2019

Overview

The year 2019 began on Tuesday according to the Gregorian calendar. It is the 2019th year of Christian Chronology, the 19th year of the 3rd millennium, the 19th year of the 21st century and the 10th year and the last year of the 2010s.

Designations

The United Nations General Assembly designated 2019 as:

* The Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements
* International Year of Local Languages
* International Year of Moderation

Additionally, Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Matera (Italy) were designated as the European Capitals of Culture for 2019.

Scheduled Events

### January

1. **January 1**: Romania took over the six-monthly presidency of the Council of the European Union in Austria.
2. **January 1**: The law prohibiting the marketing of plastic bags with handles entered into force in Romania.
3. **January 1**: NASA's New Horizons probe surpassed the farthest celestial object ever studied by man, passing within 3,500 kilometers of Ultima Thule, an object located in the Kuiper Belt, about 6.4 billion kilometers from Earth.

### February

16. **February 16**: Nigerians went to elections to elect their next prime minister.

### March

29. **March 29**: The United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the European Union.

Notes

* All works released in 1923 will enter into the public domain in the United States, as copyright laws were not further amended.
* The drone New Horizons was expected to reach and explore the 2014 MU69 asteroid in the Kuiper zone.