2022 (MMXXII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2022nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 22nd year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2020s decade.
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw the removal of most COVID-19 restrictions and the reopening of international borders in the vast majority of countries, while the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continued. The global economic recovery from the pandemic continued, though many countries experienced an ongoing inflation surge; in response, many central banks raised their interest rates to landmark levels. The world population reached eight billion people in 2022. The year also witnessed numerous natural disasters, including two devastating Atlantic hurricanes (Fiona and Ian), and the most powerful volcano eruption of the century so far. The later part of the year also saw the first public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI starting an arms race in artificial intelligence which increased in intensity into 2023, as well as the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
