2050s (The 21st Century)

In 2050, oil revenues continued to drop for the Middle East as clean energy grew cheaper. Tensions in the middle east continued even when the UN begged both sides to disarm and make peace. In the US, the 50s were a time of great social change.

America
In the 50s, there were movements pushing for sibling and cousin marriage. On September 11, 2051, the president gave a speech at the world trade center, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. A tribute statue was placed in front of the World Trade Center.

In other news, due to the ubiquitousness of self driving cars, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 which established a federal drinking age of 21, was repealed. Said act was put in place to combat drunk driving deaths. However for a while, most states had a higher LDA than 18 though a plurality had it set to 18. Some progressives states wanted to vow to have the drinking age as young as 16 or 17 years old and the age of sexual consent as young as 14. Most states in the United States had to legal age of drinking to be of 18 years of age.

Recreational drug use also saw change. Over the course of decades: by this point, tobacco was officially banned under federal law but by this point, most states had already done so. The only places with legalized tobacco was on Native American reservations and a new movement similar to Prohibition was starting to take place. On the other hand, every state (except the most conservative ones) has legalized cannabis which had its federal ban lifted almost 3 decades prior.

With the rise of climate change, many crops that were grown in the Southern part of the United States were starting to grow as far north as Canada. The cold taigas of Canada has turned into lush farmland, making Canada a new agricultural superpower like the United States. Many subtropical and even tropical crops were starting to grow as far north as Chicago and Minneapolis- St. Paul. The southern United States had turned into a tropical climate similar to the Caribbean while the northern parts of the United States were starting to have climates similar to the current southern United States. A mass migration to Canada was taking place as the once fertile soil of the central United States had turned into a dryer climate, almost reminiscent of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The population of the United States was starting to decline while the population of Canada was starting to increase. Eventually the population of the United States and Canada will become more similar to each other in size instead of having Canada dwarf the US population. A similar migration was taking place in the Eurasian Union was well, but the economy of the country did not flourish as much as Canada despite of having a similar change in climate and agricultural resources. The migration in the Eurasian Union was not as strong as the one in Canada as well.

Incest movements were also present in Europe.

Eurasian Union:
On September 18, 2051, a radical group from the south had someone fly a plane into the Ostankino Tower. The tower lasted 30 minutes before collapsing and, as a direct result, Dagestan, where the group was based, was placed under military rule. The people responded with violent protests which were often put down. By 2053, the protests escalated into insurgency; Dagestan ended up just like Iraq. Other regions in North Caucasus experienced protests calling for independence, particularly Chechnya.

Other EU members also sent troops to Dagestan to back the Russians.

Belgium and the Netherlands:
Both countries were threatened by flooding.

Latin America
The countries in Latin America began to replicate the living standards of the west.

Brazil:
Half of the Amazon rain forest had disappeared despite environmentalist efforts.

China:
By 2050, China had become the equivalent of post-1950s Detroit.

Japan:
Japan was even worse off than China but their standards of living were still better.

Korea:
Korea was facing economic stagnation.

Bangladesh:
Bangladesh experienced many troubles due to flooding and became increasingly dependent on India.

Maldives:
By 2050, the Maldives had dissolved and many of its inhabitants relocated to India.

India:
India's economy continued to boom. The country was the first and so far only to hit the 2 billion mark. By 2050 due to rising waters, the Indian government constructed a large barrier, surrounding Mumbai which by that point had become the world's most populated city.

Middle East
Tensions continued in the middle east.

Iran:
In the 50s, Iran reached its peak population, as well as having 110 nuclear warheads. In 2053, they began shipping warheads to islands near an island which the UAE owned; this increased tensions.

Saudi Arabia:
Their GDP growth continued to dwindle. Mecca was quite the exception as more Muslims could afford to do the Hajj pilgrimage and as a result As a result, the mosque in Mecca was expanded further.

The country maintained a nuclear arsenal of 90 warheads.

Israel:
Israel remained a 3rd party in the standoff between the Arab league and Iran and Syria; they had 200 warheads.

Jordan:
This country had 40 warheads

Turkey:
Turkey had 125 warheads

United Arab Emirates:
Although this country had no nuclear program, Iran began placing nuclear warheads on 3 islands which they owned and were right next to an island which they, the UAE owned. This action felt threatening to the UAE as well as Saudi Arabia.

Iraq:
Iraqi diplomats continued to persuade peace talks between the two sides.

The Sudan region:
North Sudan's economy continued to stagnate until it was at the level of North Korea in 2016.

Darfur was an impoverished region. Their population was booming but they had very little resources to feed them.

South Sudan was quickly following the pattern of South Korea. Juba resembled the living standards in America and Europe; all of the roads there were paved, buildings grew taller, and poorly built houses were disappearing. In the rest of the country, most of the roads were paved and cities were more developed.

Democratic republic of the Congo:
The Congo during the fifties was like Brazil, 40-50 years prior. There was no conflict and corruption had been toned down. The country had utilized its resources and became the economic powerhouse of Africa, much like Brazil to South America. Kinshasa was the most populous city in Africa.

The deforestation of the Congo rain forest was troubling to many, particularly environmentalists and indigenous tribes which dwelt in the forest.

Nigeria:
By 2050, Nigeria's population (398 million) had overtaken that of the United States (388 million). Most people living half a century prior would expect this to cause problems for Nigeria. This is not the case because back in 2016, Bangladesh had a bigger population than Russia and had 1,254 people per km2 while Nigeria in 2050 had 431 people per km2. Furthermore, Bangladesh had one of the lowest GDPs per capita in the world; by comparison, Nigeria back then had a higher per capita than india. Although Bangladesh was impoverished, there were no mass deaths due to overpopulation.

In other news, Nigeria's economy continued to prosper.

Uganda:
Uganda's population was half that of Nigeria while the latter was 3.83 times bigger than the former.

Burundi and Rwanda:
both countries in the fifties experienced huge population densities whit Burundi having 1,029 people per km2 (not as high as Bangladesh in the 2nd decade of the 21st century but Bangladesh's land was very arable plus Burundi is landlocked). Rwanda's population was a little smaller and peaked around the second half of the 21st century.

Angola:
the country became greatly weakened by the loss of oil revenue and by 2052, Angola's government had been overthrown and the country fell into chaos.

Cabinda became independent in the same year.

Morocco:
The Moroccan government accused Algeria of arming Sahrawi "terrorists". Algeria responded by accusing Morocco of exploiting another people's country.

The western Saharan resistance had trouble breaking through the Moroccan wall which was completed in 1991

Algeria:
Algeria armed the Sahrawi groups and thus was accused by Morocco once they found out.