2000 AD

• January 1 – The Church of Sweden separates from the Swedish state. 
• May 13 – A fireworks factory disaster in Enschede, Netherlands, kills 23.
• July 1 – The Öresund Bridge is inaugurated and opened to traffic.
• August 12 – 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.
• September 15 – October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia, is the first Olympic Games of the 2000s.
• October 7 – Resignation of Yugoslavia‘s president Slobodan Milošević.
• November 7 – The 2000 United States presidential election:

2001 AD

• January 15 – Wikipedia is launched
• January 20 – George W. Bush, a former governor of Texas, is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States.
• 14 June – The EU-summit in Gothenburg begins. On the same weekend, there are several large demonstrations against the meeting. Riots break out at some of the demonstrations. During the so-called Gothenburg Riots   (June 14 – 16), approximately 1,000 people are taken into custody by the police and 80 are taken to hospital. Shops and public places are destroyed. A young man is shot by the police and is seriously injured, but survives. US President George W. Bush visits Sweden during the summit, which is the first time a sitting US president has visited the country.
• September 11 – Approximately 2,977 victims are killed or fatally injured in the September 11 attacks after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 are hijacked and crash into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, American Airlines Flight 77 is hijacked and crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked and crashes into grassland in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as a result of passengers fighting to regain control of the airplane. The Twin Towers collapse as a result of the crashes
• October 8 – Linate Airport disaster: A twin-engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people

2002 AD

• February 8–24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• May 20 – East Timor regains its independence after 2+1⁄2 years of United Nations administration and 26 years of occupation by Indonesia since 1975.
• May 31–June 30 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup takes place in South Korea and Japan; which is ultimately won by Brazil.
• September 15 – The Swedish general election,
• October 11 – October 11 – Myyrmanni bombing/Seven people are killed and 80 injured in a bombing at a shopping center in Vantaa, Finland

2003 AD

• February 1 – At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.
• February 4 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed to “Serbia and Montenegro” (after its two constituent states) after its leaders reconstitute the country into a loose state-union between Montenegro and Serbia, marking an end to the 73-year-long use of the name “Yugoslavia” by a sovereign state.
• March 20 – The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.
• May 16 – 2003 Casablanca bombings: Islamist militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb carry out a series of suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco, killing at least 41 people.
• August 29 – The IP telephony company Skype is founded.
• September 11 – Anna Lindh dies at 5:29 a.m. from the injuries she received in the knife attack the day before.
• September 14 – 2003 Swedish euro referendum
• September 27 – Landskrona’s trolley bus line is inaugurated.
• October 17 – The “Taipei 101” skyscraper in Taipei officially reaches a height of 508 meters, making it the world’s tallest building.

2004 AD

• February 4 – Mark Zuckerberg launches “TheFacebook”, later renamed to Facebook, a social networking website for Harvard University students
• March 11 – Al-Qaeda bombings on Cercanías trains in Madrid, Spain, kill at least 192 people.
• May 1 – The European Union expands by 10 new member states: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
• June 12–July 4 – Portugal hosts the UEFA Euro 2004 football tournament, which is won by Greece.
• August 13–29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.
• November 2 – 2004 United States presidential election: George W. Bush is re-elected President of the United States, defeating his Democratic challenger John Kerry.
• November 22 – The Orange Revolution begins, following a disputed presidential election in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych won against Viktor Yushchenko amid accusations of electoral fraud. A revote results in Yushchenko being declared the winner.

2005 AD

• February 14 – YouTube, an American online video sharing and social media platform was launched by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim headquartered in San Bruno, California.
• July 7 – Four coordinated suicide bombings hit central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700.
• October 27 – November 16 – French riots

2006 AD

• February 10–26 – The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy.
• May 18–20 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 takes place in Athens, Greece, and is won by Finnish band entrant Lordi with the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah“.
• June 3 – Montenegro declares its independence from Serbia and Montenegro after a May 21 referendum and becomes a sovereign state. Two days later, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro officially disbands after Serbia declares its independence as well, ending an 88-year union between the two countries and leaving Serbia as the successor country to the union
• June 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup takes place in Germany; Italy defeats France in the final.
• July 12 – Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing three others. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel two days later.
• August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines ‘planet‘ at its 26th General Assembly, removing Pluto‘s status as a planet and reclassifying it as a dwarf planet 76 years after its discovery. Ironically, this was in the same year when NASA sent its first probe to the celestial body.
• September 17 – In Sweden, elections are held for municipalities, county councils and the Riksdag.
• December 2 – Nintendo launches the Wii home video game console in Japan.
• December 10–22 – Christer Fuglesang becomes the first Swede in space, when he goes with the US space shuttle Discovery (mission STS-116).