2011

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years:	2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

2011 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	2011 MMXI
Ab urbe condita	2764
Armenian calendar	1460 ԹՎ ՌՆԿ
Assyrian calendar	6761
Baháʼí calendar	167–168
Balinese saka calendar	1932–1933
Bengali calendar	1418
Berber calendar	2961
British Regnal year	59 Eliz. 2 – 60 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2555
Burmese calendar	1373
Byzantine calendar	7519–7520
Chinese calendar	庚寅年 (Metal Tiger) 4708 or 4501     — to — 辛卯年 (Metal Rabbit) 4709 or 4502
Coptic calendar	1727–1728
Discordian calendar	3177
Ethiopian calendar	2003–2004
Hebrew calendar	5771–5772
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2067–2068
- Shaka Samvat	1932–1933
- Kali Yuga	5111–5112
Holocene calendar	12011
Igbo calendar	1011–1012
Iranian calendar	1389–1390
Islamic calendar	1432–1433
Japanese calendar	Heisei 23 (平成２３年)
Javanese calendar	1943–1945
Juche calendar	100
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4344
Minguo calendar	ROC 100 民國100年
Nanakshahi calendar	543
Thai solar calendar	2554
Tibetan calendar	阳金虎年 (male Iron-Tiger) 2137 or 1756 or 984     — to — 阴金兔年 (female Iron-Rabbit) 2138 or 1757 or 985
Unix time	1293840000 – 1325375999

2011 (MMXI) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. According to the North Korean Juche calendar, this will be Juche year 100. This year will also be the 100th of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Era year (民國100年).

Pronunciation

See also: Year pronunciation

There is a debate as to how specific years of the 21st century, including 2011, should be pronounced in English. Although the majority of English-speakers say "two thousand (and) X" for any specific year post–1999, it is often suggested that the continuation of this type of pronunciation for the entire 21st century would be inappropriate or unnatural, given the alternative "twenty X" option.

Many experts agree that majority usage of "two thousand (and) X" is a result of influences from the Y2K hype, as well as the way "2001" was pronounced in the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Experts also suggest that since former years such as 1805 and 1905 were commonly pronounced as "eighteen oh" or "nineteen oh" five, the year 2005 should naturally have been pronounced as "twenty oh-five".

Many people, ranging from linguistic and academic experts to Internet bloggers, predict that the "twenty X" pronunciation method will eventually prevail, but a time frame as to when this change will occur often differs. The year 2010 is suggested by many, while 2011 and 2013 are popular as well. The latest time frame for change is usually placed at 2020 or 2100.

According to a recent press release, David Crystal, author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (ISBN 9780521401791), has predicted that the change will occur in 2011, to "twenty eleven", explaining that the way people pronounce years depends on rhythm, rather than logic. Crystal claims that the rhythm or "flow" of "two thousand (and) ten", beats out that of "twenty ten", but the flow of "twenty eleven" beats out "two thousand (and) eleven". Alternatively, Ian Brookes, editor-in-chief of The Chambers Dictionary (ISBN 978-0550102898), suggests the change will occur in 2013. The Times (U.K.) has suggested 2020 as a final time frame for the change, saying "If people can have 'twenty-twenty' vision, then surely they should also live in the year 'twenty twenty'."

The 2010 Winter Olympics, due to take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, are being officially referred to as "the twenty-ten Olympics". The 2012 Summer Olympics, due to take place in London, U.K, are also being officially referred to by London 2012 as "the twenty-twelve Olympics". Chicago 2016, which operates the official Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, refers to the "twenty-sixteen games".

Predicted and scheduled events

January

• January 1 — Start of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union.
• January 1 — Croatia is set to join the European Union.
• January 1 — Estonia is set to adopt the euro.
• January — The United States extradition treaty with El Salvador goes into effect.
• January — Southern Sudan will hold a referendum on independence.
• January 1 — The estate tax in the United States, after its gradual repeal through 2010, returns in full force.
• January 2 — Conjunction between Jupiter and Uranus, Jupiter 34' south. Third conjunction of triple conjunction Jupiter/Uranus.
• January 4 — Partial solar eclipse.
• January 30 — The 2011 Asian Winter Games will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, until February 6.

February

• February — FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 will be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
• February — 2011 Winter Universiade will be held in Erzurum, Turkey.

March

• March 18 — NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in orbit around Mercury.
• March 18 — NASA's Pluto probe New Horizons will cross the orbit of Uranus, after a five-year journey. This will be faster than Voyager 2, which took eight years.
• March 27 — Census will be held in United Kingdom.

April

• April 8–21 — Cricket World Cup to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

May

• May — Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars all visible within a roughly 6° area of sky.
• May 17 — Canadian 2011 census.

June

• June 1 — Partial solar eclipse in the Arctic.
• June 15 — Total lunar eclipse, mainly visible in Africa, India, and the Middle East.
• June 26–July 17 — The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup will be held in Germany.

July

• July — The International Olympic Committee will decide the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
• July – The 2011 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship will be held at a location to be announced.
• July 1 — Start of the Polish presidency of the European Union.
• July 1 — Partial solar eclipse off the coast of Antarctica.
• July 12 – Neptune completes its first full orbit since its discovery in 1846.
• July 15–26 — Summer Universiade will be held in Shenzhen, China.
• July 24 — Analog television broadcasts will cease in Japan.
• July 27–August 7 — Sweden will host the 22nd World Scout Jamboree.

August

• August 15 — The comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková will pass within 0.0601 astronomical unit (about 5,589,300 miles) of Earth.
• August 15–21 — XXVI World Youth Daywill be held in Madrid, Spain.
• August 28–September 4 — The 2011 World Rowing Championships will be held at Lake Bled, Bled, Slovenia.
• August 31 — Canada will switch off its analogue television signals and transmit only digital television signals.

October

• October — Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, will host the XVI Pan American Games.
• October — 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in New Zealand.
• October 6 — Ontario 2011 general election.

November

• November 1 — South Africa will begin television broadcasts in digital. Analogue signal cut. New pay-tv services and full digital implementation scheduled for April 2010.

• November 25 — Partial solar eclipse in Antarctica.

December

• December 10 — Total lunar eclipse, visible mainly in Asia, Australia and Alaska.
• December 31 — All United States troops are scheduled to leave Iraq.

Unknown dates

• California will open the world's largest solar power plant.
• Several electric vehicles are expected to enter the U.S. market, perhaps most notably the Tesla Model S and BYD e6.
• Completion of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, the largest infrastructure project in eastern Germany.
• Predicted solar maximum (also predicted by other research groups for 2012).
• New Zealand Census to take place.
• The IPv4 unallocated address pool is projected to be exhausted.
• The Isle of Man will host the IV Commonwealth Youth Games.
• The Nord Stream natural-gas pipeline from Russia to Germany will be completed.
• Blue Waters, a petascale supercomputer being designed and built as a joint effort between the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IBM is expected to be completed in this year.
• Bulgaria and Romania will fully implement the Schengen Agreement.
• Greece will conduct a census (the last one was done in 2001, and one census is made every ten years).

Major religious holidays

• February 2 — Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day.
• March 17 — Saint Patrick's Day.
• March 20 — (Northern hemisphere) Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara.
• April 24 — Easter.
• May 11 — Beltane, a Cross-quarter day.
• June 21 — Summer solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha.
• August 1 — Lammas, a Cross-quarter day.
• September 23 — (Northern hemisphere) Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon.
• November 1 — Samhain, a Cross-quarter day and Neopagan new year.
• November 6 — Eid al-Adha, a religious holiday in Islam.
• December 25 — Christmas.

In fiction

Film

• The Taiwanese film Millennium Mambo (2001) where a woman narrates from 2011 about her life 10 years earlier.
• The film Revengers Tragedy (2003) is set in a dystopian Liverpool in the year 2011, following the aftermath of a natural disaster which has destroyed the southern half of Great Britain.

Television

• The Heroes television series visits 2011 in several different potential futures.
• In the Aeon Flux television series and film, 99% of the world's population is wiped out by a mysterious virus in the year 2011.
• In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles television series "Judgment Day" is predicted to take place on April 21.

Computer and video games

• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (2008)
• Persona 4 (2008)
• Max Payne 3 (2010)

Literature

• In K. A. Applegate's Remnants book series, 2011 is the year life on Earth becomes extinct after a 73-mile-wide asteroid nicknamed "The Rock" impacts Portugal. Eighty other humans are placed in a shuttle named the Mayflower mere hours before impact and put into artificial hibernation, while a handful of humans inexplicably survive the impact on Earth; the reason how and the means these few survived amongst the ruins of Earth is not stated.