The World Ahead 2025
Future-gazing analysis, predictions and speculation
From the editor
The World Ahead 2025
Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2025
A letter from the editor of The World Ahead
Leaders
The world in 2025
The three forces that will shape 2025
Watch the interplay between Donald Trump, technology and radical uncertainty
United States in 2025
Where Donald Trump will be constrained—and where he will not
The MAGA scale of policy plausibility provides a handy five-part guide
European security in 2025
If Europe wants peace, it must plan for war
But none of its major governments seems ready to face the future
Geopolitics in 2025
The gap between global threats and American power will grow in 2025
The deterrence deficit will become starkly visible in the coming year
Economics in 2025
What Donald Trump’s election means for the global economy
His explosive plan for tariffs will damage world trade, but he will struggle to implement it in full
Immigration in 2025
The coming border crackdown
America will not be the only country trying to curb migration in 2025
The debate around age limits for politicians will get louder in 2025
Imposing a maximum-age limit on elected politicians may seem sensible, but would be illiberal
The year ahead
Superforecasters
Superforecasters in 2025
What the “superforecasters” predict for major events in 2025
The experts at Good Judgment weigh in on the coming year
Britain
Backbenchers and backbiting
Labour will spend 2025 doing what it loves: fighting itself
But it can afford to, because the Conservatives will be fighting everyone else
Growing pains
How much will the British economy grow in 2025?
Conditions for economic growth are favourable, but results are uncertain
Coastally awesome
You will be able to walk around the coast of England in 2025
But you may need to bring your wellies
This mortal coil
Assisted dying could become law in parts of Britain in 2025
A shift has begun to happen among politicians
Europe
Europe’s perilous choice
The uncertain outlook for European security
Go it alone on defence, stick with America or try to muddle through?
Ukraine’s gloomy end-game
Fighting in Ukraine could wind down in 2025
What might a possible deal look like?
A thousand cuts
A fiscal squeeze in 2025 will harm Europe’s growth
It will affect politics and the war in Ukraine, too
Balancing act
The year ahead will be perilous for Emmanuel Macron’s government
France looks increasingly unstable
Poles apart
Poland’s presidential election will be watched all over Europe
It could end the current uneasy cohabitation with a hard-right president
Exit Scholz, enter Merz
Under its new government, Germany will move to the right
Getting the economy going will be the priority
United States
The sequel is usually worse
What America can expect after Donald Trump’s election
The new president has control of Congress. What will his priorities be when he assumes office?
Trump’s rich inheritance
America’s economy enters 2025 in great shape
Politics will not spoil it—but Donald Trump’s agenda presents some serious risks
United States in 2025
A world in turmoil awaits Donald Trump in 2025
In his contempt for allies, the new president will probably add to the chaos
Green to brown
What Donald Trump’s return means for energy policy
Does this spell the end for America’s green-energy push?
Sarah Paine outlines how America should deal with the “quartet of chaos”
The professor of history and grand strategy at the US Naval War College says history offers valuable lessons
The Americas
Handle with care
What Donald Trump’s return means for Latin America
The topics he cares about—immigration, trade and drugs—put the region in the crosshairs
Crossing continents
Pressure to migrate is increasing—but so is the backlash
The struggle over migration in Latin America will deepen in 2025
Crime and hard punishment
Will the “iron fist” model spread in Latin America?
Two elections in 2025 could show growing support for tougher security policies
The Americas in 2025
Latin America is making progress on banking the unbanked
But it is still just a start
Time’s up
Justin Trudeau is unlikely to win the Canadian election
A pugnacious Conservative could win the 2025 election
By Invitation: The Americas in 2025
Argentina: the making of an economic miracle?
Governing with economic prudence has revived growth, says Javier Milei, president of Argentina
Asia
Investing in India’s future
Will private firms step up to maintain India’s investment splurge?
The government’s reliance on public investment is probably not sustainable
Japan’s 2025 problem
This is the year Japan will really start to feel its age
Bold reforms and greater honesty are needed
Unpopularity contest
Australia is probably headed for a minority government in 2025
A general election will pit two unpopular leaders against each other
China
Pacific tensions
Donald Trump’s second term will present new dangers for China
But it will also create opportunities for the Communist Party
Lower-tier cities
Which are China’s cities of the future?
Those on the second and third tiers are thriving
Reefs and beefs
The South China Sea could become a major flashpoint in 2025
South-East Asian nations are pushing back against China
Business challenges
China’s entrepreneurs must navigate stormy seas
They face challenges both domestic and foreign in 2025
Post-solar power
China hopes to dominate the next phase of green innovation
It aims to lead the way on hydrogen, carbon capture and other technologies
A silver-haired lining?
Can China turn ageing into an economic asset?
The “silver economy” could be a lucrative growth area in 2025
Middle East & Africa
Israel’s wars
The outlook for the Middle East depends on three cantankerous old men
Ali Khamenei, Binyamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump will determine whether the conflict continues
Israeli politics
Binyamin Netanyahu weighs up the political impact of a ceasefire
He wants to avoid a reckoning
Gulf partnerships
The Gulf’s rulers are trying to work with China and with the West
It is proving a tricky balancing act
The young and restless
Arab countries anticipate another youth bulge
If there are not enough jobs, the consequences could be serious
Sudan sinks
There is no end in sight for Sudan’s catastrophic civil war
The outside world cares less about it than about Gaza and Ukraine
Investments in Africa will look greener in 2025
The shift presents opportunities but stokes new tensions
Africa will have some of the fastest-growing economies in the world in 2025
Several fast-growing economies show that not everyone is having a lost decade
International
Diplomacy in 2025
The perils of the world’s third nuclear age
Donald Trump must decide how to compete in a new arms race
Alliances in 2025
How the world lines up, from wars to whales
Each hot issue brings a new global alliance
Climate change in 2025
Have global emissions peaked?
It all depends on the latest figures from China, the world’s largest emitter
Technology in 2025
The court cases that could shape how AI develops
Prepare for a worldwide wrangle over copyright, deepfakes and more
Travel in 2025
The shock of “overtourism” will subside in 2025
Travel trends will return to more normal levels
Comfort Ero offers three lessons for peacemaking in an unstable world
Global conflict is rising, but peacemaking is still vital, argues the president of International Crisis Group
Industries
The World Ahead 2025
Ten business trends for 2025, and forecasts for 15 industries
A global round-up from The Economist Intelligence Unit
Wild cards
Wild cards
Ten implausible-sounding scenarios for 2025
To navigate the future, it can help to anticipate the unlikely
Business
Energy’s next big thing
Grid-scale storage is the fastest-growing energy technology
From giant batteries to compressed gas, energy storage is booming
The limits of AI
The very real constraints on artificial intelligence in 2025
Prepare for superchips, supercomputers—and supersize headaches
Home-made chips
New fronts will open up in the chip wars in 2025
Expect more export bans, a supply glut and creative sanctions-dodging
Business in 2025
Chinese firms will keep going global
American tariffs are helping to drive their expansion overseas
East meets West
China’s e-commerce upstarts will start to look more like Western ones
They will also focus less on Western markets
Xi’s electric
To see the cars of the future, look at China’s electric vehicles
With their surprising and innovative features, they are streets ahead
Diversity schemes will be slimmed down
Genuine diversity will still be welcome, radical ideology less so
Fei-Fei Li says understanding how the world works is the next step for AI
Time to look beyond language models, argues the Stanford professor and “godmother of AI”
Finance & economics
Down to earth
Interest rates will come down sharply in 2025
The global economy has had a series of shocks, including the pandemic, an inflation spike and the invasion of Ukraine. As the dust settles, what has changed?
Vitamin boost
The three commodities to watch in 2025
The price of oranges, coffee and uranium will stay high
A new Asian pecking order
India’s economy will soon overtake Japan’s
Will that cause an “India shock” for the world economy?
Flotation tanks
Do not expect a flurry of stockmarket debuts in 2025
Share prices are close to all-time highs, but private firms do not seem tempted
Finance in 2025
What to expect from America’s stockmarkets in 2025
Having hit new highs in 2024, markets could be about to get rocky again
Science & technology
Making pharma go faster
AI will boost drug development in 2025
Software-inspired medicines are getting closer to prime time
A new hope
Cancer vaccines will have a pivotal moment in 2025
mRNA technology could once again be a game-changer
Science & technology in 2025
Fusion power is getting closer—no, really
The action is shifting from the public to the private sector
Sensitivity about climate
Supercomputers and AI are helping build better climate models
The coming year will be a big one for the advance of climate science
Watch this space
Space missions to watch in 2025
Humans may fly around the Moon, and robots will explore new frontiers
By Invitation: Science & technology in 2025
Casey Handmer says solar power is changing the economics of energy
Large-scale production of synthetic fuel is now feasible, argues the founder of Terraform Industries
Culture
From Marvel to Mario
Video games are the next big thing in film and television
The built-in audience is already huge
An enduring romance
Jane Austen, still universally acknowledged at 250
The anniversary of her birth will be widely commemorated
Homeward bound?
The restitution of cultural heritage will race ahead in 2025
Britain could end up losing its marbles
Touching down
American football’s growing global ambitions
The National Football League will play more games abroad in 2025 than ever before
Long story short
China’s ultra-short dramas will enjoy long-term success
Entertaining and innovative, micro-dramas are flourishing both at home and abroad in 2025
Obituary
Obituary in 2025
The rings of Saturn will disappear in 2025
First observed by Galileo, this occurs twice every 29 years