The past two decades have been marked by tremendous progress and the emergence of a range of innovations.
Just imagine: in 1998, mobile phones were rare, people could only dream of self-driving cars, and the Internet seemed to be something unattainable for many.
Now everything is completely different, the world has changed.
Below we will describe the main changes that have taken place in the world over the past 20 years.
World population has grown dramatically
In 1998, the world's population was approaching an important mark.
Then it was 5.9 billion people, and the next year it has already reached 6 billion.
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Over the past twenty years, the world's population has grown to 7.6 billion people.
So, in the United States alone, the population grew from 275 million to 327 million people during this period.
More and more people live in cities
This is a very large-scale process that is taking place all over the world.
20 years ago, less than half of the world's population lived in cities, according to the World Bank.
But in 2007, the world's urban population grew to 50%.
Today 55% of the world's population lives in cities.
According to the UN forecast, this figure could grow to 66% by 2050.
Buildings reached incredible heights
In 1998, the newly built Petronas Twin Towers skyscraper in Malaysia reached a height of only 451 meters and was considered the tallest building in the world.
Since then, a huge number of skyscrapers have been built around the world, and they are getting higher and higher.
At the moment, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is considered the tallest, with a height of 828 m.
This is almost twice the height of a skyscraper in Malaysia, which dropped to 15th place in the ranking of the tallest skyscrapers.
The Internet has changed our whole life
Today it is difficult to imagine our life without the Internet, but it was exactly what it was 20 years ago.
In 1998, in the United States, the world's most advanced economy, only 41% of adults had Internet access, compared with 89% today, according to the Pew Research Center.
Google was formed in 1998, but it was not at all what it is today.
Nowadays, the Internet has changed almost every aspect of our life - how we communicate, how we shop, how we travel, how we have fun and much more.
Social media conquered the world
One of the most powerful uses of the Internet today is through social media.
More and more people have a page on social networks, which allows them to communicate, learn the news and do much more that twenty years ago seemed unthinkable.
Thus, according to forecasts, in three years, the number of users of social networks worldwide will grow to 3 billion people.
Mobile phones are a must and almost everyone has them
Like other types of technology, mobile phones have become widespread over the past 20 years.
Thus, in the United States, the number of mobile phone owners is 95% of the country's population, compared with 60% in 1996.
In Russia, the number of mobile phone users has also increased significantly, and now almost everyone has a mobile phone, which has become an integral part of everyday life.
People began to trust banks less
Our country has gone through many economic crises that have happened before.
On the whole, after 1991, trust in financial institutions in our country remained rather low, since people who survived one of the most serious economic crises in modern history could not trust their money to banks and other financial institutions.
But a similar situation is observed not only in our country, but also in other countries of the world.
This, in particular, was facilitated by the global economic crisis of 2008, which also shattered people's confidence in banks and financial institutions.
Perhaps that is why cryptocurrencies that are not related to banking systems have become so popular now.
Self-driving cars appeared
In just 20 years, self-driving cars have ceased to be a dream and have become a reality.
The idea of an unmanned vehicle back in the 90s. seemed to be something unreal and fantastic, but now such companies as Tesla, GM, Ford, Uber, Google and Apple are developing in this area, and self-driving cars are being tested in the largest cities of the world.
Climate change has become a sad reality
Scientists have been researching climate change for many years, but the effects of this change have become noticeable in recent years.
Processes related to climatic changes are proceeding at a tremendous speed. So, the last four years have become the hottest in history.
In addition, many countries are experiencing the effects of climate change in the form of increased frequency of hurricanes and floods, and some cities are at risk of flooding.
Environmental issues are playing an increasingly important role on the international agenda.
New social issues come to the fore
Each generation brings new social issues to the fore, and many issues have become relevant in recent years.
Now more and more people talk about inequality, and not only about income inequality, but also about gender inequality, racial inequality, injustice of the judicial system and many other things.
The fight for the rights of the LGBT community has also become a trend in recent years.