2020

While it may be too early to say, and it may still fall short of most of the other worst years in history on this list, the year 2020 was unquestionably one of the worst in living memory. Because much of the world was trapped inside because to the Covid-19 epidemic - one of the worst pandemics in history - the year was marked by terrible lows that no one alive today has experienced. Worst of all? With a devastating recurrence of the virus occurring in several locations throughout the world right now, the ordeal may be far from over.

In terms of pure numbers, it's simple to argue that 2020 will be one of the worst years in history. To date, the outbreak has infected just about 160 million people worldwide, with over 3.2 million already dead. While they may not appear to be large numbers in light of today's global population and historically terrible pandemics such as the Black Death and Spanish Flu, keep in mind that the figures are still being tallied. People are still reporting around 14,000 deaths per day due to the outbreak, with particularly concerning data surfacing from nations such as Brazil and India at the time of writing.

In terms of economic impact, several experts, including the IMF, have already declared the pandemic-caused recession to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, with many nations experiencing a record drop in GDP not seen since the nineteenth century. The impact has been most severe in economies that rely heavily on global trade and finance. Thankfully, with the vaccination campaign in full swing in most parts of the world, this is expected to improve sooner rather than later.