3rd millennium

The third millennium is the period of time which began on January 1, 2001 and will end on December 31, 3000 of the Gregorian calendar, thus being the third period of one thousand years in that calendar's Common Era. As the millennium is currently in progress, only its first decade, the 2000s, can be the subject of the historian's attention, the remaining part of the 21st century (such as the projected stabilisation of world population at some 9 billion in the 2050s) and longer-term trends being the province of futures studies.

Events

• The British philosopher John Gray predicts (and predicted in 1989) that ethnic and religious conflicts will increase. The 21st century will see a merger between the effects of overpopulation, depletion of natural resources and climate change with ethnic and religious conflicts. Gray predicts that the Malthusian population check will occur. In the long run, harmony will be achieved but it will be found after much blood has been spilled. Technological growth will continue and it is unknown what its effects will be.
• Adherents of the New Age and various astrologers calculate that the Age of Aquarius will begin sometime in the first six centuries of the third millennium (calculations vary regarding the exact date). The Age of Aquarius is predicted to be a time of global human brotherhood, focused on intellectual, humanitarian and spiritual development.
• Some adherents of some of the major world religions (including Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) believe that the 3rd millennium will be the final millennium of the Earth as we know it, during which happens the (first or second) coming of their Messiah figure, his reign of peace. Millennialists predict the third millennium will be the millennium of peace, when mankind finally learns to live in harmony with each other and nature.
• John Paul II envisioned a "new springtime of Christianity", as he started the millennium with a program, Novo Millennio Ineunte, wherein sanctity is the foremost priority given to the church.

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