Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People
Since 2009 (with absences in 2017, 2019 and 2020), the business magazine, Forbes had compiled an annual list of the world's most powerful people. The list has one slot for every 100 million people, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list and by 2018 there were 75. Slots are allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they have sway over, as well as their influence on world events.[1]
Historical top ten rankings
Note: No list was released for 2017, 2019 and 2020.
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015[2] | 2016[3] | 2018[4] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Barack Obama | Hu Jintao | Barack Obama
President of the United States |
Vladimir Putin | Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | ||||
2 | Hu Jintao
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Barack Obama
President of the United States |
Vladimir Putin | Angela Merkel | Barack Obama
President of the United States |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany |
Donald Trump | Vladimir Putin
President of Russia | |
3 | Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister of Russia |
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | Hu Jintao
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Vladimir Putin
President of Russia |
Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Barack Obama
President of the United States |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany |
Donald Trump
President of the United States | |
4 | Ben Bernanke | Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister of Russia |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
Francis | Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany | ||
5 | Sergey Brin
Larry Page |
Benedict XVI
Pope of the Holy See |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
Benedict XVI
Pope of the Holy See |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany |
Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Francis
Pope of the Holy See |
Jeff Bezos
Chairman and CEO of Amazon | |
6 | Carlos Slim
Chief Executive of Telmex |
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany |
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
King of Saudi Arabia |
Ben Bernanke
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
Janet Yellen
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
Janet Yellen
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Francis
Pope of the Holy See |
7 | Rupert Murdoch
Chairman of News Corporation |
David Cameron | Benedict XVI
Pope of the Holy See |
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
King of Saudi Arabia |
Ben Bernanke
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
Janet Yellen
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | |
8 | Mike Duke
Chief Executive of Walmart |
Ben Bernanke
Chair of the Federal Reserve |
Mario Draghi | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
King of Saudi Arabia |
Mario Draghi
President of the European Central Bank |
David Cameron
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
Larry Page
Co-Founder of Google |
Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud | |
9 | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
King of Saudi Arabia |
Sonia Gandhi | Mark Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO of Facebook |
Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |
Mario Draghi
President of the European Central Bank |
Sergey Brin
Larry Page |
Narendra Modi | ||
10 | Bill Gates
Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |
David Cameron
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
Mike Duke
Chief Executive of Walmart |
David Cameron
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
Larry Page
Co-Founder of Google |
Mark Zuckerberg
Co-Founder of Facebook |
Larry Page
Co-Founder of Google |
Listed seven or more times
Listed every time
Listed eight times
- Bernard Arnault (not listed: 2016)
- Jeff Bezos (not listed: 2009)
- Jeff Immelt (not listed: 2018)
- Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (not listed: 2009)
- Charles Koch (not listed: 2009)
- Robin Li (not listed: 2009)
- Barack Obama (not listed: 2018)
- Masayoshi Son (not listed: 2009)
- Rex Tillerson (not listed: 2018)
- Mark Zuckerberg (not listed: 2009)
Listed seven times
- Tim Cook (not listed: 2009 & 2010)
- Mario Draghi (not listed: 2009 & 2010)
- Xi Jinping (not listed: 2009 & 2010)
- Christine Lagarde (not listed: 2009 & 2010)
- Lakshmi Mittal (not listed: 2016 & 2018)
- John Roberts (not listed: 2010 & 2011)
- Akio Toyoda (not listed: 2010 & 2011)
Gallery of top ten in 2018
- 1 ° Xi Jinping
- 2 ° Vladimir Putin
- 3 ° Donald Trump
- 4 ° Angela Merkel
- 5 ° Jeff Bezos
- 6 ° Pope Francis
- 7 ° Bill Gates
- 9 ° Narendra Modi
- 10 ° Larry Page
References
- Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth (11 November 2009). "The World's Most Powerful People". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
- Ewalt, David M. (4 November 2015). "The World's Most Powerful People 2015". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- Ewalt, David M. (14 December 2016). "The World's Most Powerful People 2016". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- Ewalt, David M. (8 May 2018). "The World's Most Powerful People 2018". Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
External links
- The World's Most Powerful People, Forbes.