1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

1989 was a turning point in political history because a wave of revolutions swept the Eastern Bloc in Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power sharing, coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, embracing the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December, and ending in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These are collectively known as the Revolutions of 1989.

It was the year of the first Brazilian presidential election in 29 years, since the end of the military government in 1985 that ruled the country for more than twenty years, and marked the redemocratization process's final point.

F. W. de Klerk was elected as State President of South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled the apartheid system over the next five years, culminating with the 1994 election that brought jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to power.

The first commercial Internet service providers surfaced in this year,^[1][2] as well as the first written proposal for the World Wide Web and New Zealand, Japan and Australia's first Internet connections. The first babies born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis were conceived in late 1989, beginning the era of designer babies.^[3]

Events

January

• January 1 - New York Times discloses involvement of German Company Imhausen and Salzgitter AG in building a Chemical Weapons Plant in Rabta, Libya^[4]
• January 2 - Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa takes office as the third President of Sri Lanka.
• January 4 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1989): Two Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are engaged and shot down by 2 US Navy F-14 Tomcats.
• January 7 - Emperor Sh?wa dies, his son Akihito is enthroned as the 125th Emperor of Japan immediately, followed by the change in the era name from Sh?wa to Heisei on the following day.
• January 8 - Kegworth air disaster: A British Midland Boeing 737 crashes on approach to East Midlands Airport, leaving 47 dead.
• January 10 - In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 626 and the New York Accords, Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.
• January 11 - The Lexus and Infiniti luxury car brands are launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with the unveiling of the 1990 Lexus LS and Infiniti Q45 sedans.
• January 15
  • Thirty-five European nations, meeting in Vienna, agree to strengthen human rights and improve East-West trade.
  • "Palach Week": A pro-democracy demonstration in Prague is attacked by the police.^[5]
• January 17 - Stockton schoolyard shooting: Patrick Edward Purdy kills five children, wounds thirty and then shoots himself in Stockton, California.
• January 18
  • The Polish United Workers' Party votes to legalise Solidarity.
  • Ante Markovi? succeeds Branko Mikuli? as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.
• January 20 - George H. W. Bush is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States.
• January 23 - A powerful earthquake in the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic kills around 275 people.
• January 23-24 - Armed civilian leftists briefly attack and occupy an Argentinian army base near Buenos Aires.
• January 24 - Florida executes Ted Bundy by electric chair for the murders of young women.
• January 30 - Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney shuffles his cabinet, appointing six new ministers and reassigning the responsibilities of nineteen others.

February

• February 1 - In Australia, Joan Kirner becomes Victoria's first female Deputy Premier, after the resignation of Robert Fordham over the VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Co-operation) Crisis.
• February 2
  • Soviet-Afghan War: The last Soviet Union armoured column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation since 1979.
  • Carlos Andrés Pérez takes office as President of Venezuela.
  • Satellite television service Sky Television plc is launched in Europe.
• February 3
  • 1989 Paraguayan coup d'état: A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
  • After a stroke, State President of South Africa P. W. Botha resigns as Leader of the National Party.
• February 5 - Eurosport, a multiple-language sports broadcasting station in Europe, begins broadcasting, from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Île-de-France, France.
• February 6 - The Government of the People's Republic of Poland holds formal talks with representatives of Solidarity movement for the first time since 1981.
• February 7 - The People's National Party, led by Michael Manley, wins the 1989 Jamaican general election.
• February 10
  • Ron Brown is elected as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major United States political party.
  • U.S. President Bush meets Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Ottawa, laying the groundwork for the Acid Rain Treaty of 1991.
• February 11 - Barbara Harris is the first woman consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (and also the first woman to become a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion).
• February 14
  • Union Carbide agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian government for damages in the 1984 Bhopal disaster, a gas leak that killed 3.7 thousand.
  • The Satanic Verses controversy: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (d. June 3), issues a fatwa calling for the death of Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for issuing the novel The Satanic Verses (1988).
  • The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites is placed into orbit.

• February 15
  • Soviet-Afghan War: The Soviet Union announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
  • Following a campaign that saw over 1,000 people killed in massive campaign-related violence, the United National Party wins the Sri Lankan parliamentary election.
• February 16 - Pan Am Flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the 1988 crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
• February 17
  • The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is formed.
  • South African police raid the home of Winnie Mandela and arrest four of her bodyguards.
• February 20 - In Canada's Yukon Territory, the ruling New Democrats narrowly maintain control of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, winning 9 seats vs. the Progressive Conservative Party's 7.
• February 23 - After protracted testimony, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejects, 11-9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.
• February 23-27 - U.S. President Bush visits Japan, China and South Korea, attending the funeral of Hirohito and then meeting with China's Deng Xiaoping and South Korea's Roh Tae-woo.
• February 24
  • The funeral of Hirohito is attended by representatives of 160 nations.
  • The Satanic Verses controversy: Iran places a $3,000,000 bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
  • Singing Revolution: After 44 years, the Estonian flag is raised at the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn.
  • United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747, suffers uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport; nine passengers are sucked out of the cabin to their deaths.
• February 27 - Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo, a wave of protests and looting.

March

• March - Poland begins to liberalise its currency exchange in a move towards capitalism.^[6]
• March 1
  • The Berne Convention, an international treaty on copyrights, is ratified by the United States.
  • A curfew is imposed in Kosovo, where protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority.
  • The Politieke Partij Radicalen, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, Communistische Partij Nederland and the Evangelical People's Party amalgamate to form the Dutch political party GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft).
  • After 74 years, Iceland ends its prohibition on beer; celebrated since as bjórdagur or beer day.
• March 2 - Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
• March 3 - Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two eight-year-old girls in the Myllypuro suburb of Helsinki, Finland.
• March 4
  • Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner. (Now WarnerMedia)
  • The Purley station rail crash in London leaves five people dead and 94 injured.
  • The first Australian Capital Territory elections are held.
• March 7 - Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
• March 9 - Revolutions of 1989: The Soviet Union submits to the jurisdiction of the World Court.
• March 13
  • A geomagnetic storm causes the collapse of the Hydro-Québec power grid. 6,000,000 people are left without power for nine hours. Some areas in the northeastern U.S. and in Sweden also lose power, and aurorae are seen as far as Texas.
  • Tim Berners-Lee produces the proposal document that will become the blueprint for the World Wide Web.^[7]
• March 14
  • Gun control: U.S. President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of certain guns deemed to be classed as assault weapons into the United States.
  • Christian General Michel Aoun declares a "War of Liberation" to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.
• March 15
  • Israel hands over Taba to Egypt, ending a seven-year territorial dispute.
  • Mass demonstrations in Hungary, demanding democracy.
• March 16 - The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approves agricultural reforms allowing farmers the right to lease state-owned farms for life.
• March 17
  • The Civic Tower of Pavia, built in the eleventh century, collapses.
  • Alfredo Cristiani is elected as President of El Salvador.
• March 20 - Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
• March 22
  • Clint Malarchuk of the NHL Buffalo Sabres suffers an almost fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.
  • Asteroid 4581 Asclepius approaches the Earth at a distance of 700,000 kilometres (430,000 mi).
• March 23 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce that they have achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah.
• March 23-28 - The Socialist Republic of Serbia passes constitutional changes revoking the autonomy of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, triggering six days of rioting by the Albanian majority, during which at least 29 people are killed.
• March 24 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m³) of oil after running aground.
• March 26 - 1989 Soviet Union legislative election: The first (and last) contested elections for the Soviet parliament, Congress of People's Deputies, result in losses for the Communist Party; the first session of the new Congress opens in late May. As a result, Boris Yeltsin gains a seat on the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
• March 29 - The 61st Academy Awards are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Rain Man winning Best Picture, and Jodie Foster wins her first award for Best Actress.

April

• April 1 - Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax (the Poll tax) is introduced in Scotland. It would be introduced in England & Wales the following year.
• April 2
  • In South-West Africa, fighting erupts between SWAPO insurgents and the South West African Police on the day that a ceasefire was supposed to end the South African Border War according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 435. By April 6, nearly 300 people are killed.
• April 4 - A failed coup attempt against Prosper Avril, President of Haiti, leads to a standoff between mutinous troops and the government which ends on April 10, with the government regaining control of the country.
• April 5 - The Polish Government and the Solidarity trade union sign an agreement restoring Solidarity to legal status, and agreeing to hold democratic elections on June 4 (Polish Round Table Agreement), which initiated the 1989 revolution and the overthrow of communism in Central Europe.
• April 6 - National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235,000,000.
• April 7 - The Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea, killing 41.
• April 9
  • Tbilisi massacre: Georgian demonstrators are massacred by Soviet Army soldiers in Tbilisi's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed, many injured. This caused further protests.
  • A dispute over grazing rights leads to the beginning of the Mauritania-Senegal Border War.
• April 14 - The U.S. government seizes the Irvine, California, Lincoln Savings and Loan Association; Charles Keating (for whom the Keating Five are named) eventually goes to jail, as part of the massive 1980s savings and loan crisis which costs U.S. taxpayers nearly $200,000,000 in bailouts, and many people their life savings.^[8]
• April 15
  • The death of Hu Yaobang in China sparks the beginning of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
  • The Hillsborough disaster, one of the biggest tragedies in European football, claims the life of 96 Liverpool F.C. supporters.
• April 17 - Poland, Solidarity is once again legalised and allowed to participate in semi-free elections on June 4.
• April 19
  • Central Park jogger case: Trisha Meili is seriously assaulted and raped whilst jogging in New York City's Central Park; the convictions of five teenagers for the crime are vacated in 2002 (the jogger's identity remains secret for years, hence she is referred to as the "Central Park Jogger").
  • The USS Iowa turret explodes on the U.S. battleship Iowa, killing 47 crew members.
• April 20 - NATO debates modernising short range missiles; although the US and UK are in favour, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl obtains a concession deferring a decision.
• April 21 - Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
• April 23 - Zaid al-Rifai resigns as Prime Minister of Jordan in the wake of riots over government-imposed price hikes that began on April 18.
• April 25
  • Noboru Takeshita resigns as Prime Minister of Japan in the wake of a stock-trading scandal.
  • Motorola introduces the Motorola MicroTAC personal cellular telephone, the world's smallest mobile phone at this time.
• April 26
  • Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak, becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, succeeding Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail.
  • Zaid ibn Shaker succeeds Zaid al-Rifai as Prime Minister of Jordan.
  • The Daulatpur-Saturia tornado, the deadliest tornado ever recorded, kills an estimated 1,300 people in the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh.
• April 27 - A major demonstration occurs in Beijing as part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.^[5]

May

• May
  • Transhumanism: Genetic modification of adult human beings is tried for the first time, a gene tagging trial.^[9]
  • The Soviet Union issues its first Visa card in a step to digitalise its banking system.^[10]
• May 1 - Andrés Rodríguez, who seized power and declared himself President of Paraguay during a military coup in February, wins a landslide victory at a general election marked by charges of fraud.
• May 2
  • The first crack in the Iron Curtain: Hungary dismantles 240 kilometres (150 mi) of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria.
  • The coalition government of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.
• May 3 - Cold War: Perestroika - The first McDonald's restaurant in the USSR begins construction in Moscow. It will open on January 31, 1990.^[11]
• May 4 - Oliver North is convicted in the United States on charges related to the Iran-Contra affair. His conviction is thrown out on appeal in 1991 because of his immunised testimony.
• May 9 - Andrew Peacock deposes John Howard as Federal Opposition Leader of Australia.
• May 10 - The government of President of Panama Manuel Noriega declares void the result of the May 7 presidential election, which Noriega had lost to Guillermo Endara.
• May 11
  • President Bush orders 1,900 U.S. troops to Panama to protect Americans there.
  • The ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Legislative Assembly meets for the first time.
• May 12-25 - San Bernardino train disaster: Southern Pacific freight locomotive SP 7551 East derails in a residential area of San Bernardino, California, killing four and destroying seven houses. On May 25, as a direct result of the derailment, the Calnev Pipeline explodes, killing an additional two people and destroying eleven more houses and 21 cars.
• May 14
  • Mikhail Gorbachev visits China, the first Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s, ending the Sino-Soviet split.
  • Carlos Menem wins the Argentine presidential election.
• May 15
  • Australia's first private tertiary institution, Bond University, opens on the Gold Coast.
  • The last golden toad is seen in Costa Rica; the species is subsequently classified as extinct.
• May 16 - Senior Ethiopian military officers attempt a coup hours after President Mengistu Haile Mariam leaves on a visit to East Germany.
• May 17 - 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: More than 1,000,000 Chinese protestors march through Beijing demanding greater democracy, leading to a crackdown.
• May 19
  • 1989 Ürümqi unrest: Uyghur and Hui Muslim protesters riot in front of the government building in Ürümqi, China.
  • 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: Zhao Ziyang meets the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
  • Ciriaco De Mita resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.
• May 20 - 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.
• May 22 - The Nordland Days in Leningrad region (Leningrad Oblast) open.
• May 24 - Assassinations of Jeffrey Brent Ball and Todd Ray Wilson: A terrorist organization, Zarate Willka Armed Forces of Liberation, kills two American missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they return to their apartment, in La Paz, Bolivia.
• May 25 - The Calgary Flames defeat the Montreal Canadiens four games to two to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup in ice hockey.
• May 29
  • Amid food riots and looting set off by inflation, the Government of Argentina declares a nationwide state of siege.
  • 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: The 10 metres (33 ft) high Goddess of Democracy statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
  • NATO agrees to talks with the Soviet Union on reducing the number of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
  • An attempted assassination of Miguel Maza Marquez, director of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) in Bogotá, Colombia is committed by members of the Medellín Cartel, who kill four and injure 37.
• May 31 - Six members of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA) of Peru, shoot dead eight gay and transgender people in the city of Tarapoto.^[12]

June

• June 1-10 - Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
• June 2 - S?suke Uno succeeds Noboru Takeshita as Prime Minister of Japan.
• June 3 - Ayotallah Khomeini dies after decade-long Iran Iraq war.
• June 4
  • 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: A crackdown takes place in Beijing on the army's approach to the square, and the final stand-off in the square is covered live on television.
  • 1989 Polish legislative election: Solidarity's victory in the first round is the first of many anti-communist revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe.
  • Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 645 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
  • The world's first high-definition television (test) broadcasts commence in Japan, in analogue.^[13]
• June 5 - 1989 Tiananmen Square protests: An unknown Chinese protestor, "Tank Man", stands in front of a column of military tanks on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, temporarily halting them, an incident which achieves iconic status internationally through images taken by Western photographers.
• June 6 - The Ayatollah Khomeini's first funeral is aborted by officials after a large crowd storms the funeral procession, nearly destroying Khomeini's wooden casket in order to get a last glimpse of his body. At one point, his body almost falls to the ground, as the crowd attempt to grab pieces of the death shroud.^[14]
• June 7 - Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes in Paramaribo, Suriname, killing 176.
• June 12 - The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. removes Robert Mapplethorpe's gay photography exhibition.
• June 13 - The wreck of German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located 960 kilometres (600 mi) west of Brest, France.
• June 15 - At the 1989 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, fails to win a majority.
• June 16 - A crowd of 250,000 gathers at Heroes Square in Budapest for the historic reburial of Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister who had been executed in 1958.
• June 18 - In the first Greek legislative election of the year, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou, loses control of the Hellenic Parliament.
• June 21 - English police arrest 250 people celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
• June 22 - Ireland's first universities established since independence in 1922, Dublin City University and the University of Limerick, open.
• June 24 - Jiang Zemin becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
• June 30 - 1989 Sudanese coup d'état A military coup led by Omar al-Bashir ousts the civilian government of Prime Minister of Sudan Sadiq al-Mahdi.

July

• July 2 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, resigns; a new government is formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis.
• July 5
  • State President of South Africa P. W. Botha meets the imprisoned 70-year-old Nelson Mandela face-to-face for the first time.
  • The television sitcom Seinfeld premieres in the United States.
• July 6 - The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack, the first Palestinian suicide attack on Israel, takes place.
• July 9-12 - U.S. President George H. W. Bush travels to Poland and Hungary, pushing for U.S. economic aid and investment.
• July 10 - Approximately 300,000 Siberian coal miners go on strike, demanding better living conditions and less bureaucracy; it is the largest Soviet labour strike since the 1920s.
• July 12
  • In the Republic of Ireland, the Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to power after Fianna Fáil forms a coalition with the Progressive Democrats.
  • Lotte World, a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea, is opened to the public, containing the world's largest indoor amusement park.^[15]
• July 14-16 - At the 15th G7 summit, leaders call for restrictions on gas emissions.
• July 17
  • The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber makes its first flight, in the United States.
  • Holy See-Poland relations: Poland and the Vatican re-establish diplomatic relations after approximately fifty years.
• July 18 - Actress Rebecca Schaeffer is murdered by an obsessed fan, leading to stricter stalking laws in California.
• July 19
  • 1989 Polish presidential election: The National Assembly of the Republic of Poland elects General Wojciech Jaruzelski to the restored and powerful post of President of Poland.
  • United Airlines Flight 232 (Douglas DC-10) crashes in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112; 184 on board survive.
  • The first national park in the Netherlands is established on Schiermonnikoog.
• July 20 - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. She is released in 2010.
• July 21 - A total blockade of Armenia and NKAO by Azerbaijan begins.
• July 23
  • 1989 Japanese House of Councillors election: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses control of the House of Councillors, the LDP's worst electoral showing in 34 years, leading to Prime Minister Uno announcing he will resign to take responsibility for the result.
  • Giulio Andreotti takes office as Prime Minister of Italy.
• July 26 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the United States' 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• July 27 - In the largest prison sentence to date, Thai financial scammer Mae Chamoy Thipyaso and her accomplices are each sentenced to 141,078 years in prison.^[16]
• July 28 - At the Iranian presidential election, electors overwhelmingly elect Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran and endorse changes to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, increasing the powers of the president.
• July 31
  • In Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it has hanged U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for Israel's July 28 kidnapping of Hezbollah leader Abdel Karim Obeid. The same day, the United Nations Security Council passes United Nations Security Council Resolution 638, condemning the taking of hostages by both sides in the conflict.
  • Nintendo releases the Game Boy portable video game system in North America.

August

• August - Gazprom, an energy production and sales organization in Russia, becomes state-run enterprise, changing from the Soviet Ministry of Gas Industry.^[17]
• August 2 - Pakistan is readmitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after leaving it in 1972.
• August 5 - Jaime Paz Zamora is elected President of Bolivia, taking office the next day.
• August 7
  • U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and fifteen others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
  • The presidents of five Central American countries agree that the U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5.
• August 8
  • Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange resigns for health reasons and is replaced by Geoffrey Palmer.
  • STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
• August 9
  • Toshiki Kaifu becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
  • The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory.
  • The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, a measure to rescue the United States savings and loan industry is signed into law by President Bush, launching the largest federal rescue to date.
• August 10 - United States Army General Colin Powell became the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after being nominated by President Bush.
• August 13 - 1989 Alice Springs hot air balloon crash: An accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills thirteen people.
• August 15 - P. W. Botha resigns as State President of South Africa and F. W. de Klerk becomes the seventh and final holder of this office under this style.^[18]
• August 18 - Leading Colombian presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá.
• August 19
  • Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-Communist in power in 42 years.
  • The Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held at the Austro-Hungarian border.
• August 19-21 - In response to the murder of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Galán, the authorities of Colombia arrest 11,000 suspected Colombian drug traffickers.
• August 20
  • In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in the family's den.
  • Marchioness disaster: Fifty-one people die when a pleasure boat collides with a dredger on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge in London.
• August 21 - The 21st anniversary of the crushing of the Prague Spring is commemorated by a demonstration in the city.^[5]
• August 23
  • Singing Revolution: Two million indigenous people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania join hands to demand freedom and independence from Soviet occupation, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way.
  • Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria.
  • 1989 Australian pilots' dispute: All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to dismiss and sue them over a wage dispute.
  • Murder of Yusef Hawkins in a shooting in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, sparking racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans.
• August 24
  • Colombia's cocaine traffickers declare "total and absolute war" against the government and begin a series of bombings and arson attacks.
  • Indonesia's first privately owned television network and the nation's second television station, RCTI (Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia) is established and begins broadcasting nationwide.
  • Tadeusz Mazowiecki of Solidarity is elected Prime Minister of Poland.^[5]
• August 25 - Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune and its largest moon Triton.
• August 31 - In the aftermath of the Chadian-Libyan conflict of 1978-87, representatives of Libya and Chad agree to let the International Court of Justice determine ownership of the Aouzou Strip, which has been occupied by Libya since 1973.

September

• September 6
  • 1989 South African general election, the last held under the apartheid system, returns the National Party to power with a much-reduced majority.
  • In the 1989 Dutch general election, the Christian Democratic Appeal, led by Ruud Lubbers wins 54 seats, and is ultimately able to form a government on November 7 after entering into coalition with the Labour Party.
• September 7 - Representatives of the government of Ethiopia and Eritrean separatists meet in Atlanta, with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter attempting to broker a peace settlement.
• September 8 - Partnair Flight 394 flies past an F-16 Fighting Falcon on its way home, then the Convair 580 rolls upside down and falls in the North Sea.
• September 10 - The Hungarian government opens the country's western border (with Austria) to refugees from East Germany.
• September 10-11 - Norway's ruling Labour Party loses eight seats in the parliamentary elections, its worst showing since 1945.
• September 14
  • An agreement of co-operation between Leningrad Oblast (Russia) and Nordland County (Norway) is signed in Leningrad, by Chairmen Lev Kojkolainen and Sigbjørn Eriksen.
  • Standard Gravure shooting: Joseph T. Wesbecker, a pressman on disability for mental illness, enters his former workplace in Louisville, Kentucky, kills eight people and injures twelve before committing suicide after a history of suicidal ideation.
• September 17-22 - Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8,000,000,000 in damages.
• September 18 - Alleged coup attempt in Burkina Faso by military officials foiled.
• September 19
  • The Catholic Church calls for removal of the Carmelite convent located near the former Auschwitz concentration camp, whose presence has offended some Jewish leaders.
  • UTA Flight 772 explodes over Niger, killing all 171 people on board (the Islamic Jihad Organization claims responsibility).
  • Burkinabé ministers Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Henri Zongo executed following their arrest the previous day.
• September 20 - F. W. de Klerk is sworn in as the seventh and last State President of South Africa.^[18] Soon afterwards he determines to suspend the South African nuclear weapons program.^[19]
• September 22
  • 1989 Deal barracks bombing: An IRA bomb explodes at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent, United Kingdom, leaving 11 people dead and 22 injured.
  • Doe v. University of Michigan: A Michigan court rules against the hate speech law at the University of Michigan, claiming it unconstitutional.^[20]
• September 23
  • A cease-fire in the Lebanese Civil War stops the violence that had killed 900 people since March.
  • Nintendo Company Ltd. celebrates its 100th anniversary.
• September 26 - Vietnam announces that it has withdrawn the last of its troops from the State of Cambodia, ending an eleven-year occupation.
• September 30
  • Nearly 7,000 East Germans who had come to Prague on special refugee trains are allowed to leave for the West.
  • The Senegambia Confederation is dissolved over border disagreements.

October

• October - Cold War: Perestroika - Nathan's Famous opens a hot dog stand in Moscow.^[21]
• October 1 - Civil union between partners in a same-sex relationship becomes legal in Denmark under a law enacted on June 7, the world's first such legislation.^[22][23]
• October 3
  • A coup attempt is foiled by Manuel Noriega, military leader of Panama.
  • The government of East Germany closes the country's border with Czechoslovakia to prevent further emigration to the West.^[5]
• October 5 - The Dalai Lama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
• October 7
  • The communist Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party votes to reorganise itself as a socialist party, to be named the Hungarian Socialist Party.
  • The first mass demonstration against the Communist regime in the GDR begins in Plauen, East Germany, the beginning of a series of mass demonstrations in the whole GDR which ultimately leads to the reunification of Germany in 1990.
• October 9
  • An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
  • In Leipzig, East Germany, protesters demand the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
• October 13
  • Friday the 13th mini-crash: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26, most likely after the junk bond market collapses.
  • Gro Harlem Brundtland, leader of the Labour Party, resigns as Prime Minister of Norway. She is succeeded by Jan P. Syse, Leader of the Conservative Party, on October 16.
• October 15 - Walter Sisulu is released from prison in South Africa.^[5]
• October 17 - The 6.9 M_w Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Sixty-three people are killed and the 1989 World Series in baseball is postponed for ten days as a result of the earthquake.
• October 18
  • The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems, and is succeeded by Egon Krenz.
  • The National Assembly of Hungary votes to restore multi-party democracy.
  • NASA launches the unmanned Galileo orbiter on a mission to study the planet Jupiter, via Atlantis mission STS-34.
• October 19 - The Guildford Four are freed after fourteen years imprisonment in Britain.
• October 21 - The Commonwealth Heads of Government issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth of Nations's main priorities.
• October 23
  • The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by President Mátyás Sz?rös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic), exactly 33 years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
  • The Phillips disaster, a chemical plant explosion, in Pasadena, Texas, kills 23 and injures 314 others.
• October 24 – The 1989 Bhagalpur violence, a major incident of religious violence, breaks out in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India; it will kill nearly 1,000 people.
• October 26 - In the UK Nigel Lawson resigns as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• October 28 - United States Flag Protection Act takes effect. There are mass protests in Seattle and New York City.
• October 30 - Shawn Eichman, Dave Blalock, Dread Scott and Joey Johnson burn American flags on the steps of U.S. Capitol Building to protest the Flag Protection Act.^[24]
• October 31
  • The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elects Prime Minister Turgut Özal as the eighth President of Turkey.
  • Half a million people demonstrate in the East German city of Leipzig.^[5]

November

• November
  • First commercial dial-up Internet connection in North America is made, by The World STD.^[25]
  • The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board is established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India.
• November 1
  • The President of Nicaragua ends a ceasefire with U.S.-backed contras that has been in effect since April 1988.
  • The border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia is reopened.^[5]
• November 3 - East German refugees arrive at the West German town of Hof after being allowed through Czechoslovakia.^[5]
• November 4
  • Alexanderplatz demonstration in East Berlin. Half a million people protest against communist rule in East Germany.
  • Typhoon Gay devastates Thailand's Chumphon Province.
• November 6 - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is established.
• November 7
  • Cold War: The Communist government of East Germany resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains as head of state.
  • Lieutenant Governor Douglas Wilder wins the Virginia gubernatorial race, becoming the first African-American elected Governor in the United States.
  • David Dinkins becomes the first African-American mayor of New York City.
• November 9
  • Cold War and Fall of the Berlin Wall: Günter Schabowski accidentally states in a live broadcast press conference that new rules for traveling from East Germany to West Germany will be put in effect "immediately". East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany for the first time in decades. In the first week, travel visas will be issued to around 25% of the East German population. (November 17 celebrates Germans tearing the wall down).
  • Y?ld?r?m Akbulut of Motherland Party (Turkey) (ANAP) forms the new government of Turkey (47th government).
• November 10
  • After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
  • Gaby Kennard becomes the first Australian woman to fly solo around the world.
• November 11 - The FMLN launched a major offensive with the aim of unseating the Salvadoran government.
• November 12 - Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960.
• November 13 - Hans-Adam II becomes Prince of Liechtenstein on the death of his father, Prince Franz Joseph II.
• November 14 - Elections are held in Namibia, leading to a victory for the South West Africa People's Organisation.^[5]
• November 15
  • Lech Wasa, leader of Poland's Solidarity movement, addresses a Joint session of the United States Congress.
  • Brazil holds the first round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advance to the second round, to be held the following month.
• November 16
  • Six Jesuit priests are murdered by U.S. trained Salvadoran soldiers.
  • The first American cosmetics shop in the Soviet Union, an Estée Lauder outlet, opens in Moscow.^[21]
  • South African President F. W. de Klerk announces the scrapping of the Separate Amenities Act.
  • UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement on Violence at the 25th session of its General Conference.
• November 17 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - A peaceful student demonstration in Prague, Czechoslovakia, is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
• November 20 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - The number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
• November 21 - The Members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia begin to draft the Constitution of Namibia, which will be the constitution of the newly independent Namibia.
• November 22 - In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
• November 24 - Following a week of demonstrations demanding free elections and other reforms, General Secretary Milo? Jake? and other leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resign. Jake? is replaced by Karel Urbánek.
• November 26 - 1989 Uruguayan general election: Luis Alberto Lacalle is elected President of Uruguay.
• November 27 - Colombian domestic passenger flight Avianca Flight 203 is bombed by the Medellín drug cartel in an (unsuccessful) attempt to kill presidential candidate for the 1990 elections César Gaviria Trujillo.
• November 28 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their monopoly on political power (elections held in December bring the first non-Communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than forty years).
• November 29 - Rajiv Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India after his party, the Indian National Congress, loses about half of its seats at the 1989 Indian general election.
• November 30 - Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a bomb in Bad Homburg (the Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the murder).

December

• December 1
  • In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.
  • Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz, the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.
  • A military coup attempt begins in the Philippines against the government of Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino. It is crushed by United States intervention ending by December 9.
• December 2
  • The Solar Maximum Mission scientific research satellite, launched in 1980, crashes back to earth.
  • V. P. Singh takes office as Prime Minister of India.
  • In the Republic of China legislative election, the Kuomintang suffers its worst election setback in forty years, winning only 53% of the popular vote.
  • The Second Malayan Emergency concludes with a peace agreement. The Malayan Communist Party disbands and Chin Peng remains in exile in Thailand until his death in 2013.
• December 3
  • The entire leadership of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in East Germany, including Egon Krenz, resigns. Hans Modrow becomes de facto the country's last leader.
  • Cold War: Malta Summit - Concluding a 2-day meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end. Gorbachev implies criticism of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
• December 4 - Prime Minister of Jordan Zaid ibn Shaker resigns and is replaced by Mudar Badran.
• December 6
  • The DAS Building bombing occurs in Bogotá, killing 52 people and injuring about 1,000.
  • Egon Krenz resigns as Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, and is replaced by Manfred Gerlach, the first non-Communist to hold that post.
  • École Polytechnique massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders fourteen young women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
• December 7
  • Ladislav Adamec resigns as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia. He is succeeded by Marián ?alfa on December 10.
  • Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic becomes the first of the republics of the Soviet Union to abolish the Communist Party's monopoly on power.
• December 9 - The Socialist Unity Party of Germany elects the reformist Gregor Gysi as party leader.
• December 10
  • President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák swears in a new cabinet with a non-Communist and then immediately resigns as president.
  • Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second-oldest Communist country into a democracy.
• December 11 - The International Trans-Antarctica Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, reaches the South Pole.
• December 14 - Chile holds its first free election in sixteen years, electing Patricio Aylwin as president. This marks the first time that all Ibero-American nations, except Cuba, have elected constitutional governments simultaneously.
• December 15 - Drug baron José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed by Colombian police.
• December 16 - The Romanian Revolution begins in Timi?oara, initiated by the Hungarian minority.
• December 17
  • The Romanian Revolution continues in Timi?oara when rioters break into the building housing the District Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and cause extensive damage. The military is called in but fails fully to control the situation.
  • Brazil holds the second round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected to serve as president from 1990.
  • The Simpsons aired its first episode on the FOX network.
• December 19
  • Romanian Revolution: Workers in the cities go on strike in protest against the Communist regime. On December 20 about 100,000 occupy Timi?oara.
  • Homosexual acts between consenting adult males are decriminalised in Western Australia by the Law Reform (Decriminalization of Sodomy) Act.
• December 20 - The United States invasion of Panama ("Operation Just Cause") is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
• December 21 - Nicolae Ceau?escu addresses an assembly of some 110,000 people outside the Romanian Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest. Unprecedentedly, most of the crowd turns against him.^[26]
• December 22
  • After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as President of Romania, ending the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceau?escu, who flees his palace in a helicopter after the palace is invaded by rioters. Most of the army has joined with the rioters in Bucharest.
  • The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin is reopened.
  • Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia, killing 35 people.
• December 23 - Nicolae and Elena Ceau?escu are captured in Târgovi?te.
• December 25
  • Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceau?escu: Deposed Romanian leader Nicolae Ceau?escu and his wife are summarily tried and executed outside Bucharest.
  • Bank of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the economic bubble.
• December 28
  • A M_L5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
  • Alexander Dub?ek is elected Chairman of Czechoslovakia's Federal Assembly (Parliament).
• December 29
  • Czech playwright, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-Communist President of Czechoslovakia.
  • Riots break out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
  • Nikkei 225 for Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87.
• December 30 - Alan Bond's Bond Corporation is placed into receivership with the largest debt in Australian history.
• December 31 - Poland's president signs the Balcerowicz Plan, ending the Communist system in Poland in favor of a capitalist system leading to abandonment of the Warsaw Pact.^[27]

Date unknown

• The first Al-Qaeda-related cell in the United States begins operation in New York City.
• The Embassy of the United States, Kabul, Afghanistan is closed; it does not reopen until late 2001.
• Kamchatka opens to Russian civilian visitors.
• Richard C. Duncan introduces the Olduvai theory, about the collapse of industrial civilization.
• The global concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reaches 350 parts per million by volume.
• Walmart posts revenues and profits triple its 1986 figures and rivals Kmart and Sears in importance in the American market.^[28]
• Ebenezer Floppen Slopper's Wonderful Water slides in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, closes permanently at the end of the season perhaps after an incident on one of the slides.
• The Breguet Alizé propeller-driven anti-submarine planes are retired from active carrier service in the French Navy.
• N.W.A are the first gangsta rap group to sell 1,000,000 copies of an album with their controversial 1988 debut album Straight Outta Compton.^[29]

Births

January

• January 1
  • Adèle Haenel, French actress
  • Edita Vilkevi?i?t?, Lithuanian model
• January 2 - Renan Silva, Brazilian footballer
• January 3
  • Alex D. Linz, American child actor
  • K?hei Uchimura, Japanese gymnast
• January 4
  • Kariem Hussein, Swiss 400 metres hurdler
  • Labrinth, British urban and hip-hop musician
  • Julius Yego, Kenian javelin thrower
• January 6
  • Andy Carroll, English footballer
  • Nicky Romero, Dutch DJ
• January 7
  • Emiliano Insúa, Argentine footballer
  • Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Malaysian footballer
• January 8 - Steven Christopher Parker, American actor
• January 9
  • Michael Beasley, American basketball player
  • Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-born Canadian actress
• January 10
  • Emily Meade, American actress
  • Heo Sol-ji, South Korean singer
  • Zuria Vega, Mexican actress and singer
• January 11 - Naif Hazazi, Saudi footballer
• January 12 - Arci Muñoz, Filipina actress and model
• January 15
  • Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
  • Ryan Corr, Australian actor
  • Keiffer Hubbell, American ice dancer
• January 16 - Yvonne Zima, American actress
• January 19
  • Yani Tseng, Taiwanese golfer
  • Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
• January 20
  • Kim Bui, German artistic gymnast
  • Nadia Di Cello, Argentine actress
• January 21
  • Murilo de Almeida, Brazilian-East Timorese footballer
  • Do?u? Balbay, Turkish basketball player
  • Sergey Fesikov, Russian swimmer
  • Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
• January 24 - Gong Lijiao, Chinese shot putter
• January 26 - Emily Hughes, American figure skater
• January 27 - Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Dutch footballer
• January 28 - Bruno Massot, French-born German pair skater
• January 30 - Lee Gun-woo, South Korean singer

February

• February 2 - Ivan Peri?i?, Croatian footballer
• February 3 - Ryne Sanborn, American ice hockey player and actor
• February 4
  • Nkosi Johnson, South African AIDS awareness campaigner (d. 2001)
  • Larissa Ramos, Brazilian beauty pageant winner
• February 5 - Jeremy Sumpter, American actor
• February 7
  • Neil Taylor, Welsh footballer
  • Isaiah Thomas, American basketball player
• February 9
  • Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian freestyle skier
  • Wu Chia-ching, Taiwanese pool player
• February 11 - Lovi Poe, Filipina actress and singer
• February 12 - Afshan Azad, British actress and model
• February 15
  • Sinethemba Jantjie, South African footballer (d. 2019)
  • Ayaka Nishiwaki, Japanese singer and dancer
• February 16
  • Elizabeth Olsen, American actress
  • Zivanna Letisha Siregar, Indonesian model
• February 17
  • Rebecca Adlington, British swimmer
  • Chord Overstreet, American actor, singer and musician
• February 20
  • Jack Falahee, American actor
  • Mayu Kuroda, Japanese artistic gymnast
• February 21
  • Corbin Bleu, American actor, model, dancer, film producer and singer-songwriter
  • Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
  • Jung Joon-young, Korean actor and singer
• February 24
  • Trace Cyrus, American musician
  • Daniel Kaluuya, English actor
  • Kosta Koufos, Greek-born American basketball player
  • Lauren Brant, South African-Australian television personality and actress
• February 25
  • Kana Hanazawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • Lee Sang-hwa, South Korean speed skater
• February 27 - Stephen Kiprotich, Ugandan marathon runner
• February 28 - Zhang Liyin, Chinese singer

March

• March 1
  • Emma, Australian professional wrestler
  • Daniella Monet, American actress and singer
  • Carlos Vela, Mexican footballer
• March 2
  • Jean-Frédéric Chapuis, French Olympic freestyle skier
  • Nathalie Emmanuel, English actress
  • Toby Alderweireld, Belgian football player
• March 4 - Erin Heatherton, American fashion model
• March 5
  • Jake Lloyd, American actor
  • Sterling Knight, American actor
• March 6 - Agnieszka Radwa?ska, Polish tennis player
• March 7 - Gerald Anderson, Filipino actor
• March 9 - Taeyeon, South Korean singer
• March 10 - Th? Ngân Thng, Vietnamese artistic gymnast
• March 11
  • Daniella Kertesz, Israeli actress
  • Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (d. 2016)
• March 12 - Tyler Clary, American Olympic swimmer
• March 13
  • Peaches Geldof, British columnist and model (d. 2014)
  • Pierre Niney, French actor
• March 14 - Colby O'Donis, American singer
• March 15
  • Gil Roberts, American sprinter
  • Caitlin Wachs, American actress
• March 16
  • Blake Griffin, American basketball player
  • Theo Walcott, English footballer
• March 17
  • Shinji Kagawa, Japanese football player
  • Mason Musso, American musician, singer and songwriter
  • Morfydd Clark, British actress
• March 18
  • Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer
  • Lily Collins, British-born American actress
  • Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter
• March 19 - Craig Lamar Traylor, American actor and artist
• March 20 - Fei Fei Sun, Chinese model
• March 21
  • Jordi Alba, Spanish professional footballer
  • Takeru Satoh, Japanese actor
• March 22
  • Eva Pereira, Cape Verdean middle-distance runner
  • Karen Rodriguez, American singer
  • J. J. Watt, American football player
  • Aline Weber, Brazilian model
• March 25 - Aly Michalka, American actress and singer
• March 29 - Arnold Peralta, Honduran footballer (d. 2015)
• March 31 - Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer

April

• April 2 - Liis Lass, Estonian actress
• April 3 - Ankit Narang, Indian actor
• April 4 - Chris Herd, Australian footballer
• April 5 - Lily James, British actress
• April 7 - Teddy Riner, French judoka
• April 7 - Alexa Demara, American actress, model, writer and entrepreneur
• April 8
  • Nicholas Megalis, American singer-songwriter
  • Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese singer
  • Gabriella Wilde, English actress and model
• April 9 - Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
• April 12 - Lim Heem Wei, Singaporean artistic gymnast
• April 13 - Vladislav Yegin, Russian ice hockey player
• April 17 - Beau Knapp, American actor
• April 18
  • Jessica Jung, American-born Korean singer
  • Alia Shawkat, American actress
• April 19 – Kim Nam-chun, South Korean footballer (d. 2020)
• April 20
  • Alex Black, American actor
  • Nina Davuluri, American public speaker and advocate
  • Carlos Valdes, Colombian actor and singer
• April 22 - Louis Smith, British gymnast
• April 23
  • Anastasia Baranova, Russian-born American actress
  • Nicole Vaidi?ová, Czech tennis player
• April 24 - Ian Matos, Brazilian diver
• April 25
  • Emanuela de Paula, Brazilian model
  • Michael van Gerwen, Dutch darts player
  • Aysel Teymurzadeh, Azerbaijani pop singer
• April 26
  • Luke Bracey, Australian actor
  • Daesung, South Korean singer
• April 27
  • Lars Bender, German footballer
  • Sven Bender, German footballer
  • Martha Hunt, American model
• April 28 - Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer and dancer
• April 29 - Foxes, British singer-songwriter

May

• May 2 - Sam Tsui, American singer/songwriter, video producer and actor
• May 3 - Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
• May 4
  • Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
  • Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
  • James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
• May 5 - Chris Brown, American singer and actor
• May 6
  • Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
  • Otto Knows, Swedish DJ and producer
• May 7
  • Arlenis Sosa, Dominican model
  • Earl Thomas, American football player
• May 8
  • Katy B, British singer
  • Nyle DiMarco, American model and activist
  • Reckful, American Twitch Streamer (d. 2020)
• May 9 - Shane van Gisbergen, New Zealander race car driver
• May 10 - Lindsey Shaw, American actress
• May 11
  • Cam Newton, American football player
  • Prince Royce, American singer and songwriter
  • Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
• May 12 - Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Greek-Cypriot singer and actress
• May 14
  • Melinda Bam, South African beauty pageant contestant and model
  • Rob Gronkowski, American football player
  • Alina Talay, Belarusian 100 metres hurdler
• May 15 - Sunny Lee, American-born Korean singer
• May 16 - Pääru Oja, Estonian actor
• May 17
  • Olivia Luccardi, American actress and producer
  • Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer
• May 18
  • Fatima Ali, Pakistani-born American chef (d. 2019)
  • Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer
• May 19
  • Kim Nam-chun, South Korean footballer (d. 2020)
  • Gaelan Connell, American actor and musician
• May 21
  • Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
  • Hal Robson-Kanu, Welsh footballer
• May 23
  • Patrick Hougaard, Danish motorcycle speedway rider
  • Ezequiel Schelotto, Italian football player
  • Jeffery Taylor, Swedish basketball player
• May 24
  • Kalin Lucas, American basketball player^[30]
  • Tara Correa-McMullen, American actress (d. 2005)
  • G-Eazy, American hip-hop rapper and producer
  • Sarah Reich, American tap dancer
• May 25
  • Guillaume Boivin, Canadian racing cyclist
  • Aliona Moon, Moldovan pop singer
• May 26 - Park Yeeun, Korean Singer
• May 27 - Afgan Syahreza, Indonesian pop singer and actor
• May 28 - Alexey Negodaylo, Russian Olympic bobsledder
• May 29
  • Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson, Icelandic singer
  • Riley Keough, American model
  • Brandon Mychal Smith, American actor
• May 30
  • Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter
  • Park Hyomin, South Korean singer
• May 31
  • Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer
  • Bas Dost, Dutch football player
  • Sean Johnson, American soccer player
  • Daul Kim, South Korean model (d. 2009)
  • Marco Reus, German football player

June

• June 2
  • Freddy Adu, American soccer player
  • Austin Davis, American football player
  • Cooper Helfet, American football player
  • Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
  • Shane Yarran, Australian rules footballer (d. 2018)
• June 3
  • Jillette Johnson, American singer
  • Imogen Poots, British actress
• June 4
  • Pawel Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower
  • Eldar Gasimov, Azerbaijani singer
• June 5
  • Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player
  • Monica Castaño, Colombian beauty queen and model
• June 6 - Bryn McAuley, Canadian actress
• June 8
  • Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player^[31]
  • Minami Tsuda, Japanese voice actress
  • Amaury Vassili, French operatic tenor
• June 9 - Chloë Agnew, Irish singer
• June 14
  • Lucy Hale, American actress and singer
  • Jubin Nautiyal, Indian playback singer
• June 17 - Simone Battle, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
• June 18
  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, French-born Gabonese footballer
  • Anna Fenninger, Austrian alpine ski racer
  • Renee Olstead, American actress and singer
• June 19 - Giacomo Gianniotti, Italian-Canadian actor
• June 20 - Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor
• June 22
  • Jeffrey Earnhardt, American race car driver
  • Jung Yong Hwa, South Korean musician, singer-songwriter, record producer and actor
• June 23
  • Lauren Bennett, British singer, dancer, painter, photographer and model
  • Lisa Carrington, New Zealand flatwater canoeist
• June 25 - Chris Brochu, American actor and singer-songwriter
• June 26 - Magid Magid, Somali-born British politician and activist, Member of the European Parliament
• June 27
  • Matthew Lewis, British actor
  • Bruna Tenório, Brazilian supermodel
• June 28
  • Andrew Fifita, Tongan rugby league footballer
  • David Fifita, Tongan rugby league footballer
  • Mark Fischbach, American YouTube personality
  • Joe Kovacs, American shot putter
• June 29 - Maciej Cie?la, Polish graphics designer
• June 30
  • Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan middle-distance runner
  • Ginta Lapi?a, Latvian model

July

• July 1
  • Daniel Ricciardo, Australian Formula 1 driver
  • Farouk Ben Mustapha, Tunisian footballer
• July 2
  • Dev, American singer
  • Alex Morgan, American soccer player
• July 4 - Yoon Doo-joon, Korean singer
• July 5 - Dejan Lovren, Croatian footballer
• July 7
  • Jamie Johnston, Canadian actor and singer-songwriter
  • Kim Bum, South Korean actor
• July 8
  • Dmitry Abakumov, Russian football player
  • Yarden Gerbi, Israeli world champion judoka
  • Ahmad Fakri Saarani, Malaysian footballer
• July 9 - Kaysar Dadour, Syrian-Brazilian actor
• July 10
  • Fazrul Hazli, Malaysian footballer
  • Carlos Zambrano, Peruvian footballer
• July 11
  • Shareeka Epps, American actress
  • David Henrie, American actor and director
  • Martin Klizan, Slovak tennis player
• July 12
  • Phoebe Tonkin, Australian actress and model
  • Rakep Patel, Kenyan cricketer
• July 13 - Sayumi Michishige, Japanese singer
• July 14 - Cyril Rioli, Australian rules footballer
• July 15 - Tristan Wilds, American actor and singer
• July 16
  • Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
  • Kim Woo-bin, South Korean model and actor
• July 18
  • Dmitri Soloviev, Russian ice dancer
  • Jamie Benn, Canadian ice hockey player
• July 21
  • Chris Gunter, Welsh footballer
  • Marco Fabián, Mexican footballer
  • Jamie Waylett, English actor
  • Rory Culkin, American actor
• July 22
  • Keegan Allen, American actor
  • Trent Boult, New Zealand cricketer
  • Kamal G, Indian film director, film editor and film producer
  • Baltasar Breki Samper, Icelandic actor
  • Yon Tumarkin, Israeli actor and singer
• July 23
  • Daniel Radcliffe, British actor
  • Zhong An Qi, Taiwanese singer
• July 24 - Eko Yuli Irawan, Indonesian weightlifter
• July 25 - Noel Callahan, Canadian actor
• July 27 - Charlotte Arnold, Canadian actress
• July 28
  • Adrien Broner, African-American professional boxer
  • Felipe Kitadai, Brazilian Olympic medalist judoka
  • Amy Yang, South Korean golfer
• July 30
  • Cady Groves, American singer and songwriter (d. 2020)
  • Aleix Espargaró, Spanish Grand prix motorcycle racer
• July 31
  • Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player
  • Alexis Knapp, American actress and singer
  • Marshall Williams, Canadian actor and musician
  • Zelda Williams, American actress

August

• August 1
  • Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
  • Tiffany Hwang, American-born Korean singer
  • Tomoka Kurokawa, Japanese actress
• August 2
  • Nacer Chadli, Belgian footballer
  • Vanes-Mari Du Toit, South African netball player
• August 3 - Sam Hutchinson, English footballer
• August 4
  • Dajana Cahill, Australian actress
  • Tomasz Kaczor, Polish sprint canoeist
  • Jessica Mauboy, Australian actress and singer-songwriter (Young Divas)
  • Wang Hao, Chinese chess player
• August 5
  • Shanshan Feng, Chinese golfer
  • Mathieu Manset, French footballer
  • Nina Radoji?i?, Serbian singer
• August 7 - DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player
• August 10
  • Sam Gagner, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer
  • Brenton Thwaites, Australian actor
• August 11
  • Úrsula Corberó, Spanish actress
  • Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (d. 2013)
  • Sebastian Huke, German footballer
  • Emma Wu, Taiwanese singer and actress
• August 14
  • Ander Herrera, Spanish professional footballer
  • Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
• August 15
  • Belinda, Mexican singer and actress
  • Joe Jonas, American musician, actor and singer
  • Carlos PenaVega, American actor, dancer and singer
• August 19 - Romeo Miller, American rapper, actor, entrepreneur and model
• August 20
  • Kirko Bangz, American rapper
  • Judd Trump, English snooker player
• August 21
  • Rob Knox, English actor (d. 2008)
  • Hayden Panettiere, American actress and singer
• August 24 - Andrés Mercado, Colombian actor and singer
• August 26 - James Harden, American basketball player
• August 27
  • Juliana Cannarozzo, American figure skater
  • Daniel Tovar, Mexican actor
• August 28
  • Valtteri Bottas, Finnish Formula One driver
  • Cassadee Pope, American singer-songwriter
• August 30 - Bebe Rexha, American singer-songwriter

September

• September 1
  • Bill Kaulitz, German singer
  • Jefferson Montero, Ecuadorian footballer
  • Daniel Sturridge, English footballer
• September 2
  • Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer
  • Zedd, record producer, DJ, musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter
• September 5
  • Elena Delle Donne, American professional basketball player
  • Kat Graham, Swiss-born American actress, model, singer and dancer
• September 8
  • Avicii, Swedish DJ, remixer and record producer (d. 2018)
  • Sebastián Francini, Argentine actor
• September 9 - Sean Malto, American professional skateboarder
• September 11 - Michael J. Willett, American actor and musician
• September 12
  • Freddie Freeman, American baseball player
  • Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Canadian artistic gymnast
  • Andrew Luck, American football player
• September 13
  • Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (d. 2013)
  • Thomas Müller, German football player
• September 14
  • Jimmy Butler, American basketball player
  • Kazumi Evans, Canadian voice actress and singer
  • Tony Finau, American golfer
  • Logan Henderson, American actor, dancer and singer
  • Jonathon Simmons, American basketball player
• September 15 - Steliana Nistor, Romanian artistic gymnast
• September 17 - Danielle Brooks, American actress and singer
• September 19 - Tyreke Evans, American basketball player, 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year
• September 20 - Andrej Martin, Slovak tennis player
• September 21 - Jason Derulo, American urban singer and actor
• September 22
  • Hyoyeon Kim, Korean singer
  • Sabine Lisicki, German tennis player
• September 23
  • A.J. Applegate, American pornographic actress
  • Sui He, Chinese model
  • Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
  • Kevin Norwood, American football player
  • Mara Scherzinger, German actress
• September 24 - Pia Wurtzbach, German-Filipina actress and model
• September 25 - Jordan Gavaris, Canadian actor
• September 26
  • Kieran Gibbs, English footballer
  • Jonny Bairstow, English cricketer
• September 27
  • Rumi Okubo, Japanese voice actress
  • Park Tae-hwan, South Korean swimmer
• September 29 - Theo Adams, British performance artist

October

• October 1 - Brie Larson, American actress
• October 2 - George Hotz, Security Hacker and automated driving
• October 4
  • Dakota Johnson, American actress
  • Kimmie Meissner, American figure skater
  • Viktoria Rebensburg, German alpine skier
• October 10 - Aimee Teegarden, American actress
• October 11
  • Tomoyuki Sugano, Japanese baseball pitcher
  • Michelle Wie, American golfer
• October 12 - Paulo Henrique Ganso, Brazilian football player
• October 13
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American politician and activist
  • Skyler Page, American animator and voice actor
• October 15 - Anthony Joshua, British professional boxer
• October 16 - Dan Biggar, Welsh rugby union player
• October 17 - Sophie Luck, Australian actress
• October 18 - Matthew Centrowitz Jr., American middle-distance runner^[32]
• October 19 - Nikolija Jovanovi?, Serbian singer and dancer
• October 20 - Jess Glynne, British singer
• October 23 - Jonita Gandhi, Indo-Canadian singer
• October 24
  • Armin Ba?inovi?, Slovenian football midfielder
  • T'erea Brown, American track and field athlete
  • Cristian Gamboa, Costa Rican footballer
  • Shenae Grimes, Canadian actress
  • Eric Hosmer, American professional baseball player
  • PewDiePie, Swedish and most subscribed YouTuber, comedian, commentator and philanthropist
  • Eliza Taylor, Australian actress
• October 25 - Mia Wasikowska, Australian actress
• October 28 - Camille Muffat, French swimmer (d. 2015)
• October 29 - Primo? Rogli?, Slovenian cyclist
• October 30 - Nastia Liukin, American artistic gymnast and Olympic gold medalist

November

• November 2 - Katelyn Tarver, American singer, songwriter and actress
• November 3
  • Paula DeAnda, Mexican-born American singer
  • Joyce Jonathan, French singer
  • Kim Taek-yong, South Korean professional gamer
• November 6 - Jozy Altidore, American soccer player
• November 8 - Giancarlo Stanton, American baseball player
• November 9 - Gianluca Bezzina, Maltese doctor and singer
• November 10
  • Taron Egerton, British actor
  • Adeele Sepp, Estonian actress
• November 11
  • Nick Blackman, English-Israeli footballer^[33]
  • Thiago de Los Reyes, Brazilian actor
  • Adam Rippon, American figure skater
  • Reina Tanaka, Japanese rock singer
• November 14
  • Emis Killa, Italian rapper
  • Jake Livermore, English footballer
• November 19
  • Caitlynne Medrek, Canadian actress and voice actress
  • Tyga, American rapper
• November 20
  • Cody Linley, American actor
  • Sergei Polunin, Ukrainian ballet dancer
• November 21 - Fabian Delph, English footballer
• November 22 - Alden Ehrenreich, American actor
• November 25 - Tom Dice, Belgian singer-songwriter
• November 27 - Loveli, Japanese model

December

• December 2
  • Cassie Steele, Canadian actress and singer
  • Robert Turbin, American football player
• December 3
  • Bette Franke, Dutch model
  • Aaron Fuller, American basketball player
  • Tomasz Narkun, Polish mixed martial artist
• December 4
  • Garron DuPree, American musician
  • Nafessa Williams, American actress
• December 5
  • Gregory Tyree Boyce, American actor
  • Katy Kung, Hong Kong actress
  • Kwon Yu-ri, Korean singer
• December 7
  • Kyle Hendricks, American baseball player
  • Nicholas Hoult, British actor
  • Jiang Mengjie, Chinese actress
  • Caleb Landry Jones, American actor and musician
• December 8 - Bill Wurtz, America Jazz-Pop musician
• December 9 - Eric Bledsoe, American basketball player
• December 10 - Marion Maréchal, French politician
• December 12 - Janelle Arthur, American singer
• December 13
  • Chen Xiang, Chinese pop singer and actor
  • Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author
  • Taylor Swift, American pop and country singer-songwriter and record producer^[34]
• December 14
  • Onew, Korean singer
  • Christian Ribeiro, Welsh footballer
• December 15
  • Nichole Bloom, American actress and model
  • Lady Leshurr, British rapper, singer-songwriter and producer
  • Arina Rodionova, Russian-Australian tennis player
  • Sean Tizzle, Nigerian singer-songwriter
• December 18
  • David Anthony, British wheelchair rugby player
  • Emily Atack, English actress
  • Ashley Benson, American actress
• December 19
  • Valdimar Bergstað, Icelandic horse rider
  • Yong Jun-hyung, Korean singer
  • Aaron Traywick, American life extension activist (d. 2018)
• December 21
  • Quinta Brunson, American writer, producer, comedian and actress
  • Cheikhou Kouyaté, Senegalese footballer
  • Thorbjørn Olesen, Danish golfer
  • Tamannaah, Indian model and actress
• December 22
  • Manon Aubry, French politician
  • Zachary Adam Chesser, American convicted for aiding a militant Islamist movement
  • Logan Huffman, American actor
  • Jordin Sparks, American singer
• December 26
  • Yohan Blake, Jamaican athlete
  • Sora Tokui, Japanese voice actress, singer and manga artist
  • Keenan MacWilliam, Canadian actress, singer, dancer, writer and director
• December 27
  • Kim Ha-na, South Korean badminton player
  • Kateryna Lagno, Ukrainian chess player
  • Cody Meakin, Australian wheelchair rugby player
• December 28
  • Jessie Buckley, Irish actress and singer
  • Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
  • Salvador Sobral, Portuguese singer
• December 29
  • Left Brain, American rapper and music producer
  • Jane Levy, American actress
  • Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player
• December 30
  • Tyler Anderson, American baseball player
  • Danil Ishutin, Ukrainian professional Dota 2 player
  • Alix Klineman, American beach volleyball player
  • Ryan Sheckler, American skateboarder
  • Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer and actress

Deaths

January

• January 6
  • Jim Hurtubise, American race car driver (b. 1932)
  • Sir Edmund Leach, British anthropologist (b. 1910)
• January 7
  • Frank Adams, British mathematician (b. 1930)
  • Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
• January 8 - Kenneth McMillan, American actor (b. 1932)
• January 10 - Herbert Morrison, American radio reporter (b. 1905)
• January 11 - José Bustamante y Rivero, Peruvian politician, diplomat and jurist, 33rd President of Peru (b. 1894)
• January 13 - Joe Spinell, American actor (b. 1936)
• January 14 - Robert B. Anderson, American administrator and businessman (b. 1910)
• January 16
  • Prem Nazir, Indian actor (b. 1926)
  • Trey Wilson, American actor (b. 1948)
• January 17 - Óscar Vargas Prieto, Peruvian soldier and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1917)
• January 18 - Bruce Chatwin, British author (b. 1940)
• January 19 - Norma Varden, English actress (b. 1898)
• January 20
  • Józef Cyrankiewicz, Polish communist politician, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1911)
  • Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (b. 1894)
• January 21 - Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
• January 23 - Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (b. 1904)
• January 24 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• January 27 - Sir Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer and yachtsman (b. 1888)
• January 28 - Halina Konopacka, Polish Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
• January 30 - Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz (b. 1936)
• January 31 - Fernando Gonçalves Namora, Portuguese writer and doctor (b. 1919)

February

• February 1 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1919)
• February 2
  • Yuri Bogatyryov, Soviet actor (b. 1947)
  • Ondrej Nepela, Slovakian figure skater (b. 1951)
• February 3 - John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)
• February 4 - Trevor Lucas, Australian folk singer (b. 1943)
• February 6 - Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
• February 9 - Osamu Tezuka, Japanese artist (b. 1928)
• February 11 - T. E. B. Clarke, British screenwriter (b. 1907)
• February 13 - Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark (b. 1910)
• February 14
  • James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
  • Vincent Crane, British musician (b. 1943)
• February 17 - Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
• February 21 - Sándor Márai, Hungarian writer and journalist (b. 1900)
• February 26 - Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
• February 27
  • Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
  • Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

March

• March 6 - Harry Andrews, British actor (b. 1911)
• March 9 - Robert Mapplethorpe, American activist, artist and photographer (b. 1946)
• March 10 - Maurizio Merli, Italian actor (b. 1940)
• March 12 - Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
• March 14
  • Edward Abbey, American author and environmentalist (b. 1927)
  • Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Queen consort of Hungary and Empress consort of Austria (b. 1892)
• March 16 - Jesús María de Leizaola, Spanish politician (b. 1896)
• March 17 - Merritt Butrick, American actor (b. 1959)
• March 20 - Dina Sfat, Brazilian actress (b. 1938)
• March 25 - Sa`id Al-Mufti, Jordanian political figure, 9th Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1898)
• March 27
  • May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
  • Jack Starrett, American actor and director (b. 1936)
• March 29
  • Bernard Blier, French actor (b. 1916)
  • Aleksandr Prokopenko, Soviet footballer (b. 1953)

April

• April 1 - George Robledo, Chilean soccer player (b. 1926)
• April 3 - Mustafa Ça?atay, Turkish-Cypriot politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus (b. 1937)
• April 6 – Tufton Beamish, Baron Chelwood, British army officer and politician (b. 1917)
• April 12
  • Abbie Hoffman, American political activist (b. 1936)
  • Sugar Ray Robinson, American professional boxer (b. 1921)
• April 15
  • Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
  • Bernard-Marie Koltès, French playwright (b. 1948)
• April 16
  • Hakk? Yeten, Turkish footballer, manager and president (b. 1910)
• April 19 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, British writer (b. 1907)
• April 20 -- Edward DeSaulnier, American politician (b. 1921)
• April 21
  • Princess Deokhye of Korea (b. 1912)
  • James Kirkwood Jr., American playwright (b. 1924)
• April 22 - Emilio Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• April 23
  • Hamani Diori, Nigerien politician, 1st President of Niger (b. 1916)
  • Hu Die, Chinese actress (b. 1907)
• April 24 - Edgar Sanabria, Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat and politician, Interim President of Venezuela (b. 1911)
• April 25 - George Coulouris, British actor (b. 1903)
• April 26 - Lucille Ball, American actress, comedian and entertainer (b. 1911)
• April 27 - Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese industrialist (b. 1894)
• April 30
  • Sergio Leone, Italian film director (b. 1929)
  • Guy Williams, Italian-born American actor (b. 1924)

May

• May 1 - Edward Ochab, Polish activist and politician, 13th President of Poland (b. 1906)
• May 2 - Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
• May 3 - Christine Jorgensen, Norwegian actress, singer and writer (b. 1926)
• May 9 - Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
• May 10 - Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1944)
• May 15 - Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
• May 19
  • Anton Diffring, German actor (b. 1916)
  • Robert Webber, American actor (b. 1924)
• May 20
  • John Hicks, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
  • Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
• May 26 - Don Revie, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
• May 29
  • John Cipollina, American guitarist (b. 1943)
  • Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (b. 1932)
• May 31 - C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and writer (b. 1901)

June

• June 3 - Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian philosopher, politician, revolutionary and Shia Muslim religious leader, 1st Supreme Leader of Iran (b. 1902)
• June 4 - Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
• June 7 - Nara Leão, Brazilian singer (b. 1942)
• June 8 - Albert Spaggiari, French criminal (b. 1932)
• June 9
  • George Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
  • Rashid Behbudov, Azerbaijani singer and actor (b. 1915)
  • José López Rega, Argentine politician (b. 1916)
• June 10 - Richard Quine, American actor (b. 1920)
• June 13 - Fran Allison, Australian actress (b. 1907)
• June 14 - Joseph Malula, Congolese archbishop and cardinal (b. 1917)
• June 15
  • Victor French, American actor and director (b. 1934)
  • Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
• June 17 - John Matuszak, American football player and actor (b. 1950)
• June 22 - Lee Calhoun, American Olympic athlete (b. 1933)
• June 23
  • Werner Best, German Nazi official, jurist, police chief and SS-Obergruppenführer leader (b. 1903)
  • Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1907)
• June 24 - Hibari Misora, Japanese singer (b. 1937)
• June 27
  • Sir Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (b. 1910)
  • Jack Buetel, American actor (b. 1915)
  • Michele Lupo, Italian film director (b. 1932)
• June 28 - Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898)
• June 30 - Hilmar Baunsgaard, Danish politician and 34th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1920)

July

• July 2
  • Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician and diplomat (b. 1909)
  • Franklin Schaffner, American film director (b. 1920)
  • Ben Wright, British actor in radio, film and television (b. 1915)
• July 3 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
• July 4 - Win Maung, 3rd President of Myanmar (b. 1916)
• July 6 - János Kádár, Hungarian politician and communist leader, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1912)
• July 10 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor and radio personality (b. 1908)
• July 11 - Laurence Olivier, English actor and director (b. 1907)
• July 12 - Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (b. 1896)
• July 15 - Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (b. 1956)
• July 16 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
• July 18
  • Donnie Moore, Major League Baseball pitcher (b. 1954)
  • Rebecca Schaeffer, American actress (b. 1967)
• July 19 - Kazimierz Sabbat, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1913)
• July 20
  • Forrest H. Anderson, American politician (b. 1913)
  • Mary Treen, American actress (b. 1907)
• July 22 - Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (b. 1935)
• July 23
  • Donald Barthelme, American writer (b. 1931)
  • Archduchess Charlotte of Austria (b. 1921)
• July 24 - Ernie Morrison, American actor (b. 1912)
• July 29 - Nancy Andrews, American actress (b. 1920)

August

• August 1 - John Ogdon, British pianist (b. 1937)
• August 12 - William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• August 13
  • Hugo del Carril, Argentine film actor, film director and tango singer (b. 1912)
  • Tim Richmond, American race car driver (b. 1955)
• August 14 - Robert Bernard Anderson, American political figure (b. 1910)
• August 15 - Minoru Genda, Japanese aviator, naval officer and politician (b. 1904)
• August 16
  • Jean-Hilaire Aubame, French-born Gabonese politician (b. 1912)
  • Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
• August 18 - Luis Carlos Galan, Colombian politician (b. 1943)
• August 20
  • George Adamson, Indian-born American conservationist (b. 1906)
  • Joseph LaShelle, American cinematographer (b. 1900)
• August 21 - Raul Seixas, Brazilian rock singer (b. 1945)
• August 22
  • Huey P. Newton, African-American political activist (b. 1942)
  • Diana Vreeland, American fashion editor (b. 1929)
• August 23 - R. D. Laing, British psychiatrist (b. 1927)
• August 26 - Irving Stone, American writer (b. 1903)
• August 27 - Luiz Luz, Brazilian footballer (b. 1909)
• August 29
  • Pua Kealoha, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1902)
  • Sir Peter Scott, British naturalist, artist and explorer (b. 1909)

September

• September 4
  • Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (b. 1903)
  • Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (b. 1903)
• September 13 - Charles H. Russell, American politician, 20th Governor of Nevada (b. 1903)
• September 14 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (b. 1916)
• September 15 - Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b. 1905)
• September 22 - Irving Berlin, American composer (b. 1888)
• September 28 - Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino dictator, politician and statesman, 10th President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
• September 30
  • Virgil Thomson, American composer (b. 1896)
  • Hu?nh T?n Phát, Vietnamese politician, 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (b. 1913)

October

• October 2
  • Paola Barbara, Italian actress (b. 1912)
  • Vittorio Caprioli, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• October 4
  • Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)
  • Secretariat, American Thoroughbred racehorse (b. 1970)
• October 6 - Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)
• October 11
  • M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1903)
  • Paul Shenar, American actor (b. 1936)
• October 12 – Jay Ward, American animation producer (b. 1920)
• October 16
  • Scott O'Dell, American children's writer (b. 1898)
  • Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1915)
• October 18 - Countess Georgina, Princess consort of Liechtenstein (b. 1921)
• October 20 - Sir Anthony Quayle, British actor (b. 1913)
• October 22
  • Ewan MacColl, British folk singer, political activist and actor (b. 1915)
  • Roland Winters, American actor (b. 1904)
• October 25 - Mary McCarthy, American writer (b. 1912)
• October 26 - Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
• October 28 - Yuliya Solntseva, Soviet actress (b. 1901)
• October 30 - Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1906)^[35]

November

• November 3 - Timoci Bavadra, Fijian physician and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Fiji (b. 1934)
• November 5
  • Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (b. 1903)
  • Barry Sadler, American soldier and singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
• November 12 - Édouard Candeveau, Swiss Olympic rower (b. 1898)
• November 13
  • Victor Davis, Canadian Olympic swimmer (b. 1964)
  • Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1906)
• November 16 - Ignacio Ellacuría, Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1930)
• November 20
  • Lynn Bari, American actress (b. 1913)
  • Leonardo Sciascia, Italian writer (b. 1921)
• November 22 - René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (b. 1925)
• November 24 - Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian (b. 1941)
• November 26 - Ahmed Abdallah, Comorian politician, 1st President of Comoros (b. 1919)
• November 27 - Carlos Arias Navarro, Spanish politician, 71st Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1908)
• November 28 - Ernesto Civardi, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
• November 29 - Gubby Allen, English cricketer (b. 1902)
• November 30
  • Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroonian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cameroon and President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
  • Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architect (b. 1900)

December

• December 1 - Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
• December 3
  • Sourou-Migan Apithy, Beninese political figure, 2nd President of Dahomey (b. 1913)
  • Fernando Martín Espina, Spanish basketball player (b. 1962)
• December 5 - John Pritchard, British conductor (b. 1921)
• December 6
  • Frances Bavier, American actress (b. 1902)
  • Sammy Fain, American composer (b. 1902)
  • John Payne, American actor (b. 1912)
• December 8 - Hans Hartung, German-born French painter (b. 1904)
• December 11
  • Carlos Almaraz, Mexican-born American artist (b. 1941)
  • Lindsay Crosby, American singer and actor (b. 1938)
• December 14
  • Jock Mahoney, American actor (b. 1919)
  • Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1921)
• December 15
  • José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Colombian drug lord and criminal (b. 1947)
  • Edward Underdown, British stage and film veteran (b. 1908)
• December 16
  • Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
  • Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
  • Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
• December 17 - Albert C. Wedemeyer, American general (b. 1897)
• December 19
  • María Teresa Babín Cortés, Puerto Rican educator, critic and essayist (b. 1910)
  • Herbert Blaize, Grenadian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1918)
  • Kirill Mazurov, Soviet politician (b. 1914)
• December 20 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
• December 21
  • Ján Cikker, Slovak composer (b. 1911)
  • Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Nigerian-born British photographer (b. 1955)
• December 22
  • Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • Vasile Milea, Romanian military officer and politician, minister of Defense (b. 1927)
• December 23 - Richard Rado, German-born British mathematician (b. 1906)
• December 25
  • Elena Ceau?escu, Romanian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1916)
  • Nicolae Ceau?escu, Romanian politician, dictator and Communist Party head, 1st President of Romania (b. 1918)
  • Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
• December 26 - Lennox Berkeley, English composer (b. 1903)
• December 28 - Hermann Oberth, Austro-Hungarian-born German engineer, physicist and scientist (b. 1894)
• December 30 - Yasuji Miyazaki, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1916)
• December 31
  • Sir Ignatius Kilage, 4th Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1941)
  • Mihály Lantos, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1928)
  • Gerhard Schröder, German politician (b. 1910)
• December - Yem Sambaur, 8th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1913)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Norman Foster Ramsey Jr., Hans Georg Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul
• Chemistry - Sidney Altman, Thomas Cech
• Medicine - J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus
• Literature - Camilo José Cela
• Peace - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
• Cage of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel - Trygve Haavelmo

References

Further reading

• Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague (1999) excerpt
• Kenney, Padraic, ed. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End: A Brief History with Documents (2009)
• Sebestyen, Victor. Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire (2010) excerpt

External links

• After the fall - Europe after 1989
• Mikhail Gorbachev on 1989 - 2009 interview by The Nation
• Freedom Without Walls: German Missions in the United States Looking Back at the Fall of the Berlin Wall - official homepage in English