Every year, as we approach the end of the year, The Economist releases a special set of news articles as well as a cover page for the upcoming year. The name of this tradition is “The World Ahead.” As for the cover page of 2025, it is possible to say that they are expecting to see the reflections of the events of 2024.
In The World Ahead, the correspondents and experts of The Economist make predictions for the following year through a deep analysis of the global situation. This year, the experts were once again invited to analyze the state of our world in the fields of geopolitics, business, technology and culture, including the impacts of the victory of Donald Trump on both the United States and the world, and changes in the field of technology involving clean energy, artificial intelligence and medicine.
All of these topics are crucial in order to gain an understanding of the world we all live in as well as the year that came to an end. This year’s cover, from the illustrator Ben Jones can be found below.
At first glance, it is easy to notice the important political figures; especially Donald Trump, since he is in the center of the illustration. Him being surrounded by an electrical car, an upwards graph and a rocket may be some of the signs of the developments or generally the changes expected with the new political order of the United States after the elections in November. Experts believe that an upwards trend graph might be signaling economic growth with the new system, and the electric car, rocket are associated with Elon Musk. It is important to note that Elon Musk was tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Other political names are Zelensky and Putin, their silhouettes were also on the cover of 2024. It is thought to symbolize the ongoing tension between Ukraine and Russia. Another important name, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and right under her is a broken down voting box. When these two came together, it made the idea of a changing balance in Europe, between or within countries. A visible rise in right-wing ideology was visible in Europe for the last few years and with the recent elections in several countries some proofs for this rise are available. For example, in the first round of the elections in France that took place in the summer of 2024, the far-right party Le Pen got the most votes.
The image of a vaccine on the middle-left side of the illustration can be a symbol for a new global epidemic, and as it has recently been 5 years since the first COVID-19 patient is recognized, an expectancy of a global pandemic followed by a new vaccine may cause the humanity to repeat everything they have been through in the last half decade. The fact that the discussions about the COVID-19 vaccinations are still ongoing even after a long time; mainly caused by some long-term side effects being visible by the patients. Thus, it is possible to say that the image of a vaccine could be a symbol for the rising amount of discussions for the whole vaccination process that was mostly in 2021 and 2022.
Clear images of the currencies Dollar and Yen are also available in the illustration. This may be signaling a global economic fluctuation, and especially after the global market plummet that the world has experienced in August a change in the strengths of different currencies can be expected to happen. Especially for the Asian countries; such as Japan, which is one of the countries that got the most affected by this market plummet, the currency values experiencing a change would not be unexpected. Therefore, I believe, the experts of The Economist took the plummet into consideration as well as other vital factors while analyzing the general status quo of the economy of our world.
The picture of the world and an hourglass right above it is believed to symbolize the rising impact of climate change on our world and how we do not have a long time remaining till we experience the harsh effects of this global change. It is a known fact that we have to take immediate action for this global issue as soon as possible and The Economist pointing out this fact may be an important signal for humanity to take further steps in this regard. With the global problems of climate change, global warming, animals going extinct, the overuse of fossil fuels are critical and they need to be solved quickly. Else, we always have to remember that we only have one world to live in and we have no other option than to take care of it well.
Right at the bottom of the illustration, there is a painting of Jane Austen and with a red fist next to it. Jane Austen, an English author, generally represents strong woman characters and the red fist symbolizes an uprising, a reaction. Therefore, it can be understood as a reaction from the women to the system that we live in; feminist movements can be expected in the year of 2025 to increase the number of women in politics, in the fields of science and technology and generally to have a rise in the number of women who have proper rights of education and living, without having to be dependent on a man for their lives.
To wrap up, in this year’s The Economist’s “The Year Ahead” illustration; there are some critical changes expected in the general order of the world we live in. With the political changes in many continents and especially America and Europe, the predictions for the year 2025 are shaped and supported with articles. We would not be mistaken if we were to say that the predictions of The Economist can reflect a simple image of the world that we are about to live in.
Edited by: Ömer Gökce, Yağmur Ece Nisanoğlu