Back in 2000, the CIA made 8 predictions on what life would be like in 2015

by Nicholas Carlson and Julie Bort 

Back in 2000, just before the shrub stole the presidency, the CIA published a 70-page report on what the world would be like in 2015. 

We're now halfway through the year and it turns out that several of these predictions were on the money.

Here's a rundown of some of the predictions, according to a December 2000 story from The Telegraph.

"International affairs are increasingly determined by large and powerful organizations rather than governments." Verdict: True, such as the rise of the Islamic State. On the other hand, there is also a new cadre of actors that cross the line between private actors and the state such as the Chinese hackers suspected of stealing information about millions of U.S. government employees, and the possibly-not-North Korean hackers who took down Sony last year.

"Between now and 2015 terrorist tactics will become increasingly sophisticated and designed to achieve mass casualties." Verdict: Definitely true. Sadly, this prediction became true quickly, on September 11, 2001.

"Iraq and Iran [will] develop long range missiles in the near future. Iran … could be testing such weapons by as early as the coming year, and cruise missiles by 2004." Verdict: Both true and false. Iran is definitely working on an ICBM and was expected to test it in 2015. But international sanctions on Iran has brought it to the negotiation table and diplomats say they are close to a comprehensive deal.

"The world population will grow by more than one billion, to 7.2 billion." Verdict: True. The world population is now about 7.3 billion.

"Energy resources will be sufficient to meet demand." Verdict: Nailed it. U.S. oil production has soared in recent years, and the US is poised to become a major exporter of liquefied natural gas in the coming years, too.

"China's economy will grow to overtake Europe as the world's second largest but still behind the United States." Verdict: True-ish. By some measurements, China's economy is now larger than the US economy but by other measures, it is not quite as large as the EU.

"Europe will not achieve fully the dreams of parity with the US as a shaper of the global economic system." Verdict: Not quite true. The CIA report was very bullish on the European economy, which had been sluggish at the start of the year, but has recently picked up steam.

"Aids, famine, and continuing economic and political turmoil means that populations in many [African] countries will actually fall." Verdict: False. Africa's population rose from 800 million in 2000 to 1.1 billion in 2014.