25 years of humanity at its best
Join us in celebrating Wikipedia’s birthday.
Meet some of the humans making it possible
Wikipedia was first founded on 15 January 2001. Today, 25 years later, it has become the backbone of knowledge on the internet, informing everything from day-to-day life and AI chatbots to journalism and trivia wins. Nearly 250,000 volunteers write, edit, and fact check its 65 million articles across 300+ languages, all guided by standards on neutrality and reliability.
In honor of this milestone birthday, we interviewed a few editors from around the world about what moves them to contribute to Wikipedia’s pages. Watch the series.
Learn how it all began
See the evolution from the beginning. This immersive journey back in time shows you how Wikipedia came to be and why it is still a testament to collaboration and consensus.
Discover the milestones of a site that helped define the internet as you know it.
Which Wikipedia of the future are you?
What do you dream about when you imagine the future? How about when you picture what is in store for Wikipedia? This quick quiz challenges you to think about the internet growing like a garden, quantum transportation, and robot athletes and chefs.
Find out what is in your Wikipedia future. Then, trade results with your friends on social.
Bring the party home
We are celebrating Wikipedia’s birthday with a festive, limited-edition collection. This merch is made for cake baking, piñata breaking, and editing knowledge on the internet.
Look who RSVP’d
Get to know more about the brands that are partnering with Wikipedia to celebrate this important milestone. Get to it: each collaboration will only be available for a short time.
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Learn all about Wikipedia
Read all about the 25th birthday and how the Wikimedia Foundation facilitates everyone’s access to free and open knowledge.
Birthday press release
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Keeping information reliable in the digital age: Lessons from Wikipedia
Discover how Wikipedia became one of the world’s most trusted sources of knowledge, and what its volunteer-driven systems can teach us about building information integrity today. This new blog series breaks down how it all works, layer by layer.
In the AI era, Wikipedia has never been more valuable
Without access to the information on Wikipedia, AI models become significantly less accurate, diverse, and verifiable.
Love Wikipedia? Get to know the nonprofit behind it
The Foundation’s role includes investing in technology, keeping data secure, fighting threats to information, and supporting an active community of volunteers worldwide.
Help support human knowledge
Wikipedia has no ads and no subscriptions. It is made possible by thousands of volunteers who share their knowledge freely, which means that your support is essential for making every article as accessible as humanly possible.
The majority of our funding is from individual contributions that usually range from $2.75 USD to $25 USD.
Thank you for preserving human knowledge and collaboration online. Here is to the next 25 years and beyond.
Stay up to date with everything birthday and beyond
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For more details, see our Privacy statement.
Congratulations on reaching the bottom of the page!
Your reward? Getting a glimpse at the most curious and playful birthday mascot on planet Earth. Be patient as they are getting ready to explore with you.
Keep your eyes peeled for lots of surprises across Wikipedia’s pages throughout this big birthday year. Sign up to receive a reminder once this character is up and running, playing, and daydreaming.
Photo credits
