In plazas and parks and bars and homes across the globe, people gathered to commemorate the end of 2024 and welcome the New Year. Bold swimmers plunged into a frigid lake in Switzerland, joggers in Poland took one last whimsical run of the year and fireworks crackled in cities large and small.
The celebrations heralded the end of a tumultuous year during which more than half of the world’s population went to the polls, shaping the future of democracies in more than 30 countries.
In Syria, a revolution overthrew a brutal, decades-long dictatorship, as wars widened in the Middle East and ground on in Ukraine and Sudan. The year was almost certainly the hottest on record, beating the high set in 2023.
There was triumph, failure and shimmering pageantry at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. And on April 8, millions looked skyward, gazing in awe as a total solar eclipse bathed parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada in darkness.
Here’s how celebrations looked around the world:
People counted down to midnight in Auckland, New Zealand, one of the first major cities to welcome 2025.
People bundled up to participate in a New Year’s Eve race around a Christmas tree in Siberia, Russia, where temperatures plunged below minus 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
Revelers gathered around Sydney Harbour to watch a fireworks display.
Costumes and creatures were brought out for the 20th edition of the New Year’s Eve Run in Krakow, Poland.
Devotees of Candomblé, a religion based on beliefs brought from Africa, took part in a spiritual cleansing ritual on New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro.
At the City Pillar Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, a Buddhist woman placed a gold leaf on a Buddha statue at a ceremony commemorating the end of the year.
Swimmers in Moosseedorf, Switzerland, braved the cold waters of Lake Moossee in a traditional New Year’s Eve dip.