2024 in pictures

Extraordinary images from around the world

Extraordinary images from around the world

By the Visual Journalism team      News

The devastating toll of war, the challenges of artificial intelligence and the joy of a baby hippo were among the many moments documented by news agency photographers in 2024.

These are some of the most striking photos of the year:

Anton Brink/EPA

Lava flows across a road near Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland, 21 November 2024.
Lava flows across a road near Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland

Jerome Brouillet/AFP

Brazil's Gabriel Medina reacts after getting a large wave in the 5th heat of the men's surfing round 3, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on 29 July, 2024.
Brazil's Gabriel Medina celebrates after catching a large wave in the surfing event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti

The summer of 2024 was a celebration of sport as the world came to Paris for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Christian Hartmann/Reuters

The moon is pictured with the Olympic cauldron and the Eiffel Tower
Sporting events were held around France and in Paris, often in the shadow of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower

Aytac Unal/Anadolu/Getty Images

Sunisa Lee of United States competing during the artistic gymnastics women's team final on the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena in Paris.
Sunisa Lee of United States competing during the artistic gymnastics women's team final

Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Gang Sun of China and Piers Gilliver of Britain face off in the gold medal bout for the Men’s Epee Category of Wheelchair Fencing during the Paris 2024 Paralympics, September 6, 2024.
Gang Sun of China and Piers Gilliver of Britain face off in the men's epee category of wheelchair fencing

People also found the time to look up and enjoy nature’s spectacles, like solar eclipses...

and meteor showers and volcanoes.

2024 was a year of conflict for some, with civilians often caught in the middle.

Hatem Khaled/Reuters

Displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 7, 2024.
In Gaza, close to two million people have been forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting between Israel and Hamas, which continues more than a year after the 7 October attacks

Mohammed Salem/Reuters

A Palestinian woman waits to receive aid from a UNRWA distribution centre which was hit in an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip 13 March.
A Palestinian woman waits to receive aid from a UN distribution centre which was hit in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza

Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

A protester surrounded by smoke from a flare holds up a poster, featuring a 7 October hostage on a Day of Disruption by anti-government protest groups in Shoresh, Israel May 20 2024
A protester holds up a poster featuring a hostage who was kidnapped during the deadly Hamas 7 October attacks on Israel

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Newly arrived Sudanese refugees at a relocation camp on April 24, 2024 near Adre, Chad.
More than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes by the conflict in Sudan, with women and children a high proportion of those arriving as refugees in Chad

Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP

A woman in a shop during a partial blackout in Lviv on November 28, 2024, following Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure,
In Ukraine, a woman sits in a shop during a partial blackout in Lviv following Russian strikes on the country's energy infrastructure

It's been a big year for democracy, with more than half of the world’s population, in over 80 countries, choosing new leaders.

Ihsaan Haffejee/Reuters

A drone view shows people queuing to vote during the South African elections, in Johannesburg, South Africa 29 May 2024.
In South Africa, the ANC - the party that led the struggle against white-minority rule and has been dominant for three decades - lost its parliamentary majority

Henry Nicholls/AFP

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, soaked in rain, pauses as he delivers a speech to announce July 4 as the date of the UK's next general election, at 10 Downing Street in central London, on May 22, 2024.
Elections in the UK and the US both saw a change of leadership, with Labour ending 14 years of Conservative rule

Henry Nicholls/AFP

Britain's incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer walks to the podium to address the nation after his general election victory.
Britain's new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer walks to the podium to address the nation after his general election victory

Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris embraces US President Joe Biden on stage during Day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 19, 2024.
Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris embraces US President Joe Biden on stage in Chicago

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on November 06, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
On a stunning night for the Republican Party, Donald Trump said his election victory handed him an “unprecedented and powerful” mandate to govern

Protests, unrest and anger have shaken those in power and questioned social values.

Kim Hong-ji/Reuters

People hold candles and signs during a candlelight vigil to demand the resignation of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law which was reversed hours later, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 5, 2024.
South Korea's president is facing impeachment proceedings after a failed attempt to impose martial law

Omar Haj Kadour/AFP

Students drag a toppled statue of late president Hafez al-Assad on the street during a rally near the campus of the Damascus University in the Syrian capital on December 15, 2024.
Syria's long-serving president Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebel forces following 13 years of civil war

Miguel Medina/AFP

Gisele Pelicot outside the Avignon courthouse for the trial of her former partner Dominique Pelicot accused of drugging her for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at their home in Mazan, a small town in the south of France, in Avignon, on December 10, 2024.
In France, resilience shone through - with Gisèle Pelicot becoming an inspiration to many after waiving her anonymity during the trial of her husband and 50 other men who raped and abused her

Severe weather caused havoc around the world, including tropical storms in North Carolina and unprecedented floods in Spain.

Wildfires ravaged South Africa and Greece.

Other disasters also made the headlines.

Reza Saifullah/AP

Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat, 21 March 2024.
Indonesian rescuers found 69 Rohingya people sunburnt and dehydrated floating on a rusty hull off the coast of Aceh. Around 80 others are believed to have been swept away - feared dead

Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images

Relatives mourn outside of the home of three victims of same family who died in a stampede on July 03, 2024 in Sokna village in Hathras, India.
Grieving relatives gather outside the home of three family members who died in a deadly stampede. More than 121 lives were lost in a crush at a religious gathering in northern India

Science has taken humanity one step closer to the future as artificial intelligence starts to integrate into more areas of everyday life. Human skin tissue has been used to cover face moulds as robots get ever more life-like.

Social media, at times, provided some light relief.

Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

Moo Deng splashes in a bucket of water in her enclosure at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo on November 11, 2024 in Pattaya, Thailand.
Unexpectedly, a baby hippo called Moo Deng became a viral sensation. Moo Deng - a name that roughly translates to "bouncy pig" - is a female pygmy hippo who drew thousands of visitors at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand

John G. Mabanglo/EPA

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce kisses US singer Taylor Swift following the Chiefs' victory in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 11 February 2024.
Surrounded by football fans, cameras and confetti, Taylor Swift shared an on-field kiss with boyfriend Travis Kelce after the American football star earned a second straight Super Bowl win

Elsewhere, old customs and annual events still bring people together each year.

Albert Gea/Reuters

Group members of Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls start to form a human tower in Tarragona, Spain, 6 October 2024.
A team forms a human tower called a "castell" during the biennial competition in Tarragona, Spain. The tradition of castells dates back to competitions during 18th Century Catalonian festivals

Claudia Morales/Reuters

Elena Quispe Tincuta, 26, Julia Quispe Tincuta, 35, Alicia Quispe Tincuta, 40, and Pasesa Alana Llusco, 37, the cholita climb the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, 28 February 2024
Aiming to reach the summit of Everest in 2025, Bolivia's cholita climbers train in the snow-capped Huayna Potosi mountain

Toyin Adedokun/AFP

Members of the Egbe Obaneye Obinrin parade to pay homage to the King, Awuja Ile of Ijebuland, during the annual Ojude Oba festival in Ijebu Ode on June 18, 2024.
Members of the Egbe Obaneye Obinrin parade to pay homage to the King, Awuja Ile of Ijebuland

Dibyangshu Sarkar/ AFP

Girls smeared with "Gulal" as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, in Kolkata on March 25, 2024.
Girls smeared with "Gulal" as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, in Kolkata, India

Credits

Produced and edited by Camilla Costa, Pilar Tomas, Tom Finn, Dominic Bailey and Oliver Bothwell. Development by Dan Smith and Giacomo Boscaini-Gilroy. Picture research by BBC picture desk.

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