Talk:Barney's Stu-u-upendous Puzzle Fun! (battybarney2014's version)/@comment-2604:2000:1343:C444:8C16:1A19:286A:249B-20190219220204/@comment-2604:2000:1343:C444:8C16:1A19:286A:249B-20190219220456

2015 was designated as:
 * International Year of Light
 * International Year of Soils

January

 * January 1
 * The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
 * Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes the nineteenth Eurozone country.
 * January 3–7 – A series of massacres in Baga, Nigeria and surrounding villages by Boko Haram kills more than 2,000 people.
 * January 7 – Two gunmen belonging to Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch kill 12 people and injure 11 more at the Paris headquarters of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, prompting an anti-terrorism demonstration attended by over a million people and more than 40 world leaders.
 * January 12 – Government raids kill 143 Boko Haram fighters in Kolofata, Cameroon.
 * January 15 – The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the franc's value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets.
 * January 19 – The Eritrean Catholic Church is founded.
 * January 22 – After Houthi forces seize the presidential palace, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigns after months of unrest.

February

 * February 12
 * Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France reach an agreement on the conflict in eastern Ukraine that includes a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. However, several days later, the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels claim that, within its first day, the ceasefire was broken 139 times, as both sides failed to withdraw their heavy weapons and fighting had continued.
 * The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2199 to combat terrorism.
 * February 14 – Two people were killed and five policemen wounded in Copenhagen, Denmark, at a shooting at Krudtønden cultural centre and the Great Synagogue.
 * February 16 – The Egyptian military begins conducting airstrikes against a branch of the Islamic militant group ISIL in Libya in retaliation for the group's beheading of over a dozen Egyptian Christians.

March

 * March 5–8 – The ancient city sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin in Iraq are demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
 * March 6 – NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet.
 * March 12 – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant becomes allies with fellow jihadist group Boko Haram, effectively annexing the group.
 * March 24 – An Airbus A320-211 operated by Germanwings crashes in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board.
 * March 25 – A Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab countries starts a military intervention in Yemen in order to uphold the Yemeni government in its fight against the Houthis' southern offensive.

April

 * April 2 – 148 people are killed, the majority students, in a mass shooting at the Garissa University College in Kenya, perpetrated by the militant terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.
 * April 25 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Nepal and causes 8,857 deaths in Nepal, 130 in India, 27 in China and 4 in Bangladesh with a total of 9,018 deaths.
 * April 29 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas.

May

 * May 1 – October 31 – Expo 2015 is held in Milan, Italy.
 * May 7 – the 2015 UK General Election results in the first Conservative majority government in 18 years.
 * May 11–12 – Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger by Pablo Picasso sells for US$179.3 million at Christie's auction in New York, while the sculpture L'Homme au doigt by Alberto Giacometti sells for US$141.3 million, setting a new world record for a painting and for a sculpture, respectively.
 * May 12 – A second major earthquake in Nepal, measuring 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale, results in 153 deaths in Nepal, 62 in India, 1 in China and 2 in Bangladesh with a total of 218 deaths.
 * May 20 – The two constituent republics of Novorossiya, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, announce the suspension of the Novorossiya project, returning to separate (though internationally unrecognised) states.
 * May 21 – ISIS captures the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.
 * May 23 – Ireland votes to legalize same-sex marriage, becoming the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.

June

 * June 2 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces his intention to resign amidst an FBI-led corruption investigation, and calls for an extraordinary congress to elect a new president as soon as possible.
 * June 6 – The governments of India and Bangladesh officially ratify their 1974 agreement to exchange enclaves along their border.
 * June 25–26 – ISIL claim responsibility for three attacks around the world during Ramadan:
 * Kobanî massacre: ISIL fighters detonate three car bombs, enter Kobanî, Syria, and open fire at civilians, killing more than 220.
 * Sousse attacks: 22-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui opens fire at a tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia, killing 38 people.
 * Kuwait mosque bombing: A suicide bomber attacks the Shia Mosque Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq at Kuwait City, Kuwait, killing 27 people and injuring 227 others.


 * June 30 – Cuba becomes the first country in the world to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

July

 * July 1 – Greek government-debt crisis: Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund in the 71-year history of the IMF.
 * July 5–13 – Greek government-debt crisis: After six months of clashes and futile negotiations between Greece's newly elected, leftist government and the country's creditors, over the austerity measures imposed through bailout programmes, tension peaks as Greece votes in a referendum to reject the terms offered in a third programme; however the government eventually proceeds to concur to harsher terms than those offered before, in what was widely characterized as a coup on the creditors' part.
 * July 14
 * NASA's New Horizons spacecraft performs a close flyby of Pluto, becoming the first spacecraft in history to visit the distant world.
 * Iran agrees to long-term limits of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
 * July 20 – Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations.
 * July 24 – Turkey begins a series of airstrikes against PKK and ISIL targets after the 2015 Suruç bombing.

August

 * August 5 – Debris found on Réunion Island is confirmed to be that of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, missing since March 2014.
 * August 17 – A bombing takes place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125.

September

 * September 10 – Scientists announce the discovery of Homo naledi, a previously unknown species of early human in South Africa.
 * September 11 – Queen Elizabeth II, having been on the throne for 63 years, 232 days, became the longest-reigning British monarch in history and the longest-serving head of state of any nation in modern history, surpassing Queen Victoria who had reigned for 63 years, 231 days upon her death on January 22, 1901.
 * September 14
 * First observation of gravitational waves: Gravitational waves are detected for the first time, by LIGO. This is not announced until February 11, 2016.
 * Malcolm Turnbull defeats Tony Abbott in a Liberal Party leadership ballot. Turnbull becomes Prime Minister of Australia, being sworn in the following day.
 * September 18 – Automaker Volkswagen is alleged to have been involved in worldwide rigging of diesel emissions tests, affecting an estimated 11 million vehicles globally.
 * September 24 – A stampede during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca kills at least 2,200 people and injures more than 900 others, with more than 650 missing.
 * September 28 – NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars.
 * September 30 – Russia begins air strikes against ISIL and anti-government forces in Syria, in support of the Syrian government.

October

 * October 3 – A United States airstrike on a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Afghanistan accidentally kills an estimated 20 people.
 * October 10 – A series of suicide bombings kills at least 100 people at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey, and injures more than 400 others.
 * October 23 – Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere and the second strongest worldwide, with winds of 215 mph and a pressure of 872 mbar.
 * October 26 – A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush region and causes 398 deaths, with 279 in Pakistan, 115 in Afghanistan and 4 in India.
 * October 31 – Kogalymavia Flight 9268, an Airbus A321 airliner en route to Saint Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, crashes near Al-Hasana in Sinai, killing all 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.

November

 * November 7 – CPC general secretary Xi Jinping and ROC president Ma Ying-jeou formally meet for the first time.
 * November 12 – Two suicide bombers detonated explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.
 * November 13 – Multiple terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France, result in 130 fatalities.
 * November 24 – Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet on the Turkish-Syrian border in the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.
 * November 30 – The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) is held in Paris, attended by leaders from 147 nations.

December

 * December 12 – A global climate change pact is agreed at the COP 21 summit, committing all countries to reduce carbon emissions for the first time.
 * December 15 – The Islamic Military Alliance is formed in order to fight terrorism.
 * December 22 – SpaceX lands an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, the first reusable rocket to successfully enter orbital space and return.

Births

 * May 2 – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
 * June 15 – Prince Nicolas, Duke of Ångermanland

January

 * January 1
 * Ulrich Beck, German sociologist (b. 1944)
 * Mario Cuomo, American politician (b. 1932)
 * Omar Karami, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
 * Boris Morukov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1950)
 * Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
 * January 2 – Little Jimmy Dickens, American country singer, songwriter, (b. 1920)
 * January 3 – Edward Brooke, American politician (b. 1919)
 * January 4 – Stuart Scott, American sports journalist (b. 1965)
 * January 4 – Pino Daniele, Italian singer, songwriter, and guitarist (b. 1955)
 * January 5 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French race car driver (b. 1937)
 * January 6 – Vlastimil Bubník, Czech ice hockey player and footballer (b. 1931)
 * January 7
 * Tadeusz Konwicki, Polish writer and film director (b. 1926)
 * Rod Taylor, Australian actor (b. 1930)
 * January 8 – Andraé Crouch, American singer, songwriter, and pastor (b. 1942)
 * January 9 – Józef Oleksy, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1946)
 * January 10 – Francesco Rosi, Italian film director (b. 1922)
 * January 11
 * Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
 * Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress (b. 1931)
 * January 12 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian opera singer (b. 1939)
 * January 16 – Yao Beina, Chinese singer (b. 1981)
 * January 17 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress (b. 1931)
 * January 20
 * Edgar Froese, German musician (b. 1944)
 * Hitoshi Saito, Japanese judoka (b. 1961)
 * January 21 – Leon Brittan, British politician (b. 1939)
 * January 23 – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (b. 1924)
 * January 24 – Otto Carius, German WWII tank commander (b. 1922)
 * January 25 – Demis Roussos, Greek singer (b. 1946)
 * January 27 – Charles Hard Townes, American Nobel physicist (b. 1915)
 * January 28 – Yves Chauvin, French Nobel chemist (b. 1930)
 * January 29 – Colleen McCullough, Australian writer (b. 1937)
 * January 30
 * Carl Djerassi, American chemist (b. 1923)
 * Geraldine McEwan, British actress (b. 1932)
 * Zhelyu Zhelev, 1st President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
 * January 31
 * Lizabeth Scott, American actress (b. 1922)
 * Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany (b. 1920)

February

 * February 1
 * Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-born French pianist (b. 1925)
 * Udo Lattek, German footballer and coach (b. 1935)
 * February 3 – Martin Gilbert, English historian (b. 1936)
 * February 5
 * Henri Coppens, Belgian footballer and coach (b. 1930)
 * Val Logsdon Fitch, American Nobel physicist (b. 1923)
 * February 6
 * André Brink, South African writer (b. 1935)
 * Assia Djebar, Algerian writer (b. 1936)
 * February 7 – Marshall Rosenberg, American psychologist and writer (b. 1934)
 * February 10 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal (b. 1928)
 * February 11 – Bob Simon, American correspondent (b. 1941)
 * February 12 – Movita Castaneda, American actress (b. 1916)
 * February 14
 * Michele Ferrero, Italian businessman (b. 1925)
 * Louis Jourdan, French-American actor (b. 1921)
 * Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian athlete and coach (b. 1920)
 * Wim Ruska, Dutch wrestler and martial artist (b. 1940)
 * February 16
 * Lesley Gore, American singer (b. 1946)
 * Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress (b. 1971)
 * February 18 – Claude Criquielion, Belgian road bicycle racer (b. 1957)
 * February 19 – Betty Lou Bredemus, American actress and acting coach (b. 1934)
 * February 21
 * Aleksei Gubarev, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1931)
 * Clark Terry, American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist (b. 1920)
 * February 23 – Ben Woolf, American actor (b. 1980)
 * February 24
 * Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh politician and businessman (b. 1962)
 * Irving Kahn, American financial analyst and investor (b. 1905)
 * February 27
 * Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician (b. 1959)
 * Leonard Nimoy, American actor (b. 1931)
 * February 28
 * Yaşar Kemal, Turkish author (b. 1923)
 * Anthony Mason, American basketball player (b. 1966)

March

 * March 1
 * Joshua Fishman, American linguist (b. 1926)
 * Wolfram Wuttke, German footballer (b. 1961)
 * March 2 – Dave Mackay, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1934)
 * March 5 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (b. 1932)
 * March 7
 * Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Japanese manga artist (b. 1935)
 * Shinji Ogawa, Japanese voice actor and actor (b. 1941)
 * March 8 – Sam Simon, American producer and philanthropist (b. 1955)
 * March 9
 * Camille Muffat, French swimmer (b. 1989)
 * Frei Otto, German architect (b. 1925)
 * Alexis Vastine, French boxer (b. 1986)
 * March 10 – Fred Fredericks, American cartoonist (b. 1929)
 * March 11 – Walter Burkert, German academic and writer (b. 1931)
 * March 12
 * Michael Graves, American architect (b. 1934)
 * Terry Pratchett, English writer (b. 1948)
 * March 13 – Daevid Allen, Australian musician (b. 1938)
 * March 14 – Valentin Rasputin, Russian writer (b. 1937)
 * March 15
 * Mike Porcaro, American bass guitarist (b. 1955)
 * Xu Caihou, Chinese army general (b. 1943)
 * March 16 – Andy Fraser, English songwriter and bass guitarist (b. 1952)
 * March 19 – Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)
 * March 20 – Malcolm Fraser, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1930)
 * March 21
 * Hans Erni, Swiss artist (b. 1909)
 * Jørgen Ingmann, Danish musician (b. 1925)
 * Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (b. 1955)
 * March 23 – Lee Kuan Yew, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1923)
 * March 26
 * Dinkha IV, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1935)
 * Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish Nobel poet and translator (b. 1931)
 * March 27 – Olga Syahputra, Indonesian actor and singer (b. 1983)
 * March 29 – Miroslav Ondříček, Czech cinematographer (b. 1934)
 * March 30 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer (b. 1921)

April

 * April 2
 * Robert Schuller, American televangelist and motivational speaker (b. 1926)
 * Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese film director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
 * Hayley Okines, English progeria activist (b. 1997)
 * April 4 – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish author (b. 1931)
 * April 6 – James Best, American actor (b. 1926)
 * April 7 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
 * April 8 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936)
 * April 10 – Rose Francine Rogombé, Gabonese lawyer and politician (b. 1942)
 * April 13
 * Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer (b. 1940)
 * Günter Grass, German Nobel writer (b. 1927)
 * Thelma Coyne Long, Australian tennis player (b. 1918)
 * April 14
 * Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)
 * Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal (b. 1921)
 * April 15 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
 * April 16 – Stanislav Gross, 5th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (b. 1969)
 * April 17 – Francis George, American cardinal (b. 1937)
 * April 24 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish politician and resistance fighter (b. 1922)
 * April 26
 * Jayne Meadows, American actress and author (b. 1919)
 * Izatullo Khayoyev, 6th Prime Minister of Tajikistan (b. 1936)
 * April 27
 * Verne Gagne, American professional wrestler (b. 1926)
 * Andrew Lesnie, Australian cinematographer (b. 1956)
 * April 29 – Giovanni Canestri, Italian prelate (b. 1918)

May

 * May 1
 * Geoff Duke, British motorcycle racer (b. 1923)
 * Grace Lee Whitney, American actress and singer (b. 1930)
 * May 2
 * Maya Plisetskaya, Soviet Union-born Lithuanian and Spanish ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress (b. 1925)
 * Ruth Rendell, British author and life peer (b. 1930)
 * May 9 – Kenan Evren, Turkish military officer, 7th President of Turkey (b. 1917)
 * May 10 – Chris Burden, American artist (b. 1946)
 * May 12 – Peter Gay, American psychohistorian (b. 1923)
 * May 14 – B.B. King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
 * May 15 – Renzo Zorzi, Italian racing driver (b. 1946)
 * May 17 – Margaret Dunning, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1910)
 * May 18
 * Halldór Ásgrímsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
 * Raymond Gosling, British scientist (b. 1926)
 * May 19 – Gerald Götting, German politician (b. 1923)
 * May 21 – Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (b. 1969)
 * May 23
 * Anne Meara, American actress and comedian (b. 1929)
 * John Forbes Nash Jr., American Nobel mathematician (b. 1928)
 * May 24 – Tanith Lee, British writer (b. 1947)
 * May 25 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer (b. 1940)
 * May 26 – Vicente Aranda, Spanish film director (b. 1926)
 * May 27 – Nils Christie, Norwegian criminologist (b. 1928)
 * May 29
 * Henry Carr, American sprinter (b. 1941)
 * Doris Hart, American tennis player (b. 1925)
 * Betsy Palmer, American actress (b. 1926)

June

 * June 1
 * Charles Kennedy, British politician (b. 1959)
 * Nicholas Liverpool, Dominican politician, sixth President of Dominica (b. 1934)
 * June 2 – Irwin Rose, American Nobel biochemist (b. 1926)
 * June 4 – Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer (b. 1918)
 * June 5 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi politician (b. 1936)
 * June 6
 * Pierre Brice, French actor (b. 1929)
 * Vincent Bugliosi, American lawyer and author (b. 1934)
 * June 7 – Christopher Lee, English actor (b. 1922)
 * June 8 – Mary Ellen Trainor, American actress (b. 1952)
 * June 9 – James Last, German composer and big band leader (b. 1929)
 * June 11
 * Jim Ed Brown, American country singer (b. 1934)
 * Ornette Coleman, American free jazz saxophonist (b. 1930)
 * Ron Moody, British actor (b. 1924)
 * Dusty Rhodes, American professional wrestler (b. 1945)
 * June 14
 * Qiao Shi, Chinese politician (b. 1924)
 * Zito, Brazilian footballer (b. 1932)
 * June 15
 * Jeanna Friske, Russian singer, model, and actress (b. 1974)
 * Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman (b. 1917)
 * June 16 – Charles Correa, Indian architect (b. 1930)
 * June 17
 * Ron Clarke, Australian runner (b. 1937)
 * Süleyman Demirel, Turkish politician, ninth President of Turkey (b. 1924)
 * Roberto M. Levingston, Argentine general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (b. 1920)
 * June 20 – Esther Brand, South African athlete (b. 1922)
 * June 21
 * Veijo Meri, Finnish writer (b. 1928)
 * Gunther Schuller, American composer, conductor, historian, and jazz musician (b. 1925)
 * June 22
 * Laura Antonelli, Italian actress (b. 1941)
 * James Horner, American film composer (b. 1953)
 * June 23
 * Magali Noël, French actress and singer (b. 1931)
 * Dick Van Patten, American actor (b. 1928)
 * June 25
 * Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia (b. 1940)
 * Patrick Macnee, English actor (b. 1922)
 * June 26 – Yevgeny Primakov, Russian politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999 (b. 1929)
 * June 27 – Chris Squire, English bass guitarist (b. 1948)
 * June 29
 * Josef Masopust, Czech football player and coach (b. 1931)
 * Charles Pasqua, French politician (b. 1927)

July

 * July 1
 * Sergio Sollima, Italian film director (b. 1921)
 * Nicholas Winton, British humanitarian (b. 1909)
 * July 2 – Jacobo Zabludovsky, Mexican journalist (b. 1928)
 * July 3 – Diana Douglas, Bermudan actress (b. 1923)
 * July 5 – Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American Nobel physicist (b. 1921)
 * July 10
 * Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor (b. 1944)
 * Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor (b. 1932)
 * Jon Vickers, Canadian tenor (b. 1926)
 * July 11
 * Giacomo Biffi, Italian cardinal (b. 1928)
 * Patricia Crone, Danish scholar (b. 1945)
 * Satoru Iwata, Japanese businessman and video game programmer (b. 1959)
 * July 12 – Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwean poet (b. 1956)
 * July 13
 * Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
 * Martin Litchfield West, British classical scholar (b. 1937)
 * July 14 – Ildikó Schwarczenberger, Hungarian fencer (b. 1951)
 * July 15 – Wan Li, Chinese politician (b. 1916)
 * July 16 – Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1926)
 * July 17 – Jules Bianchi, French race car driver (b. 1989)
 * July 18 – Alex Rocco, American actor (b. 1936)
 * July 19 – Galina Prozumenshchikova, Soviet swimmer (b. 1948)
 * July 21
 * Theodore Bikel, Austrian-born American actor (b. 1924)
 * E. L. Doctorow, American author (b. 1931)
 * July 23
 * William Wakefield Baum, American prelate (b. 1926)
 * Mexicano 777, Puerto Rican rapper (b. 1972)
 * July 26 – Bobbi Kristina Brown, American singer (b. 1993)
 * July 27 – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian scientist and politician, 11th President of India (b. 1931)
 * July 28 – Edward Natapei, 6th Prime Minister of Vanuatu (b. 1954)
 * July 30
 * Lynn Anderson, American country singer (b. 1947)
 * Alena Vrzáňová, Czech figure skater (b. 1931)
 * July 31 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler (b. 1954)

August

 * August 1 – Cilla Black, English singer and entertainer (b. 1943)
 * August 3 – Robert Conquest, British-born American historian (b. 1917)
 * August 7
 * Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (b. 1929)
 * Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian physician (b. 1914)
 * August 8 – Sean Price, American rapper (b. 1972)
 * August 9 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist (b. 1929)
 * August 11 – Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer (b. 1941)
 * August 12 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and logician (b. 1929)
 * August 14 – Bob Johnston, American record producer (b. 1932)
 * August 15 – Julian Bond, American civil rights activist (b. 1940)
 * August 16 – Mile Mrkšić, Serbian military officer (b. 1947)
 * August 17
 * Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican theoretical physicist (b. 1947)
 * Yvonne Craig, American actress (b. 1937)
 * Arsen Dedić, Croatian musician (b. 1938)
 * László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1927)
 * August 20 – Egon Bahr, German politician (b. 1922)
 * August 22
 * Ieng Thirith, Cambodian politician (b. 1932)
 * Eric Thompson, English racing driver (b. 1919)
 * August 23 – Guy Ligier, French racing driver and team owner (b. 1930)
 * August 24 – Justin Wilson, British racing driver (b. 1978)
 * August 26 – Amelia Boynton Robinson, American civil rights activist (b. 1911)
 * August 27 – Kazi Zafar Ahmed, 8th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1939)
 * August 29 – Wayne Dyer, American author and motivational speaker (b. 1940)
 * August 30
 * Wes Craven, American film director and writer (b. 1939)
 * Oliver Sacks, British-American neurologist and writer (b. 1933)

September

 * September 1 – Dean Jones, American actor (b. 1931)
 * September 3 – Chandra Bahadur Dangi, Nepalese dwarf, world's shortest man (b. 1939)
 * September 4 – Rico Rodriguez, Cuban-British musician (b. 1934)
 * September 5 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (b. 1920)
 * September 6 – Martin Milner, American actor (b. 1931)
 * September 7 – Candida Royalle, American actress and director (b. 1950)
 * September 10 – Adrian Frutiger, Swiss typeface designer (b. 1928)
 * September 12 – Ron Springett, British footballer (b. 1935)
 * September 13 – Moses Malone, American basketball player (b. 1955)
 * September 14 – Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Romanian politician (b. 1949)
 * September 17
 * David Willcocks, English organist, conductor and composer (b. 1919)
 * Dettmar Cramer, German football coach (b. 1925)
 * September 19 – Jackie Collins, British novelist (b. 1937)
 * September 22 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player (b. 1925)
 * September 23 – Dragan Holcer, Croatian footballer (b. 1945)
 * September 27
 * John Guillermin, British film director and producer (b. 1925)
 * Pietro Ingrao, Italian politician (b. 1915)
 * September 28 – Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
 * September 29 – Phil Woods, American saxophonist (b. 1931)

October

 * October 2
 * Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian politician (b. 1937)
 * Brian Friel, Irish playwright (b. 1929)
 * October 3 – Denis Healey, British politician (b. 1917)
 * October 5
 * Chantal Akerman, Belgian filmmaker (b. 1950)
 * Infante Carlos, Spanish nobleman (b. 1938)
 * Henning Mankell, Swedish author (b. 1948)
 * October 6 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian politician, President of Hungary (b. 1922)
 * October 7
 * Dominique Dropsy, French footballer (b. 1951)
 * Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (b. 1927)
 * Elena Lucena, Argentine film actress (b. 1914)
 * Jurelang Zedkaia, Fifth President of the Marshall Islands (b. 1950)
 * October 8 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
 * October 9 – Geoffrey Howe, British politician (b. 1926)
 * October 10 – Richard F. Heck, American chemist (b. 1931)
 * October 12 – Joan Leslie, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
 * October 14
 * Nurlan Balgimbayev, Kazakh politician (b. 1947)
 * Mathieu Kérékou, 5th President of Benin (b. 1933)
 * October 17
 * Danièle Delorme, French actress (b. 1926)
 * Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (b. 1946)
 * October 18 – Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian author (b. 1945)
 * October 19 – Ali Treki, Libyan diplomat (b. 1938)
 * October 23 – Paride Tumburus, Italian footballer (b. 1939)
 * October 24
 * Ján Chryzostom Korec, Slovakian cardinal (b. 1924)
 * Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress (b. 1920)
 * October 25 – Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (b. 1955)
 * October 26
 * Willis Carto, American politician (b. 1926)
 * Leo Kadanoff, American physicist (b. 1937)
 * October 30
 * Sinan Şamil Sam, Turkish boxer (b. 1974)
 * Al Molinaro, American actor (b. 1919)
 * October 31 – Ants Antson, Estonian speed skater (b. 1938)

November

 * November 1
 * Günter Schabowski, German politician (b. 1929)
 * Fred Thompson, American politician and actor (b. 1942)
 * November 3 – Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi politician (b. 1944)
 * November 4
 * René Girard, French-American historian (b. 1923)
 * Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter (b. 1950)
 * November 5
 * Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer (b. 1923)
 * Czesław Kiszczak, Polish soldier and politician (b. 1925)
 * November 6 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician, President of Israel (b. 1921)
 * November 7 – Gunnar Hansen, Icelandic-American actor and author (b. 1947)
 * November 8
 * Abd Al-Karim Al-Iryani, Prime Minister of Yemen (b. 1934)
 * Andrei Eshpai, Russian pianist (b. 1925)
 * November 9
 * Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter (b. 1930)
 * Allen Toussaint, American musician (b. 1938)
 * Andy White, Scottish drummer (b. 1930)
 * November 10
 * André Glucksmann, French philosopher (b. 1937)
 * Klaus Roth, British mathematician (b. 1925)
 * Helmut Schmidt, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (b. 1918)
 * November 11 – Phil Taylor, English rock drummer (b. 1954)
 * November 12
 * Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (b. 1983)
 * Jihadi John, Kuwaiti member of ISIS (b. 1988)
 * November 15 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (b. 1929)
 * November 18
 * Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1975)
 * Mal Whitfield, American Olympic athlete (b. 1924)
 * November 20 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1953)
 * November 21
 * Bob Foster, American boxer (b. 1938)
 * Linda Haglund, Swedish sprinter (b. 1956)
 * November 22 – Kim Young-sam, South Korean politician, President of South Korea (b. 1929)
 * November 23 – Douglass North, American economist (b. 1920)
 * November 28 – Gerry Byrne, English footballer (b. 1938)
 * November 30
 * Fatema Mernissi, Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist (b. 1940)
 * Shigeru Mizuki, Japanese manga artist (b. 1922)
 * Eldar Ryazanov, Russian film director (b. 1927)

December

 * December 1 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (b. 1930)
 * December 2
 * Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (b. 1925)
 * Ferenc Juhász, Hungarian poet (b. 1928)
 * December 3 – Scott Weiland, American singer and musician (b. 1967)
 * December 4
 * Erik De Vlaeminck, Belgian professional cyclist (b. 1945)
 * Robert Loggia, American actor (b. 1930)
 * Yossi Sarid, Israeli politician (b. 1940)
 * December 5 – Dimitar Iliev Popov, 41st Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1927)
 * December 6 – Franzl Lang, German Yodeler (b. 1930)
 * December 7 – Martin E. Brooks, American actor (b. 1925)
 * December 8 – Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer (b. 1936)
 * December 9
 * Carlo Furno, Italian cardinal (b. 1921)
 * Julio Terrazas Sandoval, Bolivian cardinal (b. 1936)
 * December 10
 * Arnold Peralta, Honduran footballer (b. 1989)
 * Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
 * December 13 – Benedict Anderson, American academic (b. 1936)
 * December 15 – Licio Gelli, Italian financier (b. 1919)
 * December 19
 * Greville Janner, British politician, barrister, and writer (b. 1928)
 * Jimmy Hill, English footballer and television presenter (b. 1928)
 * Kurt Masur, German conductor (b. 1927)
 * December 23
 * Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist (b. 1941)
 * Don Howe, English footballer (b. 1935)
 * Bülent Ulusu, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1923)
 * December 27
 * Stein Eriksen, Norwegian alpine skier, Olympic champion (b. 1927)
 * Ellsworth Kelly, American artist (b. 1923)
 * Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer and film director (b. 1922)
 * December 28
 * Eloy Inos, American politician, Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands (b. 1949)
 * Lemmy, English musician (b. 1945)
 * Ian Murdock, German-American software programmer (b. 1973)
 * December 29
 * Elżbieta Krzesińska, Polish athlete (b. 1934)
 * Pavel Srníček, Czech footballer (b. 1968)
 * December 31
 * Natalie Cole, American singer (b. 1950)
 * Wayne Rogers, American actor and investor (b. 1933)

Nobel Prizes

 * Chemistry – Paul L. Modrich; Aziz Sancar and Tomas Lindahl
 * Economics – Angus Deaton
 * Literature – Svetlana Alexievich
 * Peace – Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet
 * Physics – Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald
 * Physiology or Medicine – William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Tu Youyou

New English words

 * aquafaba

January

 * January 1
 * Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
 * Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture.
 * Slovakia adopts the euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak koruna.
 * Sixty-six nightclub-goers die in the Santika Club fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
 * January 3 – The first ("Genesis") block of the blockchain of the cryptocurrency and decentralized payment system Bitcoin is established by the creator of the system, known as Satoshi Nakamoto.
 * January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches in the Hudson River in an accident that becomes known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" as all 155 people on board are rescued.
 * January 18 – Gaza War: Hamas announces they will accept Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the conflict.
 * January 20
 * A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
 * Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African-American to hold the office.
 * January 21 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending its three-week war with Hamas. However, intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the weeks to follow.
 * January 26
 * The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape.
 * The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.
 * An annular solar eclipse took place in Indian Ocean, and was the 50th solar eclipse of Saros cycle 131.

February

 * February 1
 * Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church following the death of his predecessor, Alexy II in 2008.
 * Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.
 * February 25 – Soldiers of Bangladeshi border security force Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny and take the commanding army officers and their families hostages at the force’s headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka. 57 army officers are killed along with 17 civilians by the mutineers.
 * February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.

March

 * March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
 * March 4 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
 * March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer that will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
 * March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of unrest in Antananarivo.

April

 * April 1 – Albania and Croatia are admitted to NATO, becoming the newest members of the organization.
 * April 4 – Three Pittsburgh Police Officers are shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute in the Stanton Heights (Pittsburgh) section of the city.
 * April 5 – North Korea launches a rocket from its Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, which it says is carrying the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
 * April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 308 and injuring more than 1,500.
 * April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.

May

 * May 18 – Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
 * May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in North Hamgyong Province. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.

June

 * June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
 * June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic.
 * June 13 – Mass protests erupt across Iran following a disputed presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president, the largest demonstrations in the country since the Iranian Revolution.
 * June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter / LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
 * June 28 – The Military of Honduras ousts Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup d'état, which is condemned worldwide.
 * June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.

July

 * July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
 * July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.
 * July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
 * July 26 – The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram initiates an uprising in Bauchi State, Nigeria and quickly spreads throughout the northern part of the country.

August

 * August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.
 * August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 673 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.
 * August 14 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry that found evidence of government corruption.

September

 * September 28 – At least 157 demonstrators are massacred by the Guinean military at the Stade du 28 Septembre during a protest against the government that came to power in a coup d'état the previous year.
 * September 30 – A 7.6 earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving at least 1,115 people dead.

October

 * October 1 – Paleontologists announce the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest remains of a human ancestor yet found.
 * October 2
 * Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate,   having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held last year.
 * The International Olympic Committee awards Rio de Janeiro the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
 * October 25 – Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people.

November

 * November 3
 * The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.
 * The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council, a position he takes up on December 1, 2009.
 * November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.
 * November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 58 people are abducted and killed in the province of Maguindanao, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists called the single deadliest attack on journalists in history.

December

 * December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.
 * December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 * December 8 – A series of attacks in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 127 people and injure at least 448 more.
 * December 10 – James Cameron's Avatar, which has since been the highest-grossing film of all time, premieres in the United Kingdom.
 * December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ 1214 b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

Births

 * May 4 – Prince Henrik of Denmark
 * November – Lee Go-eun, South Korean actress

January

 * January 1
 * Nizar Rayan, Palestinian military and political leader (b. 1959)
 * Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (b. 1924)
 * Helen Suzman, South African activist and politician (b. 1917)
 * January 3 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1924)
 * January 12
 * Claude Berri, French film director (b. 1934)
 * Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (b. 1912)
 * January 13 – Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor (b. 1928)
 * January 14 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican-born American actor (b. 1920)
 * January 16 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
 * January 20 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria (b. 1920)
 * January 22 – Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum, 21st Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1905)
 * January 25 – Mamadou Dia, 1st Prime Minister of Senegal (b. 1910)
 * January 27
 * John Updike, American writer (b. 1932)
 * R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
 * January 30 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (b. 1932)

February

 * February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
 * February 9 – Eluana Englaro, Italian patient in right-to-die case (b. 1970)
 * February 18 – Kamila Skolimowska, Polish hammer thrower (b. 1982)
 * February 25 – Philip José Farmer, American writer (b. 1918)
 * February 26 – Wendy Richard, English actress (b. 1943)
 * February 27 – Manea Mănescu, 50th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1916)

March

 * March 2 – João Bernardo Vieira, 2nd President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
 * March 14
 * Alain Bashung, French singer, songwriter and actor (b. 1947)
 * Edith Lucie Bongo, First Lady of Gabon (b. 1964)
 * March 15 – Ron Silver, American actor and political activist (b. 1946)
 * March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (b. 1963)
 * March 20 – Abdellatif Filali, 13th Prime Minister of Morocco (b. 1928)
 * March 25 – Yukio Endo, Japanese gymnast (b. 1937)
 * March 28 – Janet Jagan, 6th Prime Minister and 6th President of Guyana (b. 1920)
 * March 29 – Maurice Jarre, French composer and conductor (b. 1924)
 * March 31 – Raúl Alfonsín, 49th President of Argentina (b. 1927)

April

 * April 12
 * Marilyn Chambers, American pornographic actress (b. 1952)
 * Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, American social theorist (b. 1950)
 * April 14 – Maurice Druon, French novelist (b. 1918)
 * April 19 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist (b. 1930)
 * April 22
 * Ken Annakin, English film director (b. 1914)
 * Jack Cardiff, English cinematographer (b. 1914)
 * April 25 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
 * April 26 – Pupuke Robati, 4th Prime Minister of Cook Islands (b. 1925)
 * April 28
 * Buddy Rose, American professional wrestler (b. 1952)
 * Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (b. 1939)

May

 * May 2
 * Augusto Boal, Brazilian theatre director (b. 1931)
 * Jack Kemp, American politician and football player (b. 1935)
 * May 4 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
 * May 9 – Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (b. 1930)
 * May 11 – Abel Goumba, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
 * May 13 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian mountaineer (b. 1914)
 * May 17 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (b. 1920)
 * May 18
 * Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (b. 1947)
 * Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan militant (b. 1954)
 * May 19 – Robert F. Furchgott, American scientist (b. 1916)


 * May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of South Korea (b. 1946)
 * May 27 – Clive Granger, British economist (b. 1934)
 * May 30
 * Luís Cabral, 1st President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1931)
 * Ephraim Katzir, 4th President of Israel (b. 1916)
 * Gaafar Nimeiry, 4th President of the Sudan (b. 1930)
 * May 31 – Kamala Surayya, Indian poet (b. 1934)

June

 * June 1
 * Fatma Ceren Necipoğlu, Turkish harpist and university lecturer for piano and harp (b. 1972)
 * Silvio Barbato, Italian-Brazilian opera conductor and composer (b. 1959)
 * Prince Pedro Luiz of Orléans-Braganza, heir to the line of succession in Brazil (b. 1983)
 * June 2 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931)
 * June 3
 * David Carradine, American actor (b. 1936)
 * Koko Taylor, American musician (b. 1928)
 * June 6 – Jean Dausset, French Nobel immunologist (b. 1916)
 * June 8 – Omar Bongo, 2nd President of Gabon (b. 1935)
 * June 12 – Félix Malloum, 3rd President of Chad (b. 1932)
 * June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1962)
 * June 17 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-British social theorist and politician (b. 1929)


 * June 25
 * Farrah Fawcett, American actress (b. 1947)
 * Michael Jackson, American performer and recording artist (b. 1958)


 * June 30 – Pina Bausch, German choreographer (b. 1940)

July

 * July 1
 * Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (b. 1952)
 * Karl Malden, American actor (b. 1912)
 * July 4 – Allen Klein, American businessman (b. 1931)


 * July 6
 * Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (b. 1932)
 * Robert McNamara, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1916)
 * July 13 – Amin al-Hafez, 22nd Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1926)
 * July 17
 * Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician (b. 1921)
 * Walter Cronkite, American newscaster (b. 1916)
 * Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)


 * July 19
 * Frank McCourt, Irish-American author (b. 1930)
 * Henry Surtees, British racing driver (b. 1991)
 * July 26 – Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (b. 1919)
 * July 31 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)

August

 * August 1 – Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
 * August 5 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter (b. 1914)
 * August 6
 * John Hughes, American film director and writer (b. 1950)
 * Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
 * Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1923)
 * August 8 – Daniel Jarque, Spanish footballer (b. 1983)
 * August 10 – Urpo Korhonen, Finnish olympic cross-country skier (b. 1923)
 * August 11 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American founder of the Special Olympics (b. 1921)
 * August 13 – Les Paul, American musician and inventor (b. 1915)
 * August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, 15th President of South Korea (b. 1924)
 * August 24 – Toni Sailer, Austrian alpine ski racer (b. 1935)
 * August 25 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932)
 * August 26 – Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Iraqi politician and theologian (b. 1953)
 * August 27 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Soviet-Russian author (b. 1913)
 * August 28 – DJ AM, American DJ (b. 1973)

September

 * September 8 – Aage Bohr, Danish Nobel physicist (b. 1922)
 * September 11
 * Juan Almeida, Cuban revolutionary and politician (b. 1927)
 * Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (b. 1958)
 * September 12
 * Norman Borlaug, American Nobel agronomist (b. 1914)
 * Jack Kramer, American tennis player and promoter (b. 1921)
 * September 14
 * Keith Floyd, British cook and restaurateur (b. 1943)
 * Henry Gibson, American actor and songwriter (b. 1935)
 * Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (b. 1952)
 * September 16 – Mary Travers, American singer and songwriter (b. 1936)
 * September 17 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist militant (b. 1968)
 * September 18 – Irving Kristol, American writer and political commentator (b. 1920)
 * September 23 – Ertuğrul Osman, 43rd Head of the Ottoman Dynasty (b. 1912)
 * September 25 – Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (b. 1923)
 * September 28 – Guillermo Endara, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1936)
 * September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1930)

October

 * October 2 – Marek Edelman, Polish political and social activist (b. 1922)
 * October 4
 * Shōichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (b. 1953)
 * Günther Rall, German fighter pilot (b. 1918)
 * Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (b. 1935)
 * October 5 – Israel Gelfand, Soviet-American mathematician (b. 1913)
 * October 7 – Irving Penn, American photographer (b. 1917)
 * October 10 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer (b. 1976)
 * October 11 – Joan Martí i Alanis, 64th Co-Prince of Andorra (b. 1928)
 * October 13 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (b. 1927)
 * October 17 – Carla Boni, Italian singer (b. 1925)
 * October 19 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (b. 1918)
 * October 28 – Taylor Mitchell, Canadian singer (b. 1990)
 * October 30 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist (b. 1908)
 * October 31 – Hsue-Shen Tsien, Chinese scientist (b. 1911)

November

 * November 3 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish novelist (b. 1906)
 * November 8 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian Nobel physicist (b. 1916)
 * November 10
 * Robert Enke, German footballer (b. 1977)
 * John Allen Muhammad, African-American spree killer (b. 1960)
 * November 15
 * Pavle, Serbian Patriarch, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (b. 1914)
 * Pierre Harmel, 39th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1911)
 * November 16
 * Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (b. 1978)
 * Edward Woodward, English actor and singer (b. 1930)
 * November 20 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer (b. 1925)
 * November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
 * November 24 – Samak Sundaravej, 25th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1935)
 * November 30 – Milorad Pavić, Serbian writer (b. 1929)

December

 * December 3 – Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (b. 1919)
 * December 4
 * Umaga, Samoan-American professional wrestler (b. 1973)
 * Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Russian actor (b. 1928)
 * Jordi Solé Tura, Spanish politician (b. 1930)
 * December 5
 * Alfred Hrdlicka, Austrian artist (b. 1928)
 * Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (b. 1926)
 * December 9
 * Gene Barry, American actor (b. 1919)
 * Rodrigo Carazo Odio, 38th President of Costa Rica (b. 1926)
 * December 13 – Paul Samuelson, American Nobel Prize-winning economist (b. 1915)
 * December 16
 * Roy E. Disney, American businessman (b. 1930)
 * Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician (b. 1956)
 * December 17
 * Amin al-Hafiz, President and Prime Minister of Syria (b. 1921)
 * Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
 * December 19
 * Hussein-Ali Montazeri, Iranian scholar and human rights activist (b. 1922)
 * Kim Peek, American savant (b. 1951)
 * December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
 * December 21 – Edwin G. Krebs, American Nobel biologist (b. 1918)
 * December 23 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (b. 1910)
 * December 24 – Rafael Caldera, 54th and 60th President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
 * December 26 – Jacques Sylla, 12th Prime Minister of Madagascar (b. 1946)
 * December 28 – The Rev, American musician (b. 1981)
 * December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia (b. 1940)
 * December 31 – Rashidi Kawawa, 1st Prime Minister of Tanzania (b. 1926)

Nobel Prizes

 * Chemistry – Ada Yonath, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, and Thomas A. Steitz
 * Economics – Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson
 * Literature – Herta Müller
 * Peace – Barack Obama
 * Physics – Charles K. Kao, Willard Boyle, and George E. Smith
 * Physiology or Medicine – Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak

New English words

 * alt-right
 * anti-vaxxer
 * copernicium
 * subtweet

January

 * January 1 – Kolkata officially restores name from Calcutta, West Bengal, India.
 * January 10 – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approves the merger of America Online and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.
 * January 13 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits all of El Salvador, killing at least 800 people and leaving thousands homeless.
 * January 15 – Wikipedia is launched.
 * January 20
 * George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States.
 * Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, accused of playing Jueteng, end preeminently and trigger the second EDSA People Power Revolution (or People Power II). His Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeds him as the 14th President of the Republic.
 * January 23 – The Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident occurs.
 * January 26 – The 7.7 Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured

February

 * February 9 – The submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru near Hawaii.
 * February 12 – The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
 * February 13 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
 * February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
 * February 18 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 25 years.
 * February 19 – The 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak begins.
 * February 28 – The Great Heck rail crash occurs, killing 10 and injuring 82 others.

March

 * March 2 – The Taliban begins destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas.
 * March 23 – The deorbit of Russian space station Mir is carried out near Nadi, Fiji, with Mir falling into the South Pacific Ocean.

April

 * April 1
 * Hainan Island incident: A Chinese fighter jet bumps into a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.
 * Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
 * In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect. The Act allows same-sex couples to marry legally.
 * April 28 – Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito.

May

 * May 6 – Space tourist Dennis Tito returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31. (Soyuz TM-32 is left docked at the International Space Station as a new lifeboat.)
 * May 7 – In Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, an attempt is made to reconstruct the Ferhadija mosque. However, the ceremony results in mass riots by Serb nationalists, who beat and stone 300 elderly Bosnian Muslims.
 * May 13 – Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election and becomes Prime Minister of Italy for the second time.
 * May 22 – A large trans-Neptunian object (28978 Ixion) is found during the Deep Ecliptic Survey.
 * May 24
 * Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 16, becomes the youngest person to summit Mount Everest.
 * The Versailles wedding hall disaster kills 23 and injures 380 others in Jerusalem, Israel.

June

 * June 1
 * Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself in the Nepalese royal massacre. Dipendra dies June 4, as King of Nepal. His uncle Gyanendra accedes to the throne.
 * A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21, mostly teenagers, in the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv, Israel.
 * June 5–9 – Tropical Storm Allison produces 36 inches (900 mm) of rain in Houston, killing 22, damaging the Texas Medical Center, and causing more than US$5 billion of damage overall.
 * June 6 – U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont leaves the Republican Party to caucus as an independent with Democrats, handing majority control of the Senate to the Democratic Party and Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
 * June 7 – George W. Bush signs the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the first tax cut of a series now known as the Bush tax cuts.
 * June 17 – Deserion Griffin's birth, Deserion Original launch.
 * June 19 – A missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq (Tel Afr County), killing 23 and wounding 11. According to U.S. officials, it was an Iraqi missile that malfunctioned.
 * June 21 – The world's longest train is set up by BHP Iron Ore and is recorded going between Newman and Port Hedland in Western Australia (a distance of 275 km) and the train consists of 682 loaded iron ore wagons and 8 GE AC6000CW locomotives, giving a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and moves 82,262 tonnes of ore; the train is 7.353 km long.
 * June 23 – The 8.4 southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 75 people dead, and 2,687 injured.

July

 * July 2 – The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools in the United States.
 * July 3 – Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk Airport, Russia, killing 145.
 * July 7 – 2001 Bradford riots: Race riots erupt in Bradford in the north of England after National Front members reportedly stab an Asian man outside a pub.
 * July 13 – The International Olympic Committee awards Beijing the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
 * July 16
 * The People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation sign the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship ("Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation").
 * The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas for violating a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
 * July 20–22 – The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations are held against the meeting by members of the anti-globalization movement. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is killed by a policeman. Several others are badly injured during a police attack on a school used by the protesters as their headquarters.
 * July 24
 * Bandaranaike Airport attack: Tamil Tigers attack Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka, causing an estimated $500 million of damage.
 * Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, deposed as the last Tsar of Bulgaria when a child, is sworn in as the democratically elected 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

August

 * August 1 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
 * August 6 – Erwadi fire incident, 28 mentally ill persons bound by chains were burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu.
 * August 9 – A Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem is attacked by a Palestinian militant, who kills 15 civilians and wounds 130.
 * August 10 – The 2001 Angola train attack, causing 252 deaths.
 * August 21 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the Republic of Macedonia.
 * August 24 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores, all 306 people onboard survive.
 * August 25 – American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, The Bahamas.
 * August 31 – September 1 – The 2001 Vancouver TV realignment occurs in British Columbia, Canada.
 * August 31 – The World Conference against Racism 2001 begins in Durban, South Africa.

September

 * September – The piece As Slow as Possible, composed by John Cage, begins. It will last 639 years, finishing in the year 2640.
 * September 3
 * In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, amid rioting and heightened violence.
 * The United States, Canada and Israel withdraw from the U.N. Conference on Racism because they feel that the issue of Zionism is overemphasized.
 * September 4 – Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.
 * September 6 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: The United States Justice Department announces that it no longer seeks to break up software maker Microsoft, and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
 * September 9
 * A suicide bomber kills Ahmad Shah Massoud, military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance.
 * 68 people die of methanol poisoning in Pärnu County, Estonia.
 * The Unix billennium is reached, marking the beginning of the use of 10-digit decimal Unix time stamps.
 * September 10
 * Donald Rumsfeld gives a speech regarding $2.3 trillion in Pentagon spending that cannot be accounted for. He identifies the Pentagon bureaucracy as the biggest threat to America.
 * Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.
 * September 11 – Around 2,996 victims are killed or fatally injured in the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 are hijacked and crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 is hijacked and crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked and crashes into grassland in Shanksville, due to the passengers fighting to regain control of the airplane. The World Trade Center towers collapse as a result of the crashes.
 * September 12 – Ansett Australia Airlines is placed into administration, the company's fleet is grounded 2 days later on September 14.
 * September 13 – Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
 * September 14 – Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
 * September 17 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.
 * September 18 – The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. Twenty-two people in total are exposed, with five resulting fatalities.
 * September 20 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror".
 * September 21
 * In Toulouse, France, the AZote Fertilisant chemical factory explodes, killing 29 and seriously wounding over 2,500.
 * Increased racial tensions in Peterborough, England, following the September 11 attacks result in the murder of Ross Parker by a gang of ten Muslims in a racially motivated attack.
 * Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
 * America: A Tribute to Heroes is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks.
 * September 27 – Zug massacre: In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher shoots 18 citizens, killing 14 and then himself.

October

 * October 1 – Militants attack the state legislature building in Srinagar, Kashmir, killing 38.
 * October 2 – Swissair seeks for bankruptcy protection and grounds its entire fleet, resulting in over 230 flights cancelled and stranding 18,000 people worldwide.
 * October 4 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes over the Black Sea en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia; 78 are killed.
 * October 7 – War in Afghanistan: In response to the September 11 attacks, the United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations, thus officially beginning the War on Terror.
 * October 8
 * A twin engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
 * U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
 * October 9 – Second mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
 * October 15 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 180 km of Jupiter's moon Io.
 * October 17 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi becomes the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
 * October 19 – SIEV X sinks en route to Christmas Island, killing 353 people.
 * October 23
 * The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks.
 * The iPod is first introduced by Apple.
 * October 25 – Microsoft releases Windows XP.
 * October 26 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act into law.

November

 * November 2 – The Glocal Forum, leading international organization in the field of city-to-city cooperation, is established by Ambassador Uri Savir.
 * November 4
 * Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
 * The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, as successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
 * November 7 – Sabena, the national airline of Belgium, goes bankrupt.
 * November 10
 * Australian federal election, 2001: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.
 * Heavy rains and mudslides in Algeria kill more than 900.
 * November 11 – Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton and Volker Handloik are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they are traveling in.
 * November 12
 * American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Queens minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
 * War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
 * November 13 – In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
 * November 14 – War in Afghanistan: Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
 * November 15 – The first Xbox console is released
 * November 23 – The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.
 * November 27 – A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.
 * November 30 – Gary Ridgway, a.k.a. The Green River Killer, is arrested outside the truck factory where he had worked in Renton, Washington. His arrest marked the end of one of the longest running homicide investigations in US history.

December

 * December – The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty produces a report on Responsibility to protect.
 * December 1 – The last Trans World Airlines flight lands at St. Louis International Airport, following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.
 * December 2
 * Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (to this point, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history).
 * 1998–2002 Argentine great depression: Corralito – The government effectively freezes all bank accounts for twelve months leading to December 2001 riots in Argentina.
 * December 3 – Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, a United States citizen.
 * December 11
 * The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
 * The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11 attacks.
 * The United States Customs Service raids members of international software piracy group DrinkOrDie in Operation Buccaneer.
 * December 13
 * 2001 Indian Parliament attack: 12 are killed, leading to a 2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff.
 * U.S. President George W. Bush announces the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
 * December 15 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
 * December 19
 * A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Zavkhan, Mongolia.
 * Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 * December 22
 * Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
 * Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
 * December 27
 * The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.
 * Tropical Storm Vamei forms within 1.5 degrees of the equator. No other tropical cyclone in recorded history has come as close to the equator.
 * December 29 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.

January

 * January 1 – Angourie Rice, Australian actress
 * January 18 – Claire Engler, American actress
 * January 21 – Jackson Brundage, American actor

February

 * February 5 – Juan Karlos Labajo, Filipino singer and performer
 * February 15 – Haley Tju, American actress
 * February 21 – Isabella Acres, American actress
 * February 24 – Ramona Marquez, British actress

March

 * March 6
 * Milo Manheim, American actor
 * Zhavia Ward, American singer-songwriter
 * March 9 – Jeon So-mi, Canadian-South Korean-Dutch singer
 * March 17 – Pietro Pellegri, Italian footballer
 * March 27 – Gaby Lewis, Irish cricketer
 * March 28 – Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Afghan cricketer
 * March 30 – Anastasia Potapova, Russian tennis player

April

 * April 5 – Robbie Tucker, American actor

May

 * May 8 – Jordyn Huitema, Canadian soccer player
 * May 23 – Matthew Lintz, American actor
 * May 24 – Darren Espanto, Filipino singer and performer

June

 * June 1 – Ed Oxenbould, Australian actor
 * June 19 – Ava Cantrell, American actress and dancer
 * June 21
 * Alexandra Obolentseva, Russian chess player
 * Eleanor Worthington Cox, British actress
 * June 24 – Mo'ne Davis, American athlete

July

 * July 1 – Chosen Jacobs, American actor, singer and musician
 * July 10 – Isabela Moner, American actress and singer

August

 * August 6 – Ty Simpkins, American actor
 * August 22 – LaMelo Ball, American basketball player
 * August 23 – Zaijian Jaranilla, Filipino actor

September

 * September 10 – Ajna Késely, Hungarian swimmer

October

 * October 5 – Dalila Bela, Canadian actress
 * October 9 – Louis Hynes, British actor
 * October 13 – Caleb McLaughlin, American actor
 * October 14 – Rowan Blanchard, American actress
 * October 17
 * Jake Beale, Canadian actor
 * Thomas Strudwick, British motorcycle road racer
 * October 19 – Art Parkinson, Irish actor
 * October 25 – Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, daughter and Heiress Apparent of Philippe, King of the Belgians

November

 * November 22 – Zhong Chenle, South Korean singer
 * November 27 – Morgana Davies, Australian actress

December

 * December 1 – Aiko, Princess Toshi of Japan
 * December 8 – Tylen Jacob Williams, American actor
 * December 14 – Joshua Rush, American actor
 * December 18 – Billie Eilish, American singer
 * December 28 – Madison De La Garza, American actress

January

 * January 1 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
 * January 2 – William P. Rogers, American diplomat (b. 1913)
 * January 7 – Charles Helou, 9th President of Lebanon (b. 1913)
 * January 9 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, 2-time Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1919)
 * January 12
 * Adhemar da Silva, Brazilian athlete (b. 1927)
 * William Redington Hewlett, American businessman (b. 1913)
 * January 13 – Michael Cuccione, Canadian child actor and activist (b. 1985)
 * January 16
 * Laurent-Désiré Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
 * Virginia O'Brien, American actress (b. 1919)
 * January 27 – Marie José of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (b. 1906)
 * January 30 – Michel Marcel Navratil, last French citizen and male survivor of the Titanic disaster (b. 1908)
 * January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)

February

 * February 4 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer (b. 1922)
 * February 7 – King Moody, American actor (b. 1929)
 * February 9
 * Herbert A. Simon, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * Reginald Marsh, British actor (b. 1926)
 * February 10 – Lewis Arquette, American actor (b. 1935)
 * February 18
 * Balthus, French painter (b. 1908)
 * Dale Earnhardt, American auto racing driver (b. 1951)
 * February 19 – Stanley Kramer, American film director (b. 1913)
 * February 20 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
 * February 24 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician (b. 1916)
 * February 25 – Sir Don Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)

March

 * March 1 – John Painter, World's Oldest Man between 1999 and 2001 (b. 1888)
 * March 4
 * Glenn Hughes, American vocalist (b. 1950)
 * Jean René Bazaine, French painter (b. 1904)
 * March 9 – Richard Stone, American composer (b. 1953)
 * March 12
 * Morton Downey Jr., American television personality (b. 1932)
 * Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
 * March 15
 * Gaetano Cozzi, Italian historian (b. 1922)
 * Ann Sothern, American actress and singer (b. 1909)
 * March 16 – Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress and voice actress (b. 1921)
 * March 18 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter (b. 1935)
 * March 20 – Ilie Verdeț, 51st Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1925)
 * March 22 – William Hanna, American animator and businessman (b. 1910)
 * March 31 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)

April

 * April 7
 * David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
 * Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
 * April 8
 * Safiya Henderson-Holmes, African-American poet (b. 1950)
 * Van Stephenson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1953)
 * April 11 – Sandy Bull, American folk musician and composer (b. 1941)
 * April 14 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (b. 1927)
 * April 15 – Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (b. 1951)
 * April 20
 * Va'ai Kolone, Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1911)
 * Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
 * April 21 – Jack Haley Jr., American film director and producer (b. 1933)
 * April 25 – Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver (b. 1956)
 * April 29 – Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch politician and corporate director, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1971–1973) (b. 1920)

May

 * May 11 – Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
 * May 12 – Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
 * May 13 – R. K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
 * May 17 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (b. 1928)
 * May 22 – Jenő Fock, 49th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1916)
 * May 22 – Katharine Bartlett, American physical anthropologist, museum curator (b. 1907)
 * May 24 – Javier Urruticoechea, Spanish footballer (b. 1952)
 * May 31 – Arlene Francis, American actress and game show panelist (b. 1907)

June

 * June 1
 * King Birendra of Nepal (b. 1944)
 * Aiswarya, Queen of Nepal (b. 1949)
 * Dhirendra of Nepal (b. 1950)
 * Prince Nirajan of Nepal (b. 1978)
 * Princess Shruti of Nepal (b. 1976)
 * June 2 – Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
 * June 3 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (b. 1915)
 * June 4
 * King Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
 * John Hartford, American musician and composer (b. 1937)
 * June 7 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, 52nd President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
 * June 10 – Leila Pahlavi, Iranian princess (b. 1970)
 * June 11 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
 * June 12 – Owen Bush, American actor (b. 1921)
 * June 17 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
 * June 21
 * John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1917)
 * Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
 * Soad Hosny, Egyptian actress (b. 1942)
 * June 27
 * Tove Jansson, Finnish author (b. 1914)
 * Jack Lemmon, American actor and director (b. 1925)
 * Joan Sims, English actress (b. 1930)
 * June 28
 * Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher (b. 1902)
 * June 30 – Chet Atkins, American guitarist and record producer (b. 1924)

July

 * July 1 – Nikolay Basov, Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
 * July 10 – Álvaro Magaña, 38th President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
 * July 11 – Herman Brood, Dutch musician (b. 1946)
 * July 21
 * Sivaji Ganesan, Indian actor (b. 1928)
 * Steve Barton, American actor (b. 1954)
 * July 22 – Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (b. 1921)
 * July 24 – Hiroshi Tsuburaya, Japanese actor (b. 1964)
 * July 26 – Josef Klaus, 16th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1910)
 * July 28 – Ahmed Sofa, Bengali writer (b. 1943)
 * July 29 – Edward Gierek, Polish politician (b. 1913)
 * July 31
 * Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
 * Francisco da Costa Gomes, President of Portugal (b. 1914)

August

 * August 1 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
 * August 3 – Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, British peer, politician and reformer (b. 1905)
 * August 4 – Lorenzo Music, American voice actor (b. 1937)
 * August 6
 * Larry Adler, American musician (b. 1914)
 * Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
 * Dương Văn Minh, President of Vietnam (b. 1916)
 * Wilhelm Mohnke, German general (b. 1911)
 * August 15 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (b. 1972)
 * August 19 – Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist (b. 1933)
 * August 20 – Fred Hoyle, British astronomer and writer (b. 1915)
 * August 22 – Bernard Heuvelmans, Belgian-French cryptozoologist (b. 1916)
 * August 23 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (b. 1919)
 * August 24 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
 * August 25
 * Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979)
 * Ken Tyrrell, British auto racing driver (b. 1924)
 * August 26 – Marita Petersen, 8th Prime Minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1940)
 * August 30 – A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury, 9th President of Bangladesh (b. 1915)

September

 * September 2
 * Christiaan Barnard, South African cardiac surgeon (b. 1922)
 * Troy Donahue, American actor (b. 1936)
 * September 3
 * Pauline Kael, American film critic (b. 1919)
 * Thuy Trang, Vietnamese American actress (b. 1973)
 * September 4 – Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf (Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr.), American comedian (b. 1962)
 * September 9 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan military commander (b. 1953)
 * September 11
 * 2,996 people (2,977 victims and 19 hijackers) who died in the September 11 attacks
 * David Angell, American television producer (b. 1946)
 * Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout (b. 1948)
 * Berry Berenson, American photographer (and widow of Anthony Perkins) (b. 1948)
 * Daniel Lewin, American-Israeli mathematician and entrepreneur (b. 1970)
 * Jeremy Glick, passenger on board United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1970)
 * Barbara Olson, American television commentator (b. 1955)
 * September 13
 * Charles Régnier, German actor, director, radio actor, and translator (b. 1914)
 * Frédéric-Antonin Breysse, French cartoonist (b. 1907)
 * September 14 – Dorothy McGuire, American actress (b. 1916)
 * September 20
 * Marcos Pérez Jiménez, 51st President of Venezuela (b. 1914)
 * Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler, East German journalist and television host (b. 1918)
 * September 22 – Isaac Stern, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1920)
 * September 29 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese politician (b. 1923)

October

 * October 4 – Blaise Alexander, American automobile racing driver (b. 1976)
 * October 15 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese military figure (b. 1901)
 * October 22
 * Bertie Mee, English football player and coach (b. 1918)
 * Georgy Vitsin, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1917)
 * October 24 – Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovak filmmaker (b. 1935)

November

 * November – Justin Rakotoniaina, 3rd Prime Minister of Madagascar (b. 1933)
 * November 1 – Juan Bosch, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1909)
 * November 3 – Sir Ernst Gombrich, Austrian-born art historian (b. 1909)
 * November 5 – Gholam Reza Azhari, 73rd Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1912)
 * November 6
 * Gray Morrow, comic book artist and book illustrator (b. 1934)
 * Anthony Shaffer, English novelist and playwright (b. 1926)
 * Milton William Cooper, American author and radio host (b. 1943)
 * November 7 – Nida Blanca, Filipino actress (b. 1936)
 * November 9 – Giovanni Leone, 37th Prime Minister of Italy and 6th President of Italy (b. 1908)
 * November 10 – Ken Kesey, American author (b. 1935)
 * November 12 – Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, American-born Hindu guru (b. 1927)
 * November 17 – Michael Karoli, German musician (b. 1948)
 * November 22 – Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman (b. 1918)
 * November 23 – Mary Whitehouse, British conservative activist (b. 1910)
 * November 24 – Rachel Gurney, British actress (b. 1920)
 * November 25 – Gohar Shahi, Pakistani spiritual leader (b. 1941)
 * November 29
 * George Harrison, English musician (b. 1943)
 * John Mitchum, American actor (b. 1919)

December

 * December 5 – Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman, murdered (b. 1948)
 * December 12 – Josef Bican, Czech-Austrian footballer (b. 1913)
 * December 13
 * Chuck Schuldiner, American singer and guitarist (b. 1967)
 * Michael Bradshaw, English actor (b. 1933)
 * Rufus Thomas, American singer (b. 1917)
 * December 16 – Stuart Adamson, Scottish singer and guitarist (b. 1958)
 * December 18 – Marcel Mule, French saxophonist (b. 1901)
 * December 20 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal (b. 1906)
 * December 22
 * Bola Ige, Nigerian politician (b. 1930)
 * Grzegorz Ciechowski, Polish musician (b. 1957)
 * Walter Newton Read, American lawyer and officeholder; 2nd chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (b. 1918)
 * December 23 – Jelle Zijlstra, Dutch politician and economist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1966–1967) (b. 1918)
 * December 26 – Sir Nigel Hawthorne, British actor (b. 1929)
 * December 31 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)

Nobel Prizes

 * Physics – Eric Allin Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, and Carl Wieman
 * Chemistry – William Standish Knowles, Ryōji Noyori, and Karl Barry Sharpless
 * Medicine – Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt, and Paul Nurse
 * Literature – V. S. Naipaul
 * Peace – United Nations, Kofi Annan
 * Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph Stiglitz