27-year-old poll reveals what Americans thought would happen by 2025
Americans in 1998 made a handful of correct predictions about what would happen over a 27-year period
A poll conducted in 1998 asked Americans what they believed would happen in the world come 2025.
Most of the time, people turn to the likes of Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian mystic who died in 1996, for predictions about the future - and it's safe to say she gave a pretty bleak forecast for 2025.
From escalated conflict in Europe to 2025 being a year of catastrophic earthquakes, the last 12 months haven't looked very optimistic.
But it turns out it's not just Vanga who has made predictions about the future, as US citizens were asked to do the same 27 years ago.
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In 1998, 1,055 adults were tasked with sharing their thoughts on how likely they believed a handful of things would happen by 2025 as part of a study carried out by Gallup and USA Today - and they got a surprising amount right.
The data was gathered via telephone interviews that were conducted over two days.
In the poll, 75 per cent of participants said that they thought that there would be an 'emergence of a deadly new disease' by 2025. Hello, COVID.
Elsewhere, 74 per cent said that they thought gay marriages would be commonplace by now.
In addition, 69 per cent of people thought the US would have elected a Black president by 2025: cue Barack Obama.
52 per cent also predicted that most people would do their jobs from home, and 56 per cent accurately predicted that online shopping would replace most stores.
Other predictions didn't hold up as well. Despite 61 per cent of people thinking we'd routinely be living to 100 years old, this isn't quite the case yet (unless you're Dick Van Dyke, of course).
People also had high hopes that AIDS and cancer would be cured now, too, but sadly, these two diseases are still claiming the lives of millions of people as each year passes.
66 per cent of participants thought we'd have had a female president by now, too. Sorry, Kamala.
In terms of things they didn't think would have happened by 2025, people in 1998 were sceptical about cars being replaced with mass transportation, humans making contact with aliens, most people being self-employed, human cloning being commonplace, and space travel being the norm for Americans.
Generally, people seemed to be optimistic about the future of the country, with 60 per cent of those who took part in the 1998 study saying that they were happy with how things were going in the US, CNN reports. In comparison, just 24 per cent of Americans say this now.
Niamh Shackleton