THE FORBES MOST powerful person in the world list is out and this year the title went to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Credit: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/Press Association Images

The Russian leader knocked his US counterpart, Barack Obama off the top spot. The US president held the title last year.

Obama has been on the top of the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was number one.

The annual World’s Most Powerful list is made up of heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs and the list represents the collective wisdom of top Forbes editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers.

Newcomers

There are thirteen newcomers which include, Pope Francis (No. 4), Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee (No. 41), Volkswagen’s Martin Winterkorn (No. 49) and the South Korean President Park Geun-hye (No. 52), to name but a few.

There are just nine women on the list, but that is an improvement on both 2011 and 2012 which featured six women leaders and the inaugural list from 2009 included only 3. Two of the world’s most important NGO’s run by women feature on the list - Christine Lagarde (No. 35) who leads the IMF and Margaret Chan (No. 59) who steers the World Health Organisation.

Here are the top ten. To view the full list click here.

#2. Barack Obama, President of the United States

Charles Dharapak/AP/Press Association Images

#3. XI Jinping, General Secretary Communist Party of China

AP Photo

#4. Pope Francis, Roman Catholic Church

Source: Vatican/YouTube

#5. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

Yves Logghe/AP/Press Association Image

#6. Bill Gates, Cofounder Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

PBG/PBG/Empics Entertainment

#7. Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve

Alex Brandon/AP/Press Association Images

#8. King Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the King of Saudi Arabia

Carolyn Kaster/AP/Press Association Images

#9. Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank

Steven Senne/AP/Press Association Images

#10. Michael Duke CEO Wal-Mart

April L. Brown/AP/Press Association Images

And the world’s highest earning actress is…>

Merkel, Obama, Clinton, Gates: here’s who topped the list of most powerful women>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More