List of leaders of dependent territories

This is a list of leaders of dependent territories. A dependent territory is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state yet remains politically outside of the controlling state's integral area.[1] This latter condition distinguishes a dependent territory from an autonomous region or administrative division, which forms an integral part of the 'parent' state.

The majority of the world's dependent territories are legacies of nineteenth and twentieth century colonial empires.[2] This list divides the world's inhabited dependent territories roughly into half: those which are dependencies of Commonwealth nations, formerly members of the British Empire and all of which have Queen Elizabeth II as head of state; and the remainder. Governors, managers or wardens of uninhabited dependent territories are excluded.