WASHINGTON, June 17: US President George W. Bush is among the three least trusted leaders in the world, ranked slightly above his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts, a survey released on Monday showed.

The survey, carried out by the Washington-based World Public Opinion group in 20 countries, found that no world leader is popular across the globe. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has the highest confidence levels, at 35 per cent.

The survey describes President Pervez Musharraf as the most unpopular leader in the world today. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is second on the list. US President George W. Bush is third.

Sixteen of the 20 nations surveyed lack confidence in President Bush. Only President Musharraf is rated negatively in more nations. Just two countries -- Nigeria and India — give Mr Bush positive ratings while a third -- Thailand — is divided. Mr Bush also gets the highest average percentage of negative ratings, 67 per cent.

“While the worldwide mistrust of President George Bush has created a global leadership vacuum, no alternative leader has stepped into the breach,” said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org. “Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin are popular among some nations, but more mistrust them than trust them.”