1998



1998 was designated as the International Year of the Ocean.



January

 * January 2 – Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
 * January 4 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 in Algeria: Over 170 are killed in 3 remote villages.
 * January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles.
 * January 8 – Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
 * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
 * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
 * January 14 – Ralph Guarino is arrested for attempting to rob a Bank of America bank in the World Trade Center.
 * January 17 – The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which would lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.
 * January 20 – Nepalese police intercept a shipment of 272 human skulls in Kathmandu.
 * January 22 – Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty, and accepts a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
 * January 28
 * Gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours, at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.
 * Stade de France, as known well for sports venues of France, officially opened in Saint-Denis, suburb of Paris, before 1998 FIFA World Cup.

February

 * February 1 – The United States Senate passes Resolution 71, urging U.S. President Bill Clinton to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs".
 * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying plane severs the cable of a cable-car.
 * February 4 – The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
 * February 7–22 – The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.
 * February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 202 people (all 196 on board and 6 on the ground).
 * February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and Britain.
 * February 28 – A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War.

March

 * March 1 – Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1 billion.
 * March 2
 * Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
 * In Austria, Natascha Kampusch is abducted by Wolfgang Přiklopil (she will remain in his captivity until August 2006).
 * March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.
 * March 11 – Danish parliamentary election, 1998: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.
 * March 13 – The High-Z Supernova Search Team becomes the first team to publish evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
 * March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture.
 * March 24 – First Computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
 * March 26 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives; 32 of the killed are babies under the age of 2.
 * March 27 – Sildenafil, sold as Viagra and developed by Pfizer, is approved as the first oral treatment for erectile dysfunction in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration.
 * March 31 – Netscape released Mozilla source code under an open source license. This is described in The Book of Mozilla, 3:31.

April

 * April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
 * April 6 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
 * April 10 – Good Friday Agreement: 1 hour after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party.
 * April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction (created 1970) is dissolved.
 * April 22 – Disney's Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida
 * April 23 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 19.

May

 * May 8 – CBS telecasts The Wizard of Oz for the last time. Beginning in 1999, The Wizard of Oz will be shown on cable, and in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 it will be telecast by the WB Television Network in addition to its cable showings.
 * May 11
 * India conducts 3 underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including 1 thermonuclear device.
 * The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins were not finished in 1998, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.
 * May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia. Indonesian natives destroy and burn Chinese Indonesian-owned properties, however, most of the 1,000 people who died in the riots were the Javanese Indonesian looters who targeted the Chinese shops, not the Chinese themselves, since the looters were burnt to death in a massive fire.
 * May 19
 * The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the world's pagers without service.
 * The wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942, is found near Midway Atoll by a team led by former US Navy officer Robert D. Ballard.
 * May 21 – Suharto (elected 1967) resigns, after 32 years as President of Indonesia and his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament (MPR). Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president.
 * May 26 – Bear Grylls, 23, becomes the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest.
 * May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes 5 nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
 * May 30
 * A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
 * A second nuclear test, codenamed Chagai-II, is conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).

June

 * June 2 – The CIH computer virus is discovered in Taiwan.
 * June 3 – Eschede train disaster: An Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
 * June 7
 * Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War (1998–99).
 * Peter Arnett publishes a false report of Operation Tailwind (initiated 1970), claiming that sarin nerve agents were used to eliminate a group of deserting U.S. soldiers.
 * James Byrd, Jr. is beaten and dragged to death by 3 white men in Jasper, Texas.
 * June 9–12 – The 1998 FIFA World Cup begins in France.
 * June 12 – The Centennial Celebration of Independence of the Philippines from Spain is observed.
 * June 25 – Microsoft releases Windows 98.
 * June 27 – Kuala Lumpur International Airport officially opened, which also became the new international gateway into Malaysia.
 * June 30 – Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada is sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines.

July

 * July 2 – J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published.
 * July 5 – Japan launches a probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
 * July 6 – The new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok opens, while the old Kai Tak Airport closes.
 * July 12 – France beats Brazil 3–0 in the football World Cup final.
 * July 17
 * At a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
 * In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years after he and his family were killed by the Lenin-led Bolsheviks in 1918.
 * The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving 2,183–2,700 dead and thousands injured.
 * Biologists report in the journal Science how they sequenced the genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.
 * July 24 – Saving Private Ryan premieres in theaters.

August

 * August 4 – The Second Congo War begins; 3,900,000 people are killed before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II.
 * August 7
 * Yangtze River Floods: In China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.
 * 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia.
 * August 15 – The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real IRA.
 * August 24 – The first RFID human implantation is tested in the United Kingdom.
 * August 26 – Computer virus CIH activates and attacks Windows 9x.

September

 * September 2
 * A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner (Swissair Flight 111) crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva; all 229 people on board are killed.
 * A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of 9 counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.
 * September 4
 * Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
 * The last former Soviet Union radar station, Skrunda-1, is closed down in Latvia.
 * September 5 – The Government of North Korea adopts a military dictatorship on its 50th anniversary.
 * September 10 – At midnight, a shooting occurs aboard an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Russian Navy docked in the northern Russian port-city of Severomorsk. The shooter, Alexander Kuzminykh, a 19-year-old seaman from St. Petersburg, opened fire after murdering a soldier (who was supervising his detention on punishment charges in the personnel quarters of the submarine) with a chisel, and taking his AK-74U carbine. After killing five people and wounding one with the dead soldier's weapon, he proceeded to take 2 fellow soldiers hostage, and barricaded himself in the submarine's torpedo room, where he would later murder them. For 23 hours, doctors, relatives, and a priest attempt to persuade him to surrender, but to no avail. After threatening numerous times to set the torpedo room on fire (an event the authorities feared would cause a quote "second Chernobyl"), the crisis came to an end on the morning of 12 September, when a special anti-terrorist commando unit of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) launched a raid on the torpedo room during which, Kuzminkykh allegedly committed suicide, contrary to prior reports that he'd been killed by the unit.
 * September 12 - The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami.
 * September 24 – Iranian President Mohammad Khatami retracts a fatwa against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie that was in force since 1989 stating that the Iranian government will "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie".

October

 * October 6 – Matthew Shepard is beaten and left to die in a cornfield in Laramie, Wyoming.
 * October 14 – Eric Rudolph is charged with 4 bombings (including the 1996 Olympic bombing) in Atlanta.
 * October 16 – British police place General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator from 1973-1990, under house arrest during his medical treatment in the UK.
 * October 17 – A pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths.
 * October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 18,000 people.

November

 * November 16 – Sesame Workshop (back then known as Children's Television Workshop) launches Elmo's World, the most famous Sesame Street segment, lasting from the late 90' to Sesame Street's 40th anniversary (69-09) and the 10th anniversary of the segment itself (99-09).
 * November 17 – Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from the Solar System, at a distance of 69.419 AU.
 * November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module.
 * November 21 – Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
 * November 24 – A declassified report by Swiss IOC official Marc Hodler reveals that bribes had been used to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during bidding process in 1995. The International Olympic Committee, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Department of Justice immediately launch an investigation into the scandal.

December

 * December 4 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour launches the first American component to the International Space Station, the 25,600 lb Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later.
 * December 6 – Hugo Chávez, politician and former member of the Venezuelan military, is elected President of Venezuela.
 * December 14 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
 * December 16–19 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.
 * December 19 – The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in the nation.
 * December 29 – Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the post-Vietnam War genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million in the 1970s.
 * December 31 – The first leap second since June 30, 1997 occurs. In the eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently.

Date unknown

 * Ibrahim Hanna, the last native speaker of Mlahsô, dies in Qamishli, Syria, making the language effectively extinct. Also, the last native speaker of related Bijil Neo-Aramaic dies in Jerusalem.
 * Italian road racing cyclist Marco Pantani wins both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia this year.

January

 * January 1
 * Samuel Kwong, American sabre fencer
 * Lara Robinson, Australian actress
 * Carlo Kemp, American football player
 * January 2
 * Chen Xinyi, Chinese swimmer
 * Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
 * January 4
 * Coco Jones, American actress and singer
 * Liza Soberano, Filipino actress and singer
 * Georgi Yanev, Bulgarian footballer
 * January 6
 * Yuuka Yano, Japanese actress
 * Ismail Azzaoui, Belgian footballer
 * Lee Seung-woo, South Korean footballer
 * Norman Grimes, American sprinter
 * January 8 - Manuel Locatelli, Italian footballer
 * January 9
 * Kerris Dorsey, American actress and singer
 * Sean Day, Belgian-born Canadian ice hockey player
 * January 10 – Xu Shilin, Chinese tennis player
 * January 12
 * Nathan Gamble, American actor
 * Rafik Zekhnini, Norwegian footballer
 * January 13
 * Gabrielle Daleman, Canadian figure skater
 * Kamron Doyle, American ten-pin bowler
 * January 14
 * Ai Moritaka, Japanese model and actress
 * Nick Romeo Reimann, German actor
 * January 16 - Odsonne Édouard, French footballer
 * January 17 – Luca Schuler, Swiss freestyle skier
 * January 18 – Vashti Cunningham, American track and field
 * January 21 – Amelia Hundley, American artistic gymnast
 * January 23
 * Rachel Crow, American singer and actress
 * Cole Custer, American stock car racing driver
 * Silentó American rapper
 * January 24 – Ada-Nicole Sanger, American actress
 * January 26
 * Leeah D. Jackson, American actress
 * Jung Chan-woo, South Korean singer
 * January 27 – Rebeka Kim, South Korean ice dancer
 * January 28
 * Ariel Winter, American actress
 * Javier Acevedo, Canadian swimmer
 * January 29 – Mion Mukaichi, Japanese singer and actress
 * January 30 – Jordana Beatty, Australian actress

February

 * February 1
 * Stefan Kozlov, American tennis player
 * Kipyegon Bett, Kenyan middle-distance runner
 * February 3
 * Michael McLeod, Canadian ice hockey player
 * Blás Riveros, Paraguayan footballer
 * February 4
 * Scott Jones, English paralympic athlete
 * Malik Monk, American basketball player
 * February 5 – Sreelakshmi Suresh, Indian web designer
 * February 7 – Angelique Sabrina, Bahamian singer-songwriter, dancer and actress
 * February 10
 * Gray Gaulding, American stock car racing driver
 * Aitor Buñuel, Spanish footballer
 * February 12 – Chen Siyi, Chinese gymnast
 * February 13 - Khalifa St. Fort, Trinbagonian sprinter
 * February 15 – Zachary Gordon, American actor
 * February 16
 * Kim Su-ji, South Korean diver
 * Seo Young-joo, South Korean actor
 * February 18 – Matthew Davidson, American guitarist
 * February 19 – Sam Kim, Korean-American singer and guitarist
 * February 20 – Matt Hunter, American singer and voice actor
 * February 21 - Michaela Hrubá, Czech athlete
 * February 24 – Mariel Pamintuan, Filipino actress
 * February 25 - Matheus Pereira da Silva, Brazilian footballer
 * February 27
 * Theo Stevenson, English actor
 * Elisa Balsamo, Italian road and track cyclist

March

 * March 1 – Tengku Muhammad Ismail of Terengganu
 * March 3 - Jayson Tatum, American basketball player
 * March 5 - Sergio Díaz, Paraguayan footballer
 * March 9 – Kaylin Whitney, American sprinter
 * March 12
 * Annaleise Carr, Canadian swimmer
 * Jordan Jansen, Australian singer
 * Alina Müller, Swiss ice hockey player
 * Elizaveta Ukolova, Czech figure skater
 * March 14 – Szuyu Rachel Su, Taiwanese classical pianist
 * March 17 – Nathan O'Toole, Irish actor
 * March 19 – Sakura Miyawaki, Japanese singer
 * March 21 – Miles Bridges, American basketball player
 * March 22
 * Harsh Mayar, Indian actor
 * Paola Andino, Puerto Rican actress
 * March 25 – Ryan Simpkins, American actress
 * March 26
 * Daria Grushina, Russian ski jumper
 * Satoko Miyahara, Japanese figure skater
 * March 27
 * BJ Forbes, Filipino actor
 * Haji Wright, American footballer
 * March 28 - Sandi Lovric, Austrian footballer
 * March 29 - Shealeigh, American singer-songwriter
 * March 30 – Janella Salvador, Filipina actress and singer
 * March 31
 * Jakob Chychrun, American ice hockey player
 * Anna Seidel, German short track speed skater
 * Valeria Gorlats, Estonian tennis player

April

 * April 1
 * Isabella Bliss, Australian chef
 * Franco Lopez, Argentinian footballer
 * April 4 – Malcolm Sutherland-Foggio, American philanthropist
 * April 5 – Kaito Nakamura, Japanese actor and model
 * April 6
 * Peyton List, American actress
 * Spencer List, American actor
 * April 9 – Elle Fanning, American actress
 * April 10 - Anna Pogorilaya, Russian figure skater
 * April 16
 * Paul Salas, Filipino actor
 * Maxime Rooney, American swimmer
 * April 18 – Joyce Tafatatha, Malawian swimmer
 * April 19 – Patrik Laine, Finnish ice hockey player
 * April 22 – Marco Ladner, Austrian freestyle skier
 * April 24 – Ryan Newman, American actress
 * April 26 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Polish chess Grandmaster
 * April 29 – Kimberly Birrell, German-born Australian tennis player
 * April 30 - Olivia DeJonge, Australian actress

May

 * May 2
 * Vasilisa Davankova, Russian pair skater
 * Ian Anderson, American baseball pitcher
 * Jonathan Ikoné, French footballer
 * May 4
 * Taylar Hender, American actress
 * Frank Jackson, American basketball player
 * May 5 – Olli Juolevi, Finnish ice hockey player
 * May 6
 * Kayden Troff, American chess champion
 * Sierra Schmidt, American swimmer
 * May 7
 * Jesse Puljujarvi, Finnish ice hockey player
 * Dani Olmo, Spanish footballer
 * May 8 - Johannes Eggestein, German footballer
 * May 11 - Fran Villalba, Spanish footballer
 * May 12 – Tornado Alicia Black, American tennis player
 * May 13
 * Karen Iwata, Japanese singer and voice actress
 * Mickey Moniak, American baseball outfielder
 * May 14 – Taruni Sachdev, Indian actress (d. 2012)
 * May 16 - Adian Pitkeev, Russian figure skater
 * May 18
 * Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
 * Brianna Fruean, Samoan environmental activist
 * May 20 – Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater
 * May 26 - Shannon, English-born South Korean singer
 * May 28 – Riho Sayashi, Japanese singer
 * May 29
 * Lucía Gil, Spanish singer and actress
 * Oliver Stokes, British actor
 * Felix Passlack, German footballer
 * Markelle Fultz, American basketball player
 * May 31 - Reza Shekari, Iranian Footballer

June

 * June 1
 * Aleksandra Soldatova, Russian rhythmic gymnast
 * Branimir Kalaica, Croatian footballer
 * June 5
 * Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russian figure skater
 * Harry Giles III, American basketball player
 * June 7 – Graham Newberry, British-American figure skater
 * June 11
 * Charlie Tahan, American actor
 * Rhys Matthew Bond, Canadian actor
 * June 13 – Abdallah El Akal, Israeli actor
 * June 14 - Taishi Nakagawa, Japanese actor and model
 * June 15
 * Alexander Samarin, Russian figure skater
 * Hachim Mastour, Moroccan footballer
 * June 16
 * Veronica Hults, American artistic gymnast
 * Lauren Taylor, American actress
 * June 19
 * Suzu Hirose, Japanese actress and model
 * Joey Jett, American skateboarder
 * Atticus Shaffer, American actor
 * Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş, Turkish swimmer
 * Ömer Yurtseven,Turkish basketball player
 * June 20 – Jadin Gould, American actress
 * June 23 - Josip Brekalo, Croatian footballer
 * June 24
 * Coy Stewart, American actor
 * Pierre-Luc Dubois, Canadian ice hockey player
 * June 25 - Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer

July

 * July 2 – Ema Klinec, Slovenian ski jumper
 * July 7 – Dylan Sprayberry, American actor
 * July 8
 * Jaden Smith, American actor
 * Daria Spiridonova, Russian artistic gymnast
 * July 9
 * Robert Capron, American actor
 * Tiger Onitsuka, Japanese drummer
 * July 10 - Haley Pullos, American actress
 * July 12 – Swini Khara, Indian actress
 * July 17 - Don Felipe of Spain
 * July 19 – Lil Woods, English actress
 * July 22
 * Alicia Moffet, Canadian singer
 * Madison Pettis, American actress
 * Federico Valverde, Uruguayan footballer
 * July 23 - DeAndre Ayton, Bahamian basketball player
 * July 24 – Bindi Irwin, Australian actress and television presenter
 * July 28 - Sasha Meneghel, Brazilian volleyball player, model and actress
 * July 31 – Rico Rodriguez, American actor

August

 * August 1 – Khamani Griffin, American actor
 * August 3 – Cozi Zuehlsdorff, American actress, pianist and singer
 * August 5
 * Kanon Suzuki, Japanese singer
 * Ana-Maria Yanakieva, Bulgarian singer
 * Mimi Keene, English actress
 * Panos Armenakas, Australian footballer
 * Daniil Pakhomov, Russian swimmer
 * August 6 - Forrest Goodluck, American actor
 * August 7 – Felicia Hano, American artistic gymnast
 * August 8
 * Ronan Parke, English singer
 * Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer
 * August 9 - Jorrit Croon, Dutch hockey player
 * August 10
 * Diptayan Ghosh, Indian chess Grandmaster
 * Eythora Thorsdottir, Dutch gymnast
 * August 11
 * Nadia Azzi, American classical pianist
 * Nicolas Janvier, French footballer
 * August 13
 * Arina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast
 * Dina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast
 * Dalma Gálfi, Hungarian tennis player
 * August 14 – Amy Marren, English paralympic swimmer
 * August 15 – Gulliver McGrath, Australian actor
 * August 18 – Cakka Nuraga, Indonesian musician and singer
 * August 19 – Ella Guevara, Filipina actress
 * August 21 - Prince Villanueva, Filipino, actor
 * August 24 – Robin, Finnish singer
 * August 25
 * Abraham Mateo, Spanish actor and singer
 * China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
 * August 28 – Haruka Fukuhara, Japanese singer

September

 * September 1 – Emily Condon, Australian footballer
 * September 6 – Michele Perniola, Italian singer
 * September 9
 * Shannon Matthews, English kidnap victim
 * Jesus Marimon, Colombian footballer
 * September 17 – Richard Wang, Canadian chess champion
 * September 18 – Christian Pulisic, American footballer
 * September 19 - Jacob Bruun Larsen, Danish footballer
 * September 21 - Miguel Tanfelix, Filipino actor
 * September 24 - Chandler Frantz, American actor
 * September 26 – Ivan Pavlov, Ukrainian figure skater
 * September 28
 * Aleksandra Goryachkina, Russian chess Grandmaster
 * Gotita de Plata, Mexican wrestler
 * Jenna Rose, American singer
 * September 30 - Trevor Moran, American singer and YouTube personality

October

 * October 1 - Danika Yarosh, American actress and dancer
 * October 9 - Tako Natsvlishvili, Georgian model
 * October 10 – Nash Aguas, Filipino actor
 * October 12 – Tyler Pierce, American figure skater
 * October 18 - Emily Robinson, American actress
 * October 20 – Jordan Allan, Scottish footballer
 * October 22 - Ianis Hagi, Romanian footballer
 * October 23 – Amandla Stenberg, American actress
 * October 24 – Daya, American singer
 * October 25 – Guan Tianlang, Chinese golfer
 * October 26 - Samantha Isler, American actress
 * October 27 - Dayot Upamecano, French footballer
 * October 28
 * Nolan Gould, American actor
 * Perrine Laffont, French mogul skier
 * Amber Kirk-Ford, British blogger
 * October 29
 * Maria Kharenkova, Russian artistic gymnast
 * Lance Stroll, Canadian racing driver
 * October 31 – Alice Morel-Michaud, Canadian actress

November

 * November 3
 * Maddison Elliott, Australian paralympic swimmer
 * Novemthree Siahaan, Indonesian gigantiform cementoma victim (d. 2005)
 * November 4 – Darcy Rose Byrnes, American actress and singer-songwriter
 * November 10 – Renz Valerio, Filipino actor
 * November 11 - Carlo Lacana, Filipino actor
 * November 13 - Charlie Storwick, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
 * November 16 – Priyanshi Somani, Indian mental calculator
 * November 17 – Kara Hayward, American actress
 * November 23 – Bradley Steven Perry, American actor
 * November 24 - Peyton Meyer, American actor
 * November 25 – Shin Dong-woo, South Korean actor
 * November 29 – Ayumu Hirano, Japanese snowboarder

December

 * December 2
 * Annalise Basso, American actress
 * Amber Montana, American actress
 * December 4 – Si Yajie, Chinese diver
 * December 6 – Angelīna Kučvaļska, Latvian figure skater
 * December 8
 * Anastasia Rizikov, Canadian classical pianist
 * December 11
 * Gabz, British singer
 * Dante Rigo, Belgian footballer
 * December 14
 * Maude Apatow, American actress
 * Maggie Voisin, American freestyle skier
 * December 15 – Chandler Canterbury, American actor
 * December 16
 * Kiara Muhammad, American actress and singer
 * Reece Oxford, English football player
 * December 17 – Martin Ødegaard, Norwegian footballer
 * December 18 – Alejandro Felipe, Mexican actor
 * December 19
 * Erhan Can Kartal, Turkish actor
 * Frans Jeppsson-Wall, Swedish singer
 * December 20
 * Chukwu octuplets, American octuplets
 * Ivett Tóth, Hungarian figure skater
 * Kylian Mbappe Lottin, French football player
 * December 22 – G. Hannelius, American actress
 * December 24 – Nikita Howarth, New Zealand paralympic swimmer
 * December 25 - Tamsin Cook, Australian swimmer
 * December 26 – Kesz Váldez, Filipino humanitarian
 * December 27 – Grayson Russell, American film and television actor
 * December 28
 * Jared Gilman, American actor
 * Paris Berelc, American actress
 * December 29 – Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, American actor
 * December 31 – Gianina Ernst, German ski jumper

January

 * January 1 – Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
 * January 2
 * Feodor I. Kozhevnikov, Soviet legal expert (b. 1893)
 * Frank Muir, British actor, comedy writer and raconteur (b. 1920)
 * January 4
 * Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
 * Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, Italian film director (b. 1894)
 * January 5 – Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician (b. 1935)
 * January 7 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (b. 1906)
 * January 8 – Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)
 * January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist (b. 1918)
 * January 11
 * Ellis Rabb, American director and actor (b. 1930)
 * Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
 * January 12
 * Kyle W. Dinkheller, American policeman (b. 1975)
 * Phyllis Nelson, American singer (b. 1950)
 * January 15 – Junior Wells, American harmonica player (b. 1934)
 * January 16
 * Emil Sitka, American actor (b. 1914)
 * Hermann Wedekind, artistic director (b. 1910)
 * January 18 – Monica Edwards, British writer (b. 1912)
 * January 19 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)
 * January 21 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
 * January 23 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (b. 1958)
 * January 26 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese musician and educator (b. 1898)
 * January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese Manga artist (b. 1938)

February

 * February 2
 * Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist and geologist (b. 1914)
 * Raymond Cattell, British and American psychologist (b. 1905)
 * February 3
 * Fat Pat, American rapper (b. 1970)
 * Karla Faye Tucker, Texas murderer (b. 1959)
 * February 6
 * Falco, Austrian musician (b. 1957)
 * Carl Wilson, American musician (b. 1946)
 * Nazim al-Kudsi, Prime Minister of Syria and President of Syria (b. 1906)
 * February 7
 * Lawrence Sanders, American author (b. 1920)
 * Roger Nicholas Angleton, American murderer (b. 1942)
 * February 8
 * Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer (b. 1902)
 * Enoch Powell, British politician (b. 1912)
 * Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
 * February 9 – Maurice Schumann, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911)
 * February 11 – Jonathan Hole, American actor (b. 1904)
 * February 16 – Fernando Abril Martorell, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1936)
 * February 17
 * Ernst Jünger, German writer (b. 1895)
 * Bob Merrill, American composer and screenwriter (b. 1921)
 * February 18 – Harry Caray, American television and radio broadcaster (b. 1917)
 * February 19 – Grandpa Jones, American musician (b. 1913)
 * February 22
 * Red Reeder, U.S. Army officer and author (b. 1902)
 * Abraham Alexander Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
 * Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (b. 1921)
 * José María de Areilza, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1909)
 * February 23
 * Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (b. 1960)
 * Sean A. Moore, American writer (b. 1965)
 * February 24 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906)
 * February 26 – Theodore Schultz, American economist (b. 1902)
 * February 27
 * George H. Hitchings, American scientist (b. 1905)
 * J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)
 * February 28
 * Todd Duncan, American opera singer (b. 1903)
 * Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)

March

 * March 2 – Darcy O'Brien, American author (b. 1939)
 * March 3 – Fred W. Friendly, American television journalist and executive (b. 1915)
 * March 7 – Bernarr Rainbow, historian of music education, organist, and choir master, (b. 1914)
 * March 8 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (b. 1936)
 * March 10 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (b. 1913)
 * March 12
 * Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
 * Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (b. 1893)
 * Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (b. 1924)
 * March 13
 * Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
 * Risen Star, American racehorse (b. 1985)
 * Hans von Ohain, German physicist (b. 1911)
 * March 15
 * Benjamin Spock, American Olympic rower - Men's eights, pediatrician, and author (b. 1903)
 * Dušan Pašek, Slovak ice hockey player (b. 1960)
 * March 16 – Derek Barton, British chemist (b. 1918)
 * March 20 – George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician (b. 1956)
 * March 25 – Daniel Massey, English actor (b. 1933)
 * March 27 – Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian auto designer and businessman (b. 1909)
 * March 31 – Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)

April

 * April 1
 * Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1920)
 * Rozz Williams, American singer (b. 1963)
 * April 2 – Rob Pilatus, German model, dancer, and singer (b.circa 1966)
 * April 3 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
 * April 5 – Cozy Powell, English drummer (b. 1947)
 * April 6
 * Wendy O. Williams, American singer (b. 1949)
 * Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942)
 * April 11 – Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (b. 1967)
 * April 13 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (b. 1960)
 * April 15
 * Rose Maddox, American singer (b. 1925)
 * Pol Pot, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader (b. 1925)
 * April 16
 * Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
 * Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian (b. 1880)
 * April 17
 * Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician (b. 1941)
 * Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy, Egyptian Muslim jurist (b. 1911)
 * April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer (b. 1914)
 * April 21
 * Peter Lind Hayes, American entertainer (b. 1915)
 * Irene Vernon, American actress (b. 1922)
 * April 22 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (b. 1940)
 * April 23
 * Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907)
 * James Earl Ray, American assassin (b. 1928)
 * April 25
 * Christian Mortensen, Danish supercentenarian (b. 1882)
 * Wright Morris, American photographer and writer (b. 1910)
 * April 26 – Joan Mary Wayne Brown, British author (b. 1906)
 * April 27
 * Carlos Castaneda, American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
 * Anne Desclos, French writer (b. 1907)

May

 * May 1 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
 * May 2
 * Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
 * Justin Fashanu, British footballer (b. 1961)
 * hide, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
 * Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
 * May 7
 * Allan McLeod Cormack, South African–born physicist (b. 1924)
 * Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
 * May 9 – Alice Faye, American entertainer (b. 1915)
 * May 14
 * Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (b. 1915)
 * Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (b. 1890)
 * May 15 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
 * May 19 – Sōsuke Uno, 75th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922)
 * May 22
 * John Derek, American actor and film director (b. 1926)
 * José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
 * May 28
 * Phil Hartman, Canadian-born American artist, writer, actor, and comedian (b. 1948)
 * Philip L. Carret, American investor (b. 1896)
 * May 29 – Barry Goldwater, American politician (b. 1909)

June

 * June 1 – Darwin Joston, American actor (b. 1937)
 * June 2
 * Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler (b. 1952)
 * Dorothy Stickney, American actress (b. 1896)
 * June 3 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (b. 1922)
 * June 5
 * Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911)
 * Samuel Yorty, American politician, Los Angeles' 37th mayor (1961-1973) (b. 1909).
 * June 8
 * Sani Abacha, 10th President of Nigeria (b. 1943)
 * Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (b. 1929)
 * June 10 – Hammond Innes, English author (b. 1914)
 * June 11 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
 * June 12 – Theresa Merritt, American actress (b. 1924)
 * June 13 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911)
 * June 20 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
 * June 22 – Benny Green, British writer, radio broadcaster and saxophonist (b. 1927)
 * June 23 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
 * June 25 – Lounès Matoub, Berber Kabyle singer (b. 1956)
 * June 27 – Kerim Tekin, Turkish pop singer and actor (b. 1975)
 * June 28 – Marion Eugene Carl, American fighter pilot (b. 1915)

July

 * July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
 * July 5
 * Sid Luckman, American football player (b. 1916)
 * Johnny Speight, British television scriptwriter (b. 1920)
 * July 6 – Roy Rogers, American singer and actor (b. 1911)
 * July 12 – Arkady Ostashev, Soviet engineer and rocket scientist (b. 1925)
 * July 17 – Joseph Maher, Irish actor (b. 1933)
 * July 19 – Elmer Valo, Slovak baseball player (b. 1921)
 * July 21
 * Alan Shepard, American astronaut (b. 1923)
 * Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
 * July 22 – Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929)
 * July 27 – Binnie Barnes, English actress (b. 1903)
 * July 28 – Harvie Branscomb, American university president (b. 1894)
 * July 29 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer and director (b. 1918)
 * July 30
 * Buffalo Bob Smith, American children's television host (b. 1917)
 * Jorge Russek, Mexican actor (b. 1932)
 * July 31 – Sylvia Field, American actress (b. 1901)

August

 * August 1 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian actress (b. 1927)
 * August 2 – Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (b. 1933)
 * August 3 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer (b. 1934)
 * August 4 – Yury Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
 * August 5 – Todor Zhivkov, President of Bulgaria (b. 1911)
 * August 6 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)
 * August 9 – Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1958)
 * August 13 – Julien Green, French-born American writer (b. 1900)
 * August 18 – Persis Khambatta, Indian actress and model (b. 1948)
 * August 24 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
 * August 25 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr., American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1907)
 * August 26 – Frederick Reines, American physicist (b. 1918)

September

 * September 1 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (b. 1921)
 * September 2
 * Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
 * Allen Drury, American writer (b. 1918)
 * Walter L. Morgan, American banker, (b. 1898)
 * September 5
 * Fernando Balzaretti, Mexican actor (b. 1946)
 * Leo Penn, American actor and director (b. 1921)
 * September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
 * September 8 – Leonid Kinskey, Russian-born actor (b. 1903)
 * September 9 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (b. 1943)
 * September 10 – Carl Forgione, British actor (b. 1944)
 * September 11 – Dane Clark, American actor (b. 1912)
 * September 13 – George Wallace, American politician (b. 1919)
 * September 14
 * Johnny Adams, American musician (b. 1932)
 * Yang Shangkun, 4th President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1907)
 * September 17 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (b. 1907)
 * September 20 – Muriel Humphrey, American politician (b. 1912)
 * September 21 – Florence "Flo-Jo" Griffith-Joyner, American runner (b. 1959)
 * September 23 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
 * September 26 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (b. 1929)
 * September 27 – Narita Brian, Japanese racehorse (b. 1991)
 * September 29 – Herbert V. Prochnow, U.S. banker and author (b. 1897)
 * September 30
 * Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player (b. 1953)
 * Bruno Munari, Italian-born industrial designer (b. 1907)
 * Pavel Štěpán, Czech pianist (b. 1925)
 * Robert Lewis Taylor, American author (b. 1912)

October

 * October 2
 * Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and sports team owner (b. 1907)
 * Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (b. 1924)
 * October 3 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (b. 1928)
 * October 6
 * Mark Belanger, American baseball player (b. 1944)
 * Ambrose Burke, English professor and Catholic priest (b. 1895)
 * October 8 – Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist (b. 1907)
 * October 9 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer (b. 1917)
 * October 10 – Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)
 * October 11 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
 * October 12 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
 * October 13 – General Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff (b. 1932)
 * October 14 – Frankie Yankovic, American musician (b. 1916)
 * October 16 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
 * October 19 – Germán List Arzubide, Mexican poet and revolutionary (b. 1898)
 * October 17
 * Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
 * Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
 * October 22 – Eric Ambler, British writer (b. 1909)
 * October 28
 * Ghulam Ahmed, Indian cricket captain (b. 1922)
 * James Goldman, American writer (b. 1927)
 * October 29 – Ted Hughes, English poet (b. 1930)
 * October 31 -- Maria de la Purisima Salvat Romero, Spanish nun and saint (b. 1926)

November

 * November 3 – Bob Kane, American comic book creator (b. 1915)
 * November 8 – Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913)
 * November 10
 * Hal Newhouser, baseball player (b. 1921)
 * Mary Millar, British actress (b. 1936)
 * November 13
 * Valerie Hobson, English actress (b. 1917)
 * Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman (b. 1975)
 * Doug Wright, English cricketer (b. 1914)
 * November 17
 * Kenneth McDuff, American serial killer (b. 1946)
 * Esther Rolle, American actress (b. 1920)
 * November 19 – Alan J. Pakula, American film director (b. 1928)
 * November 22 – Stu Ungar, professional poker player (b. 1953)
 * November 25 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
 * November 28 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American counterculture figure and writer (b. 1938)
 * November 29
 * Martin Ruane, British professional wrestler (b. 1947)
 * Frank Latimore, American actor (b. 1925)
 * November 30 – Margaret Walker, American poet (b. 1915)

December

 * December 1 – Freddie Young, American cinematographer (b. 1902)
 * December 2
 * Mikio Oda, Japanese athlete (b. 1905)
 * Brian Stonehouse, English painter and secret agent (b. 1918)
 * December 5 – Hazel Bishop, American chemist and inventor (b. 1906)
 * December 6 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor (b. 1921)
 * December 7
 * Michael Craze, British actor (b. 1942)
 * Martin Rodbell, American scientist (b. 1925)
 * December 11 – Lynn Strait, American singer (b. 1968)
 * December 12 – Lawton Chiles, American politician (b. 1930)
 * December 13 – Lew Grade, British impresario (b. 1906)
 * December 14
 * Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
 * Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician (b. 1924)
 * December 16 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
 * December 17 – Claudia Benton, Peruvian-born child psychologist (b. 1959)
 * December 18 – Lev Dyomin, cosmonaut (b. 1926)
 * December 19
 * Nelly's, Greek female photographer (b. 1899)
 * Antonio Ordóñez, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1932)
 * December 20
 * Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
 * Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist (b. 1914)
 * December 21 – Roger Avon, British actor (b. 1914)
 * December 22 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1968)
 * December 23 – David Manners, Canadian-American actor (b. 1900)
 * December 25 – John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1923)
 * December 26 – Hurd Hatfield, American actor (b. 1917)
 * December 28 – Robert Rosen, American biologist (b. 1934)
 * December 30
 * Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese film director (b. 1912)
 * George Webb, British actor (b. 1911)

Nobel Prizes

 * Physics – Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel Chee Tsui
 * Chemistry – Walter Kohn, John Pople
 * Medicine – Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad
 * Literature – José Saramago
 * Peace – John Hume and David Trimble
 * Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Amartya Sen

Fields Medal

 * Richard Ewen Borcherds, William Timothy Gowers, Maxim Kontsevich, Curtis T. McMullen

In fiction

 * The Japanese horror novel Another is set in the fictional town of Yomiyama, Japan during 1998.
 * The novel Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years takes place from April 30, 1997 to May 2, 1998.
 * The video games Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica all take place in 1998, July for the first two, September for the next three, and December CV.
 * In the Resident Evil franchise, Raccoon City is destroyed on October 1, 1998.
 * The video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is set in 1998
 * The TV series Ben 10 is set in 1998.