Powerful people are known for their strong personalities, high authority, robust decision making, and influence over people. So, if you are curious to know who these people are, then continue reading further as in this post we have compiled the 10 most powerful people in the world.
10 Most Powerful People in the World
Have a look at the 10 Most Powerful People in the World.
1. Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping has been the president of the People’s Republic of China since 2013. He is seen as one of the most powerful people in the World even though the western World considers him a dictator or an autocratic leader, citing an upsurge in mass surveillance, a drop in human rights, and Censorship of news, the Internet, and events.
Xi has expanded state control over China’s economy and supports the country’s private sector. Regarding security issues related to China, he is a hardliner in foreign affairs and growing his influence on South Africa and Europe. He projects China as strong and more nationalistic on the world stage.
2. Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel is a German politician acting as chancellor of Germany since 2005, making her the most powerful woman in the World. She was the opposition leader from 2002 to 2005 before becoming chancellor. Merkel was the head of the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018. She is the first female chancellor of Germany and is widely defined as the de facto leader of the European Union.
Merkel was born in Hamburg in then-West Germany. Merkel studied physics from 1973 to 1978 at Karl Marx University, Leipzig. She gained a doctorate for her thesis in quantum chemistry. Before starting into politics, she searched as a researcher and published many papers for three years until 1989.
The major turning point in her political career was the fall of the berlin wall in 1989 when she entered a new party Democratic Awakening which was later joined with the East German Christian Democratic Union. Merkel briefly acted as the deputy spokesperson for the first democratically elected East German Government.
3. Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is the first entrepreneur on our list of the most powerful people in the World. He is the founder and CEO of Amazon. According to Forbes, as of June 2021, his estimated net worth is over $200 billion, making him the richest person in the World and the most powerful.
Mr. Bezos, born in 1964, studied electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University. Before launching Amazon in 1994, he worked on Wall Street for about eight years in different fields.
Amazon, which began as an online bookstore, now presents a wide variety of e-commerce products and services such as cloud computing, video/audio streaming, and artificial intelligence.
4. Vladimir Putin
Another powerful person in the World is Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. He was a one-time intelligence officer serving as Russia’s president since 2012. He was PM of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.
Putin was born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and graduated from Leningrad State University in 1975, studying law. Putin served as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years and grew to Lieutenant Colonel before joining politics.
Amid the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin ordered a military operation in eastern Ukraine on 24th Feb in a surprise statement. His full-scale attack forced residents to flee, resulting in 50 casualties, including ten citizens and 40 Ukrainian soldiers.
In a televised speech, he alerted western countries not to interfere in its internal matters, or the Russian action would lead to “consequences they have never seen” in a televised speech. He said that Russia’s goal is not to occupy Ukraine. However, the effects of war lie with the Ukrainian regime.
5. Pope Francis
Pope Francis is the leader of the Catholic Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is among the most popular world leaders having followers globally. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus.
Born in Argentina, he served as a bouncer and a janitor in his younger years. He later got training in pharmacy to be a chemist and became a mechanic for a food science laboratory.
He got encouraged to join the Society of Jesus after healing from severe illness and became a priest 11 years later. He then evolved as Archbishop and was later made a cardinal. Francis held traditional views of the Catholic Church about clerical celibacy, ordination of women, and abortion when he was Pope.
6. Bill Gates
Bill Gates is the world’s richest entrepreneur who co-founded Microsoft Corporation, the World’s largest personal computer software company. Apart from computers, The American business tycoon Bill Gates is interested in multiple areas. He is also an author, landowner, and philanthropist, wherein many charity programs are taken out by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World’s biggest private charity.
Gates calculated net worth is $145.3 billion as of 2021; they coded his first computer software program at 13. He was a Harvard University dropout who held numerous company positions, including the chairman, chief executive officer, president, and chief software architect.
Gates and his wife Melinda founded the William H. Gates Foundation in 1994, later renamed the Bill & Melinda Gates.
7. Joe Biden
Joe Biden is the current president of US America and one of the World’s most powerful politicians. He followed Donald trump in the year 2020 to become the 46th president of the USA. As a member of the Democratic Party, he served as USA’s 47th vice president symbolizing Delaware as a senator from 1973 to 2009.
Biden was born in 1942 in Pennsylvania and acquired a doctor of law from Syracuse University in 1968. He is the oldest elected president in the history of the US and the first to have a female and an African/Asian-American vice president Kamala Harris.
In his first two days as president, Biden signed 17 executive orders to change most of Trump’s foreign policies, particularly immigration and climate change.
8. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud
Mohammed bin Salman is a Saudi Arabia Politician who is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and the country’s deputy PM. He also acts as the chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, the Council of Political and Security Affairs, and the Minister of Defense.
MBS is usually described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman.
In 2017, King Salman designated MBS in his place by terminating his nephew Muhammad bin Nayef from the position of crown prince. MBS was victorious in several key domestic reforms, such as introducing regulations prohibiting religious police powers, eradicating the ban on female drivers, and weakening the male-guardianship system. Bin Salman rules an authoritative regime in Saudi Arabia.
9. Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi is India’s 14th prime minister, the World’s largest democracy. This makes him the most popular PM in the World. He was CM of Gujarat state from 2001 until 2014. He is a MP for the Varanasi constituency from UP.
He is a member of the BJP, the World’s largest party in primary membership. He is a member of the National democratic alliance and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Modi was the prime ministerial face of the party in the general election held in 2014 and won a landslide victory with 282 seats with a 31% vote share and got a majority in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. Modi succeeded the second term in 2019 with 303 seats.
10. Jerome Powell
Jerome Powell is an American economic advisor and lawyer now the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Powell became the World’s top central banker in the year 2018 after then President Trump did not extend Janet Yellen’s term.
He is behind the influential federal reserve, which handles the printing press. He is also in charge of US monetary policy, which affects not only the US, the World’s largest economy but also almost every developed and growing country.
Conclusion
After reading this post, you may now be aware of the 10 most powerful people in the world who are known for their actions and achievements. To read more such posts stay tuned with us.
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Business Talk is a digital business magazine that caters to CEOs, Entrepreneurs, VC, and Corporates. While working with entrepreneurs and business executives, we focus not only on their achievements. Our mission is to shed light on business entities, including their innovations, technological benchmarks, USPs, and milestones/accolades.
