2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium due to a tendency of grouping the years according to decimal values, as if year zero were counted. According to the Gregorian calendar, these distinctions fall to the year 2001, because the 1st century was retroactively said to start with the year AD 1. Since the Gregorian calendar does not have year zero, its first millennium spanned from years 1 to 1000 inclusively and its second millennium from years 1001 to 2000.
The year 2000 is sometimes abbreviated as "Y2K". The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns, which were fears that computers would not shift from 1999 to 2000 correctly. However, by the end of 1999, many companies had already converted to new, or upgraded, existing software. Some even obtained "Y2K certification". As a result of massive effort, relatively few problems occurred.
Events
January
- January 2 – Kosheh massacres: Massacre of twenty Coptic Christians by Muslim villagers in Kosheh, Egypt.
- January 6 – The last natural Pyrenean ibex is found dead, apparently killed by a falling tree.
- January 10 – America Online announces an agreement to purchase Time Warner for $162 billion.
- January 14
- *The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 11,722.98.
- *The United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of more than 100 Bosnian Muslims.
- January 18 – The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth in Canada.
- January 30 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Ivory Coast into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
- January 31
- * Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.
- * Dr. Harold Shipman is found guilty of murdering 15 patients between 1995 and 1998 at Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The subsequent enquiry considers him to have killed at least 215.
February
- February 4 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
- February 5 – Second Chechen War: Novye Aldi massacre – Russian forces summarily execute at least 60 civilians in a suburb of Grozny.
- February 6 – Second Chechen War: Battle of Grozny ends with Russian forces conclude capture of the Chechen capital Grozny.
- February 9 – Torrential rains in Africa lead to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasts until March and kills 800 people.
- February 13 – The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz the day prior.
- February 21 – UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.
- February 29 – A rare century leap year date occurs. Usually, century years are common years due to not being exactly divisible by 400. 2000 is the first such year to have a February 29 since the year 1600, making it only the second such occasion since the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in the late 16th century. The next such leap year will occur in 2400.
March
- March 4 - The PlayStation 2 is released in Japan, followed by other releases in western markets in late 2000.
- March 8 - Naka-Meguro derailment: A sideswipe collision of two Tokyo Metro trains kills five people.
- March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5,048. Two weeks later, the NASDAQ-100, S&P 500, and Wilshire 5000 reach their peaks prior to the Dot-com bubble, ending a bull market run that has lasted over 17 years.
- March 12
- * Pope John Paul II apologizes for the wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages.
- * A Zenit-3SL sea launch fails due to a software bug.
- March 13 - The United States dollar becomes the official currency of Ecuador, replacing the Ecuadorian sucre.
April
- April 3 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- April 22 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize 6-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, D.C., ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history.
- April 30 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
May
- May 1 – A new class of composite material is fabricated, which has a combination of physical properties never before seen in a natural or man-made material.
- May 3 – In San Antonio, Texas, computer pioneer Datapoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- May 4 – The 7.6 Central Sulawesi earthquake affects Banggai, Indonesia, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, leaving 46 dead and 264 injured.
- May 5
- * After originating in the Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world.
- * A rare conjunction of seven celestial bodies occurs during the new moon.
- May 11 – India's population reaches 1 billion.
- May 13
- * A fireworks factory disaster in Enschede, Netherlands, kills 23.
- * Millennium Force opens at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio as the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster.
- May 24 – Real Madrid C.F. defeats Valencia CF 3–0 in the UEFA Champions League Final at Stade de France to win their second title between 1998 and 2002, and their eighth overall.
June
- June 4 - The 7.9 Enggano earthquake shakes southwestern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI, killing 103 people and injuring 2,174–2,585.
- June 5 - 405 The Movie, the first short film widely distributed on the Internet, is released.
- June 10 - July 2 - Belgium and the Netherlands jointly host the UEFA Euro 2000 football tournament, which is won by France.
- June 17 - A centennial earthquake hits Iceland on its national day.
- June 26 - A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished. It is announced at the White House by President Clinton.
- June 28 - Elián González returns to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel González, ending a protracted custody battle.
- June 30 - At the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, Denmark, nine die and 26 are injured on a set while the rock group Pearl Jam performs.
July
- July 1 – The Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden is officially opened for traffic.
- July 2 – France defeats Italy 2–1 after extra time in the final of the European Championship, becoming the first team to win the World Cup and European Championship consecutively.
- July 7 – The draft assembly of Human Genome Project announced at the White House by President Bill Clinton, Francis Collins, and Craig Venter.
- July 10 – In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.
- July 14 – A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth.
- July 25 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde aircraft, crashes into a hotel in Gonesse just after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and 4 in the hotel.
August
- August 3 – Rioting erupts on the Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, after more than 100 people besiege a block of flats allegedly housing a convicted paedophile. This is the latest vigilante violence against suspected sex offenders since the beginning of the "" anti-pedophile campaign by the tabloid newspaper News of the World.
- August 7 – DeviantART is launched.
- August 8 – The Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
- August 12 – The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea during one of the largest Russian naval exercises since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- August 14 – Tsar Nicholas II and his family are canonized by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- August 23 – John Anthony Kaiser, a Roman Catholic priest, is murdered in Morendat, Kenya.
- August 24 – The Nintendo GameCube is revealed.
September
- September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense.
- September 6-8 - World leaders attend the Millennium Summit at U.N. Headquarters.
- September 7-14 - Fuel protests take place in the United Kingdom, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.
- September 10 - Operation Barras: A British military operation to free five soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment that were held captive for over two weeks during the Sierra Leone Civil War, all of which were rescued.
- September 13 - Steve Jobs introduces the public beta of Mac OS X for US$29.95.
- September 15 - October 1 - The 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia, is the last Olympic Games of the 20th century.
- September 16 - Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.
- September 26 - The Greek ferry Express Samina sinks off the coast of the island of Paros; 80 out of a total of over 500 passengers perish in one of Greece's worst sea disasters.
- September 29 - The HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland is closed.
October
- October 3 - Approximate start of Autumn 2000 Western Europe floods precipitated by days of heavy rain.
- October 5 - Mass demonstrations in Belgrade lead to resignation of Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milošević.
- October 6 - The last Mini is produced in Longbridge.
- October 11 - of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky.
- October 12 - In Aden, Yemen, USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
- October 22 - The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises on his findings.
- October 26
- * Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a Persian Princess in the province of Balochistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a modern-day fake on April 17, 2001.
- * The New York Yankees defeat the New York Mets 4–2 in the fifth game of the World Series to win the first "Subway Series" since 1956 by 4 games to 1. The series win was the Yankees third in a row and 26th overall.
- October 30 - This is the final date during which there is no human presence in space; on October 31, Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since.
- October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, resulting in 83 deaths.
November
- November 2 – The first resident crew enters the International Space Station.
- November 7
- *In London, a criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal the Millennium Star diamond, but police surveillance catches them in the act.
- *The 2000 United States Presidential Election: no winner can be declared, prompting a controversial recount in Florida.
- November 11 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A funicular fire in an Alpine tunnel kills 155 skiers and snowboarders.
- November 12 – The United States recognizes the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- November 17 – A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
December
- December 7 – Kadisoka temple is discovered in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
- December 12 – The United States Supreme Court rules that the recount of the 2000 presidential election in Florida should be halted and the original results be certified, thus making George W. Bush the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
- December 15 – The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down and the station is shut down completely.
- December 25 – The Luoyang Christmas fire at a shopping center in China kills 309 people.
World population
Births
January–February
- January 1 - Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, Russian-Australian pair skater
- January 8 - Noah Cyrus, American actress and singer
- January 11 - Marrit Steenbergen, Dutch swimmer
- January 14 - Jonathan David, Canadian footballer
- January 19 - Choi Da-bin, South Korean figure skater
- February 10 - Yara Shahidi, American actress
- February 16 - Amine Gouiri, French footballer
- February 20
- * Kristóf Milák, Hungarian swimmer
- * Josh Sargent, American footballer
- February 22 - Timothy Weah, American footballer
- February 28 - Moise Kean, Italian footballer
March–April
- March 2
- * Nahida Akter, Bangladeshi cricketer
- * Julia Kedhammar, Swedish singer
- March 11 - Rahaf Mohammed, Saudi Arabian activist
- March 15 - Kristian Kostov, Russian/Bulgarian singer-songwriter
- March 21 - Jace Norman, American actor
- March 25 - Jadon Sancho, English footballer
- March 27 - Sophie Nélisse, Canadian actress
- March 28 - Aleyna Tilki, Turkish singer
- March 31 - Anu Anand, Indian actress
- April 6 - Shaheen Afridi, Pakistani cricketer
- April 7 - Ivan Ivanov, Bulgarian singer and songwriter
- April 9 - Jackie Evancho, American soprano
- April 13 - Rasmus Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
- April 23 - Chloe Kim, American snowboarder
- April 28 - Ellie Carpenter, Australian footballer
May–June
- May 15
- * Jacob Bragg, Australian runner
- * Dayana Yastremska, Ukrainian tennis player
- May 24 - Anja Crevar, Serbian swimmer
- May 28
- * Phil Foden, English footballer
- * Taylor Ruck, Canadian swimmer
- May 30 - Jared S. Gilmore, American actor
- June 1 - Willow Shields, American actress and dancer
- June 2 - Lilimar Hernandez, Venezuelan actress
- June 5 - Eliias, Swedish singer
- June 9 - Laurie Hernandez, American artistic gymnast
- June 13 - Penny Oleksiak, Canadian swimmer
- June 14 - RJ Barrett, Canadian basketball player
- June 16 - Bianca Andreescu, Canadian tennis player
- June 19 - Gunay Mammadzada, Azerbaijani chess player
- June 23 - Kim Hyun-soo, South Korean actress
July–August
- July 1 - Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter
- July 4 - Rikako Ikee, Japanese swimmer
- July 6
- * Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Finnish ice hockey player
- * Zion Williamson, American basketball player
- July 12 - Vinícius Júnior, Brazilian footballer
- July 15 - Paulinho, Brazilian footballer
- July 18 - Angelina Melnikova, Russian artistic gymnast
- July 21 - Erling Haaland, Norwegian footballer
- July 25 - Ellie Soutter, British snowboarder
- July 26 - Thomasin McKenzie, New Zealand actress
- July 28 - Kaitlin De Guzman, Filipino artistic gymnast
- August 2 - Sandeep Lamichhane, Nepalese cricketer
- August 9 - Kim Hyang-gi, South Korean actress
- August 17 - Lil Pump, American rapper and songwriter
- August 20 - Fátima Ptacek, American actress
- August 21 - Kate Valdez, Filipino model and actress
- August 25 - Vincenzo Cantiello, Italian singer
- August 27 - Tatsuomi Hamada, Japanese actor and model
- August 29 - Julia Grosso, Canadian soccer player
- August 31 – Angel Gomes, English football player
September–October
- September 3 - Brandon Williams, English association footballer
- September 26 - Salma bint Abdullah, Jordanian princess
- September 28 - Frankie Jonas, American actor
- October 6 - Jazz Jennings, American spokesmodel, television personality, and LGBT rights activist
- October 6 - Addison Rae, social media personality and dancer
- October 16 - David Rawle, Irish actor
- October 25 - Vincent Zhou, American figure skater
- October 27 - Claudia Emmanuela Santoso, Indonesian singer
- October 31 - Willow Smith, American actress and singer
November–December
- November 2 - Alphonso Davies, Canadian football player
- November 7 - Callum Hudson-Odoi, English footballer
- November 8 - Anastasia Skoptsova, Russian ice dancer
- November 10 - Mackenzie Foy, American model and actress
- November 20 - Connie Talbot, British singer
- November 21 - Megan Roberts, Canadian artistic gymnast
- November 22
- *Auli'i Cravalho, American actress, voice actress and singer
- * Baby Ariel, American singer-songwriter, actress, and social media personality.
- December 1 - Sophia Flörsch, German racing driver
- December 12 - Lucas Jade Zumann, American actor
- December 28 - Larissa Manoela, Brazilian actress, singer, model, voice actress, writer and digital influencer
- December 29 - Eliot Vassamillet, Belgian singer
Deaths
January
- January 2
- * Nat Adderley, American jazz musician
- * Patrick O'Brian, British writer
- * Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, mother of King Juan Carlos I
- January 3 – Bernhard Wicki, Austrian actor and director
- January 4 – Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece
- January 6 – Alexey Vyzmanavin, Russian chess Grandmaster
- January 7 – Makhmud Esambayev, Soviet and Russian actor and dancer
- January 8 – Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian and show jumper
- January 11 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player and manager
- January 13 – Antti Hyvärinen, Finnish Olympic ski jumper
- January 15 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader
- January 18 – Frances Drake, American actress
- January 19
- * Bettino Craxi, Italian politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy
- * Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress
- * Alan North, American actor
- January 21 – Saeb Salam, Lebanese politician, 20th Prime Minister of Lebanon
- January 23 – Marat Ospanov, Kazakh politician, 1st Chairman of Mazhilis
- January 26
- * Don Budge, American tennis player
- * A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American science fiction author
February
- February 5 – Claude Autant-Lara, French film director
- February 7 – Big Pun, American rapper
- February 8
- * Sid Abel, Canadian ice hockey player
- * Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Romanian lawyer and politician, 49th Prime Minister of Romania
- February 10 – Jim Varney, American actor
- February 11
- * Jacqueline Auriol, French aviator
- * Roger Vadim, French film director and producer
- February 12
- * Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist
- * Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American rock singer and performer
- February 19
- * Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist
- * Djidingar Dono Ngardoum, 2nd Prime Minister of Chad
- February 23
- * Ofra Haza, Israeli singer
- * Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer
March
- March 2 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian Olympic curler
- March 5 – Lolo Ferrari, French actress and dancer
- March 6
- * John Colicos, Canadian actor
- * Abraham Waligo, Ugandan politician, 4th Prime Minister of Uganda
- March 7 – Charles Gray, English actor
- March 11 – Alfred Schwarzmann, German gymnast
- March 27 – Ian Dury, British rock musician
- March 28 – Anthony Powell, British author
- March 30 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian diplomat and 8th President of Austria
April
- April 2 – Tommaso Buscetta, Italian mafioso informant
- April 3 – Terence McKenna, American writer, philosopher, writer and entheogen advocate
- April 5 – Lee Petty, American race-car driver
- April 6 – Habib Bourguiba, 1st President of Tunisia
- April 8 – Claire Trevor, American actress
- April 10
- * Rabah Bitat, Algerian politician and Interim President of Algeria
- * Larry Linville, American actor
- April 14 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer
- April 15 – Edward Gorey, American writer and illustrator
- April 16 – Putra of Perlis, Malaysian King
- April 27 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer and actress
- April 28 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English novelist, poet, essayist and biographer
- April 29 – Phạm Văn Đồng, 2nd Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- April 30 – Poul Hartling, Danish diplomat and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Denmark
May
- May 1 – Steve Reeves, American actor and bodybuilder
- May 7 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., American actor
- May 8 – Hubert Maga, 1st President of Dahomey
- May 10
- * Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor
- * Craig Stevens, American actor
- May 11 – René Muñoz, Cuban actor and screenwriter
- May 13 – Paul Bartel, American actor, writer and director
- May 14 – Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 54th Prime Minister of Japan
- May 19
- * Petter Hugsted, Norwegian Olympic ski jumper
- * Yevgeny Khrunov, Soviet cosmonaut
- May 21
- * Dame Barbara Cartland, British novelist
- * Sir John Gielgud, British actor
- * Mark R. Hughes, American MLM founder
- * Erich Mielke, German secret police official
- May 24 – Oleg Yefremov, Soviet/Russian actor and producer
- May 25 – Francis Lederer, French film and stage actor
- May 27 – Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player
- May 31
- * Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat and politician, 1st President of Bulgaria
- * Tito Puente, American jazz musician
June
- June 3 - Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 10 – Hafez al-Assad, Syrian politician and general, 18th President of Syria
- June 16 – Empress Kōjun of Japan
- June 18 – Nancy Marchand, American actress
- June 19 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician, 46th Prime Minister of Japan
- June 21 – Alan Hovhaness, American composer
- June 24 – David Tomlinson, English actor
- June 27 – Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, 97th Prime Minister of France
- June 29 – Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor
July
- July 1 – Walter Matthau, American actor
- July 2 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcyclist
- July 6 – Lazar Koliševski, 2nd President of Yugoslavia
- July 7 – Kenny Irwin Jr., American stock car racing driver
- July 8 – FM-2030, Transhumanist philosopher
- July 11 – Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury
- July 15 – Kalle Svensson, Swedish footballer
- July 28 – Abraham Pais, American physicist
- July 29 – René Favaloro, Argentinian cardiologist
August
- August 5 – Sir Alec Guinness, English actor and writer
- August 9 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist
- August 12 – Loretta Young, American actress
- August 13 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani singer
- August 20 – Bunny Austin, English tennis player
- August 21 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Zambia
- August 22 – Abulfaz Elchibey, Azerbaijani political figure, 2nd President of Azerbaijan
- August 24 – Andy Hug, Swiss Seidokaikan karateka and kickboxer
- August 25
- * Carl Barks, American cartoonist and screenwriter
- * Ivan Stambolić, Serbian politician
September
- September 2 – Curt Siodmak, American novelist and screenwriter
- September 6 – Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general
- September 14 – Beah Richards, American actress
- September 16 – Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist
- September 17 – Paula Yates, British television presenter
- September 19 – Ann Doran, American actress
- September 20 – Gherman Titov, Soviet cosmonaut
- September 22 – Saburō Sakai, Japanese fighter ace
- September 25 – R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet
- September 26 – Richard Mulligan, American actor
- September 28
- * Pote Sarasin, Thai diplomat and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Thailand
- * Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada
October
- October 1 – Rosie Douglas, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica
- October 3 – Benjamin Orr, American singer-songwriter
- October 4 – Michael Smith, English-born chemist
- October 6 – Richard Farnsworth, American actor
- October 7 – Walter Krupinski, German fighter ace and general
- October 10 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 2-time Prime Minister of Ceylon and 2-time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
- October 11 – Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland
- October 13 – Jean Peters, American actress
- October 15 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist
- October 16
- * Mel Carnahan, American politician
- * Rick Jason, American actor
- October 18
- * Julie London, American singer and actress
- * Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer
- October 21 – Reginald Kray, British criminal
- October 22 – Jean-Luc Mandaba, 11th Prime Minister of Central African Republic
- October 23
- * Rodney Anoa'i, American wrestler
- * Nils Tapp, Swedish Olympic cross-country skier
- October 27 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone
- October 30 – Steve Allen, American comedian and author
- October 31 – Ring Lardner, Jr., American screenwriter
November
- November 5
- * Jimmie Davis, American singer
- * Roger Peyrefitte, French writer and diplomat
- November 6 – L. Sprague de Camp, American writer
- November 7
- * C Subramaniam, Indian politician
- * Ingrid of Sweden, Queen consort of Denmark
- November 8 – Józef Pińkowski, Polish politician, 50th Prime Minister of Poland
- November 10
- * Adamantios Androutsopoulos, Greek lawyer and professor, 168th Prime Minister of Greece
- * Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French politician, 102nd Prime Minister of France
- November 12 – Franck Pourcel, French composer, arranger and conductor of popular music and classical music
- November 17 – Louis Néel, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 19 – George Cosmas Adyebo, Ugandan economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Uganda
- November 22
- * Christian Marquand, French actor and director
- * Emil Zátopek, Czechoslovakian Olympic athlete
- November 28 – Liane Haid, Austrian actress
December
- December 2 – Gail Fisher, American actress
- December 3 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American writer
- December 6 – Werner Klemperer, American actor
- December 8 – Ionatana Ionatana, 5th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
- December 10 – Marie Windsor, American actress
- December 11 – Johannes Virolainen, Finnish politician, 30th Prime Minister of Finland
- December 18 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer
- December 19
- * John Lindsay, American politician, lawyer and broadcaster
- * Son Sann, Cambodian politician, 24th Prime Minister of Cambodia
- December 23
- * Billy Barty, American actor
- * Victor Borge, Danish-born American actor and comedian
- December 24 - Nick Massi, bass singer and bass guitarist for The Four Seasons
- December 26 – Jason Robards, American actor
- December 30 – Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter
Nobel Prizes
- Chemistry – Alan J. Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa
- Economics – James Heckman and Daniel McFadden
- Literature – Gao Xingjian
- Peace – Kim Dae-jung
- Physics – Zhores Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, and Jack Kilby
- Physiology or Medicine – Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, and Eric Kandel