Notations From the Grid (Special Mid-Week Edition): As 2022 is Before Us (Courtesy the Economist)

 

If 2021 was the year the world turned the tide against the pandemic, 2022 will be dominated by the need to adjust to new realities, both in areas reshaped by the crisis (the new world of work, and the future of travel) and as deeper trends reassert themselves (the rise of China, accelerating climate change). In our annual publication, The World Ahead 2022, we consider the outlook for the coming year across politics, business, technology and culture. But zooming in from that bigger picture, here are eight specific ways in which the world will change next year.

Tom Standage Deputy editor, The Economist, and editor, The World Ahead 2022

Editor’s picks Eight ways the world will change in 2022

What to expect in year three of the pandemic New antibody and antiviral treatments, and better vaccines, are on the way

International travel will get easier, but restrictions will remain Cross-border travel will probably not recover to pre-covid levels until 2024

Obese children will outnumber the underweight for the first time Many of the overweight kids live in Asia and Africa

The number of people in extreme poverty is falling again But some of the damage of the past two years will be impossible to undo

Creating “new” adults will not slow Japan’s ageing Nearly 30% of the population is 65 or older

A new coalition government will try to find its feet in Germany The new chancellor will try to retain Angela Merkel’s instinct for consensus

Several ambitious space missions will blast off in 2022 The stakes are high for national space agencies and private firms

The video-streaming battle is going global But in some territories, streamers are forming alliances