity has no limits.His improbable success story was unique in its own way.While his election healed the countrys torn economy, it left the country more divided than ever before.
The establishment of the post-partisan nation which Barrack spoke about in his Democratic Convention speech affirmed the emergence of a post-racial, free and more tolerant society.The election was one that was characterized by two unpopular candidates in the history of the nations democracy.Just like in 2008 when the nation had no option but to elect one of their unpopular candidates into office, 2017 saw the inauguration of Donald Trump, the nations most controversial president in recent times.
It carried the memories of the Reagan administration with Greenwood Lee reprised the Reaganite anthem, safe for the frailer voice.Trumps unpopular victory was a continuation of the long history of U.S politics and culture, most of which are deeply entrenched in the end-of-century period of American dominion.Trump had always delegitimized Obama through his racist attacks that claim that Obama was not American.
On the other hand, Trumps victory has been doubted, partially because he lost a popular vote and that his victory was a stolen one.The Clinton administration was about financial deregulation that saw the repealing of the Glass-Steagall Act, landmark financial reforms such as those that exempted credit default swaps from mainstream regulation.On the other hand, the Obama regime was about restoring the countrys founding principles, reduction of the gap between the halves and the halve-nots and universal healthcare and the rise of home care services for senior citizens.Unemployment Problem Became RealDisruptive technologies overhauled the workplace with automation accounting for the loss of jobs.The period between 1990 and 2007 alone saw a loss of about 670,000 manufacturing.Photo by History in HD on UnsplashThe Rust Belt rebellion that aided Trump on his way to the White House has been viewed as a revolt against robots.
His election was assisted by the propaganda that the nation had seen increased foreign dominance in terms of competition for work and the market.The U.S walked into 1998 with the news that the U.S Senate had acquitted President Bill Clinton of impeachment charges as NATO waged the war against Yugoslavia owing to the allegations of deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and killing of innocent Albanians.In 2000, George W.Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd U.S president.
Jetliners ram into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.This was to be the worst terrorist attack the U.S had seen in its history.In an act of retaliation, Britain launched air attacks on Afghanistan after following failure by the Taliban government to present Osama Bin Laden, the force behind the September 11 attack.
These happenings didnt go down well with the rest of the Middle East since Iran has since revolted attempts by the U.S to take control of Asia and the Arab world.This was later compounded by a determination by North Korea to build and test their nuclear weapons.The aggregate effect has been a damaged U.S foreign relations with countries that perceived Americas inversion of Iraq as an affront to sovereignty and freedom of the Islamic states.The U.S Politics Shifted DramaticallyThe national discourse continued to change dramatically and although the much anticipated Y2K bug did not come to light, it nonetheless affected the U.S.
The dot-com bubble set in around 2000 in which case the world was purely to be driven by technology.Meanwhile, the disruption of the highly contested election between George Bush and Al Gore had far-reaching implications on the reputation of the nations democracy.It is at this time that the nations long history and commitment to a free, fair and democratic election were tested to its limits.
The international observers had a lot of reservations regarding the integrity of the entire electoral process.In fact, a diplomat from Zimbabwe once said there was the need to send an African observer to oversee the recount of the electoral count in Florida.The rest of the world saw immense changes as wellRussia had to accept that Vladimir Putin was the president as he took over from Boris Yeltsin.The 2001 attack put the memories of the Pearl Harbour to a little rest as the country grappled with the death of more than 3,000 people.
Since then, the country has been under siege and things have never been the same.The quest to preserve the integrity, the superiority of Americas arms drained the countrys resources, image and blood.The collapse of Lehman Brothers coupled with the greatest economic recession had the worst impact on the American synergy.The hopes of many citizens were shattered as the Twin Towers collapsed and economic security damaged.With many people uncertain about the future of the coming generations, the quest to fulfill the American dream became grim and unlikely.
It was not easy to project success as the struggle is what defined many households as their net worth fell below the national average.By 2014, the country has the worst wealth distribution with only 1% owning being recorded as wealthy at the expense of the bottom 90%.There are many changes that have occurred in the last two decades, but the above have had a profound impact on the world and America in particular.In fact, historians argue that these phenomena will be some of the greatest changes the world will live to see.
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