2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Predicted and scheduled events

January

• January 1 — Czech Republic and Hungary likely to adopt the euro.
• January 15 — Presidential elections in Finland
• January 23 — Chinese New Year and scheduled new moon.  This time of year is associated with the Water-Dragon in Chinese astrology. 
• January 31 — 433 Eros, the second largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13x13x33 km) is expected to pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (~16.647 Million Miles). NASA studied Eros in the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched February 2000. 

February

• February 5 — Super Bowl XLVI will be played.
• February 6 — If she is still on the throne, Elizabeth II will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee. A series of festivities across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations will likely run throughout the year.

June

• June 6 — Second and last solar transit of the planet Venus of this century; the next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125 (see Transit of Venus, 2012).
• June 9–July 1 — 2012 European Football Championship will be played in Poland/Ukraine.

July

• July 1 — The first possible government in Hong Kong elected by Universal suffrage take office.
• July 1 — Presidential Elections in Mexico
• July 27 — Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 7:30 pm GMT/8:30pm BST. 

August

• August 12 — Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, a Sunday.
• August 29 — Start of the 2012 Summer Paralympics

September

• September 9 — Finish of the 2012 Summer Paralympics

October

• October 19 — at 1:36 GMT, the Earth will be home to 7 billion people, according to the US Census Bureau. 

November

• November 6 — United States presidential election, 2012
• November 6 — United States Senate elections, 2012
• November 6 — United States House of Representatives election, 2012
• November 6 — Puerto Rico general election, 2012
• November 13 — Total solar eclipse (visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific).

December

• December 3 — Jupiter oppositions.
• December 21 — The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the Maya civilization among others of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, completes its thirteenth b'ak'tun cycle since the calendar's mythical starting point (equivalent to 3114 BC August 11 in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, according to the "GMT-correlation" JDN= 584283). The Long Count b'ak'tun date of this starting point (13.0.0.0.0) is repeated, for the first time in a span of approximately 5,125 solar years. The significance of this period-ending to the pre-Columbian Maya themselves is unclear, and there is an incomplete inscription (Tortuguero Stela 6) which records this date. It is also to be found carved on the walls of the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque, where it functions as a base date from which other dates are computed.However, it is conjectured that this may represent in the Maya belief system a transition from the current Creation world into the next. The December solstice for 2012 also occurs on this day.
• December 23 — The alternative date for the completion of the thirteenth b'ak'tun cycle in the Maya calendar, using a version of the GMT-correlation based on a JDN of 584285 (a.k.a. the "Lounsbury correlation"), which is supported by a smaller number of Mayanist researchers.
• December 31 — Expiration of the Kyoto Protocol

Unknown dates

• The Replacement Eastern Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will open to traffic, replacing the old Eastern cantilever span that was damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, almost a quarter century (23 years) after the span was damaged.
• India's 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) ends and the 12th one (2012-2017) starts.
• The United Kingdom plans to complete 5-year process to cease analogue television broadcasts region-by-region, with Meridian Broadcasting, ITV London, Tyne Tees Television and UTV being the last areas to switch off analogue .
• Australia and Ireland plan to cease analogue television broadcasts.
• One of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers will enter service, possibly named HMS Queen Elizabeth.
• This is the year when California's ban on the production of foie gras is scheduled to take effect.
• NASA's new Orion spacecraft is scheduled to become fully operational for International Space Station support flights.
• China plans to launch the Kuafu spacecraft
• Freedom Tower in New York City: Construction is scheduled to be finished by 2012 at the latest.
• Sight & Sound magazine will conduct its Top Ten Films of All-Time poll for the seventh decade since 1952.
• The Hallandsas Ridge Tunnel is set to be completed, 17 years behind the original plan.
• The Canberra class light aircraft carriers/large amphibious ships, the largest ships ever to be operated by the Royal Australian Navy, are planned to be in service by 2012.
• NASA predicts that the Sun will also reverse its own magnetic poles during 2012 as result of reaching the end of current 11-year sunspot cycle. Some believe this will amplify the effects of retarding magnetic field on earth, as harmful charged particles blasted away from the sun would more easily penetrate the earth's atmosphere. 
• The Canadian Navy receives the delivery of the first Joint Support Ship.
• The 2012 Finnish presidential election occurs sometime in March.
• In 2012, asteroid 2004MN4 comes into view again to recalculate odds of impact.
• A Russian scientist named, Khabibullo Abdusamatov predicts the Earth will enter a stage of cooling between 2012–2015 and the little ice age will be similar to that of the one in the 1300s-1700s. The cooling will peak around 2055-2066.
• Charles Manson will be eligible for a parole hearing again 

Major religious holidays

• January 7 — Christmas Day by Julian Calendar (Celebrated by Eastern Orthodox Christians)
• February 1 — Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places).
• March 20 — Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara.
• April 8 — Easter
• May 1 — Beltane, a Cross-quarter day.
• June 20 — Summer solstice, also known as Midsummer or Litha.
• August 1 — Lammas, a Cross-quarter day.
• September 21 — Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon.
• November 1 — Samhain, a Cross-quarter day and Neopagan new year.
• December 21 — Winter solstice, also known as Yule.
• December 25 — Christmas (Celebrated on December 24 in some places).

Metaphysical predictions

 Apocalyptic predictions

2012 is sometimes claimed to be a great year of spiritual transformation (or apocalypse). Many esoteric sources interpret the completion of the twelfth B'ak'tun cycle in the Long Count of the Maya calendar (which occurs on December 21 by the most widely held correlation) to mean there will be a major change in world order.

Accordingly, several eclectic authors claim that a major, world-changing event will take place in 2012:

• The 1995 book The Mayan Prophecies linked the Maya calendar with long-period sunspot cycles.
• The book 2012: Mayan Year of Destiny claims the Maya may have been instructed in their wisdom by discarnate entities from Orion and the Pleiades. Contact was maintained through shamanic rituals conducted in accordance with the movements of planets and stars.
• The 1997 book The Bible Code claims that, according to certain algorithms of the Bible code, a meteor, asteroid or comet will collide with the Earth.
• The book The Nostradamus Code speaks of a series of natural disasters caused by a comet (possibly as above) which will allow the third Antichrist to disperse his troops around the globe under the guise of aid in preparation for a possible nuclear war, although in the strictest sense it is unspecific as to nuclear war or some other natural or man caused destruction.
• The book The Orion Prophecy claims that the Earth's magnetic field will reverse.
• The 2005 book Beyond 2012: Catastrophe or Ecstasy by Geoff Stray reviews several theories, prophecies and predictions concerning 2012 and finds where authors have used faulty information or have bent the truth to fit their theories.
• The 2006 book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck discusses theories of a possible global awakening to psychic connection by the year 2012, creating a noosphere.

Other prophecies and apocalyptic writings and hypotheses for this year include:

• Terence McKenna's mathematical novelty theory suggests a point of singularity in which a great number of things could happen, including "hyperspatial breakthrough", planetesimal impact, alien contact, historical metamorphosis, metamorphosis of natural law, solar explosion, quasar ignition at the galactic core, or nothing. 
• The Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, speculated that Pope Benedict XVI would reign during the beginning of the tribulation of which Jesus spoke, and sometime later a future pope described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", the last in this prophetic list, would appear, bringing as a result the destruction of the city of Rome and the Last Judgment.
• Many new age spiritualists and philosophers ("new-agers") believe humankind will enter an age of enlightenment in 2012. There are a range of varying, generally positive, beliefs shared by a subset of spiritualists from the mundane to exceptional — including a positive social shift and age of peace, mankind becoming psychic and connected by a collective, and/or an evolution of the human race into non-corporeal beings made of "spiritual" energy, or light energy, i.e. 'ascension'.
• Some alien-enthusiasts, along with some new-agers, believe 2012 to correspond approximately with the return of alien "watchers" or "caretakers" who might have helped the first human civilizations with developing their technology and may have been waiting for us to reach a higher level of technological and/or social advancement. Beliefs range from the extra-terrestrials having benevolent purposes — such as to help human society evolve — to malevolent purposes — such as enslavement of mankind and/or manipulation.^{[citation needed]}
• The Nepalese ascetic Ram Bahadur Bomjon, the so-called "Buddha boy", reportedly told his followers that he would return around 2012.
• Some proponents of a peak oil catastrophe place major events in 2012. Richard C. Duncan's book The Peak of World Oil Production and the Road To The Olduvai Gorge claims that the Olduvai cliff will begin and permanent blackouts will occur worldwide. Several studies predict a peak in oil production in or around 2012. 

Astrological predictions

Several authors have predicted a special astrological/astronomical alignment between the Galactic center in the constellation of Sagittarius, the Winter Solstice point, and the open cluster of the Pleiades. Factually, the coincidence of the Winter Solstice point (due to the precession of the Equinoxes) and the galactic center is basically true.

However, the opposition of the Pleiades is not true. The Pleiades are located in the constellation of Taurus, and lie at an angle of about 150 degrees to the Galactic Center. The Pleiades would have to be located in the constellation of Gemini to be close to being in opposition, or a 180 degree angle.

Further, the proper motion of the stars in the Pleiades Cluster is such that they move across the sky relative to Earth. This takes place quite slowly as seen on the human time scale. Three million years ago the Pleiades were seen near the constellation of Cassiopeia. Three million years in the future, they will appear near the feet of Orion. This is easily validated using freeware programs such as Move A Star[15], which allows one to see the proper motion of stars over an extended period of time.

The Pleiades have never been, and never will be, in 'opposition' to the galactic center as seen from Earth.