Apocalypse, demographics and Mirabel airport: what was predicted for 2025

The year 2025 marks the end of the first quarter of the 21st century^e century. For certain experts and certain organizations, this temporal marker was useful, particularly during the 20th century.^e century, indicator or objective. It has also been used as an arrival point for numerous predictions of all kinds. However, have these predictions come true? Overview.

Life expectancy in Canada will be 77.7 years (1982)

The United Nations (UN) makes detailed population predictions in regularly updated reports.

In a report published in 1982, this international organization spread its predictions until 2025. Population by age group, fertility, life expectancy, etc. Each country was the subject of a detailed study. At that time, it was predicted that life expectancy in Canada would reach an average of 77.7 years.

For men, the predicted life expectancy was then 74.4 years, while it was 81.3 years for women.

In realitylife expectancy at birth in Canada is instead, as predicted by later reports, 81 years on average for both sexes (81.70 years, to be more precise), according to Statistics Canada data for the year 2023, which excludes Prince Edward Island.

If we separate this data according to sex, we notice a notable gap between men (79.51 years on average) and women (83.89 years).

The world population will be 8.504 billion people, of which 61% will live in an urban region (1999)

In view of the turn of the millennium, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted certain demographic trends and projected population growth and its concentration in an urban region.

More precisely, theOMS estimated at that time that more than 5 billion human beings would live in an urban region in 2025.

In reality, the planet has indeed passed the milestone of 8 billion inhabitants (in November 2022), but the planet would rather have around 8.2 billion inhabitants at the moment and not 8.5 billion, as previously projected, according to the most recent data published by the United Nations.

As for demographic concentration, although more than half of the world’s population lives in an urban region, it seems that this proportion only reaches around 55% at present, according to the most recent data from the World Bank and the ‘HIM.

Cancer Will Be Conquered (2000)

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This prediction was established not by experts but rather by the majority of Quebecers, according to an article published in the magazine Québec Science in 2000.

According to published data, 67.2% of Quebecers – regardless of gender, age and income – thought it was very likely or fairly likely that humanity would eradicate cancer by 2025.

In their eyes, this scientific discovery was then the most likely to be made within the next 25 years, as opposed to human contact on Mars, the elimination of pollution on Earth, the eradication of hunger in the world or the creation of a “living” computer (i.e. a computer that has consciousness and emotions).

At the time, Dr. Pierre Audet-Lapointe, co-founder of the Quebec Cancer Foundation, explained that ifhappy surprises [étaient] always possible25 years seemed like a pretty short time frame.

In the 1970s, forecasts were for around ten years. Nearly 30 years later, we still haven’t gotten there!

Cancer is a terribly complex disease, which involves parameters that are very different from each other…added Dr. Audet-Lapointe.

In reality, cancer is still far from being defeated. According to Statistics Canada, more than two in five Canadians are likely to develop cancer in their lifetime, and more than one in five Canadians are expected to die from it.

The Canadian Cancer Society also explains that it is estimated that in 2024, there will be 247,100 new cases of cancer and 88,100 deaths caused by this disease in the country. This is an increase compared to the previous year, which the organization explains by demographic growth and the aging of the population.

It has been estimated that on average, 675 people per day will be diagnosed with cancer and 241 people per day will die from cancer in Canada in 2024we can read on their website.

Not surprisingly, it is the most populous provinces in the country, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which have the greatest number of cancer cases.

Mirabel Airport will become the largest airport in the world (1975)

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At least that is what was told to the media the year of the official launch of this very popular project, in 1975. It was then predicted that Mirabel would welcome 60 million travelers per year in 2025.

There was also talk of a total area of ​​7,000 hectares, six airports and a road network of half a dozen highways.

Nearly 10,000 people had to be displaced for the construction of this airport, which affected 14 municipalities. More than 3,000 owners, including a good number of farmers, had to cede their land, an expropriation of an unprecedented scale in Canada.

In reality, Montreal-Mirabel International Airport is not used for passenger transport and is today mainly used for air freight. The impact of the oil crisis of the 1970s and the economic growth of Toronto and its airport weighed heavily on the development of Mirabel.

The airport’s terminal building was demolished in 2016, with the airport’s last passenger flight taking place in October 2004.

Satan will take control of the world (1872)

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In his work The Plan of Revelation and the meaning of the prophecies it contains : to warn men of events which, in our days, at the end of time, must interest the Church and the world (it The Plan of the Apocalypse), published in 1872, Abbé Lafont-Sentenac makes no more or less macabre observation that 2025 is, according to his calculations, the year when Satan will take control of the world.

Satan, loosed, will deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, [il] will assemble them for battle and [leur] number will equal the sands of the seawe can read.

Satan, loosed, hastens to seduce the nations, unites them innumerable to attack the saints in their last entrenchments and brings on himself and on the world, after a few years, the last punishments.

To arrive at this conclusion, Abbot Lafont-Sentenac took the number 765 (year of the moment when the Church was put in possession of the place which had been prepared for it, i.e., according to him, the year when Pepin the Short protected the Church and gave it a large part of Italy) and added 1260, the number of years, according to the writings, during which the Church will sit in Rome.

While there appears to be little information online about Father Lafont-Sentenac, the content of his work has been used a few times over the decades by certain members of the clergy and the intellectual world.

In reality, if the year 2025 is still far from being over and if current events – punctuated by political crises and natural disasters – can cultivate distress and pessimism among some, nothing seems to scientifically indicate that 2025 will be the year of the end of the world or that Satan will deceive the nations.

In fact, predictions about the date of the Apocalypse or the end of the world have been made for millennia, often by religious movements or sects. The end of the world is “predicted” almost every year.

It goes without saying that, so far, these predictions have all proven false.

On the arts side…

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While experts and scientists have made many predictions about the year 2025, artists have also had a field day in their projections of the situation in 2025, often with much more creativity.

Many of these works are dystopian, like the films The Gladiator of the future (1983), Future Hunters (1986) et Futuresport (1998), the series The Bot Master (1993), even the books The Lake at the End of the World de Caroline MacDonald et A Friend of the Earth by TC Boyle (2000).

The famous American author Stephen King also took part in the exercise, through his book The Running Man. Published in 1982 and adapted for film in 1987, this book tells the story of a man who flees hunters and informers in the context of a sadistic game show, all in a totalitarian United States.

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More recent works have also transmitted their vision about 2025. Released in 2013, the film Pacific Shores (Pacific Rim), by Guillermo del Toro, takes place largely in that year, when humanity is threatened by monstrous sea creatures.

Some moviegoers also think that the American film Her (Elle), directed by Spike Jonze and released in 2013, takes place in 2025. In this film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, a man falls in love with an artificial intelligence.

So what can we expect heading into 2050? Bets are on.

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