What will life be like in America, Europe, Japan or China in the year 2020?

As everyone’s lives across the world are becoming increasingly interconnected by globalization and new technologies quicken the pace of everything, the answer to that question depends on the fate and paths of the world’s major nations. In Futurecast, Robert Shapiro, former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce and Chairman/Co-founder of Sonecon, tells us what our world will look like in the year 2020. Though that time span seems brief, Shapiro foresees monumental changes caused by three historic new forces—globalization, the aging of societies, and the rise of America as a sole superpower with no near peer— will determine the paths of nations and the lives of countless millions. What jobs will there be for you and your children? What will happen to your health care? How safe will you be at home or abroad? Answers to these questions will depend, even more than today, on where you live in the world:

• Even as China expands its military and its economy, America will be the world’s sole superpower for at least the next generation, and continue to lead efforts to preserve global security and stability.
• The U.S. and China will be the world’s two indispensable economies, dominating the course of globalization.
• Globalization will continue to shift most
s from advanced countries like the U.S., to China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Turkey, and other developing nations.
• Europe’s major nations and Japan will face the prospect of genuine economic decline and critical problems in their retirement pension systems, moving further toward the periphery of global economic and geopolitical power.
• Every major country—the U.S., Europe, Japan, China—will face critical problems with their health care systems, and the entire world will face a crisis over energy and climate change.

If one adds the wildcard of possible, catastrophic terrorist attacks to this mix, the period between now and 2020 will be as challenging as any in modern times. Taking these deep global developments into account when planning for the future is a necessity. Robert Shapiro’s clear-eyed Futurecast is the knowledge portfolio you need to prepare for the years to come.