Geopolitical conflicts, the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI), and a rise in climate disasters like floods and cyclones - the year 2025 saw a lot of shifts globally, for good or bad. As 2025 comes to a close, we look at the top 10 trends that shaped the world into what it is now.
Trumponomics: In The World Of Trump
On January 20, Donald Trump returned to power as the 47th US President, and with him, he brought stricter trade regulations. In August, he slapped steep reciprocal tariffs on imports from more than 90 countries, including India and China, in a radical protectionist measure. A crackdown followed on illegal immigrants, though curbing overall immigration remains the wider plan as he seeks to ensure that American jobs remain with Americans.
Donald Trump returned to power as the 47th US President.
India-Pakistan Ties Worsen
India-Pakistan relations worsened after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. In the attack, 26 civilians, including a Nepalese national, were killed. In retaliation, India suspended the Indus Water Treaty and eventually launched Operation Sindoor to target terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Pakistan denied the presence of terrorists on its land despite satellite imagery proving otherwise.
The Rise Of Gen Z
Generation Z, or Gen Z, who grew up in a digital world, is known for their emotional intelligence, prioritising work-life balance, and rejecting hustle culture. This year, they made headlines for changing the political scenario in countries like Nepal as they led large-scale protests and toppled the government.
Nepal's anti-government protesters have called themselves 'Gen Z'
Short-Form Videos Rule
With a drop in attention span, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts became the primary mode of storytelling and a key source of information. From newsrooms serving 60-second explainers to content creators selling both an idea and a product in less than a minute, short-form videos ruled the internet.
Creator Culture In Digital Media
This year witnessed a more assertive form of creator culture taking on the rival traditional media and entertainment giants, diversifying income streams for influencers. Platforms such as YouTube celebrated their 20th anniversary by highlighting how creators shape global narratives, with structured series, fan integration, and regional storytelling dominating trends.
Pollution, Floods, Cyclones: Climate Crisis
Climate change is real, and an increase in events like floods and rising temperatures only makes it more evident. Cyclones like Shakti, Montha, Senyar, and Ditwah, Hurricane Melisa, and floods in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Vietnam grabbed headlines in 2025. The year is also set to be either the second- or third-hottest on record. For the first time, people in New Delhi took to the streets to protest air pollution and demand the right to breathe clean air.
Declining Fertility Rates
The US population has been projected to go down, with deaths expected to exceed births as early as 2031. This has been attributed to the declining fertility rates and tightened immigration control by the Congressional Budget Office. In comparison, India's population is expected to stabilise by 2080 at around 1.9 billion due to the dipping total fertility rate, which is currently at 2.0, according to Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP) General Secretary Anil Chandran.
India's Total Fertility Rate is 2.0.
A New Revolution In AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) officially became a part of our lives and entered every sphere, with ChatGPT and Meta AI being available on WhatsApp to AI accounts on Instagram. AI is now a utilitarian tool on which people depend for research, ideation, summarisation, and image and video content generation. The two AI-powered approaches that emerged significantly practical in 2025 are Agentic AI, which can proactively execute multi-step tasks autonomously, and Generative AI, which can create human-like content reactively from prompts.
Rise Of Drones In Warfare
From Ukraine to Gaza, drones ruled conflict operations in 2025. Persistent surveillance, low cost, and precision make drones a preferred choice in wars. During Operation Sindoor, India deployed Israeli HARPY drones to disable Pakistan's air defence radars. Cheap, precise, and deadly, they blurred lines between conventional and asymmetric warfare—forcing militaries to rethink strategy and ethics in the age of autonomous combat.
Space Race Heats Up
2025 marked renewed efforts for space exploration, with NASA and ISRO, besides Elon Musk's SpaceX, leading the efforts to understand the cosmos better. India sent its own astronaut, Shubhanshu Shukla, to the International Space Station for the Axiom-4 mission before undertaking uncrewed and human spaceflights under the Gaganyaan project.
NASA made significant progress in the run-up to its first crewed trip to the Moon in a lifetime - Artemis 2, scheduled for 2026. China is also planning a robotic lunar mission—the ‘Chang'e-7 mission'—to target the lunar south pole. SpaceX shattered its own record with the 156th Falcon-9 flight.
