Putin, Trump top Forbes 'most powerful' list

Only six people on the 74-strong list are women.

Dawn.com Published December 15, 2016

Forbes released its eighth annual ranking of 'The World's Most Powerful People' on Wednesday.

The top 10 is dominated by politicians and world leaders. There are only two women in the top 10, and six on the complete list comprising 74 people.

11 new names made it to the list this year, including United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, US Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan and incoming United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres both made a reappearance on the list after five and seven years respectively.

Here are the 10 'most powerful people' in the world, according to Forbes:

1. Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin. ─ AP/File

The Russian president claimed the top spot for the fourth year running.

2. Donald Trump

US President-elect Donald Trump. ─ AP/File

Trump was elected president of the United States this year.

According to Forbes, Trump has "a seeming immunity to scandal, both houses of Congress on his side, and a personal net worth in the billions".

3. Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ─ Reuters/File

The German chancellor ─ "the backbone of the European Union" ─ was pushed to the third spot from No. 2. She announced her intention to run for a fourth term this year.

4. Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping. ─ Reuters/File

The Chinese president rose one spot from last year.

5. Pope Francis

The pope was bumped down one place to fifth spot on the list by the Chinese president.

6. Janet Yellen

US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen. ─ AP/File

Janet Yellen, the first female chair of the US Federal Reserve System rose one spot. "She holds unmatched influence over American monetary policy," Forbes said.

7. Bill Gates

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates. ─ Reuters/File

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has been America's richest person for 23 years running, according to Forbes.

8. Larry Page

Larry Page went from CEO of Google to CEO of Alphabet, the newly-created parent of Google and its sister companies, in Oct 2015.

9. Narendra Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ─ AP/File

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys great support in India despite the unexpected introduction of demonetisation measures in the country.

10. Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg. ─ AFP/File

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest person on the Forbes list this year, at just 32-years-old.

Comments (35) Closed

asif

Dec 15, 2016 07:05pm

Where is Raheel Sheriff ??

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rAJIV

Dec 15, 2016 07:04pm

Incase people did not notice.. modi is in top 10 in the world.. :)

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Akbaruddin

Dec 15, 2016 07:08pm

@asif valid question .

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stardust0102

Dec 15, 2016 07:14pm

Narendra Modi ninth in the Forbes most powerful people list, Vladimir Putin is at one. He must be doing something good. Proud to see that Modi is raising India's profile in the world.

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Manoj

Dec 15, 2016 07:20pm

World acknowledged Modi top 10 awesome

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Arafat

Dec 15, 2016 07:18pm

90% of the names are not at all powerful,

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samhere

Dec 15, 2016 07:25pm

All world hails modi.

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Letty JJ

Dec 15, 2016 07:30pm

Nonsense list, complete nonsense.

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Bryan Maggard

Dec 15, 2016 07:37pm

Modi has gone down to No.9 after note ban. He was at No.2.

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Truth

Dec 15, 2016 07:46pm

@rAJIV No we hadn't. Modi Who??

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Sadiq

Dec 15, 2016 07:49pm

No doubt Mr modi changed the Indian vision and bring passion to the country . Being Pakistani , I wished to have such great leaders in every country . Keep it up as one SA continent & help remove poverty instead of spending on worthless arms . Thank you

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uday

Dec 15, 2016 07:57pm

If Modi & Sherif manage to bring peace between India and Pakistan, both will go to top 1 and 2 positions.

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Arshad

Dec 15, 2016 08:25pm

@uday Modi has full command and control, also he is not corrupt but in our country the situation is very different.

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Arshad

Dec 15, 2016 08:26pm

@asif He is with family after retirement.

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VYAS

Dec 15, 2016 08:27pm

@Sadiq - I am an Indian brother of yours. Though outer peripherals may not suggest that but I am sure Pakistan has many people as great as you in admiring the truth irrespective of country, color, caste, culture and religious belief. Thanks - I am proud of commonality between two neighbours.

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khalid YOUSAFZAI (UK)

Dec 15, 2016 08:35pm

its a biased list ...... no mention of the top scientists and social workers etc

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rashid nasim

Dec 15, 2016 09:12pm

I do not agree to this list of top 10. When people like modi become most powerful, then I would say God Help Us All.

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Alba

Dec 15, 2016 09:11pm

Cannot agree with the president of the Philippines as a top ten selection.

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Alba

Dec 15, 2016 09:11pm

Where is Bashar Al Assad? He is right up there with Vladimir Putin.

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Hyder

Dec 15, 2016 09:17pm

Sir Where is Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatullah Ali Khameini??? Thanks

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SRINIVASAN

Dec 15, 2016 09:25pm

To friends across the border - do not despair, keep your hopes - You too will get someone who can see beyond immediate gains. Indians also struggled a lot over the last two decades.

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arunkumarakula

Dec 15, 2016 09:35pm

India -pakistan are best countries but,china dividing our countries

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Kashif Iqbal

Dec 15, 2016 10:17pm

Criteria used by Forbes to make the list: 1. whether the candidate has power over lots of people. 2. the financial resources controlled by each person, 3. they made sure that the candidates actively used their power. To calculate the final rankings, a panel of Forbes editors ranked all of the candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score.

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Kashif Iqbal

Dec 15, 2016 10:18pm

@Hyder He is number 18

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sonu

Dec 16, 2016 01:04am

@rashid nasim hey brother .. please dont think like that . we always wanted good relation with you guys . it Just if come out from the shakels of hatred and come along with positively , we can not only help you but also increase the peace in the region . if we become brother again , not one can stop from becoming world number one

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Zeshan Adil

Dec 16, 2016 01:09am

the list is telling how much influence and support these people have..does not necessarily mean how good these people are for masses..some people are just so proud to see modi on these lists.. Indians are following pakistan in politics i.e. support your leader at any cost and to every level of stupidity..this destroyed all the institutes in pakistan and if indians will do that the result wont be any different..

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wasif Shah

Dec 16, 2016 02:53am

Useless and baseless Ranking. On which reliable source the report based on?

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Muhammed F Khan

Dec 16, 2016 04:15am

I don't agree with this list. Russian President can't be powerful than US president. UK and French Prime Ministers are always powerful the Indian Prime Ministers. Their economy is much bigger than Indian economy and they also have veto powers in UN.

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Asad Khan

Dec 16, 2016 06:42am

Putin's picture says it all, lol.

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KARACHIwala

Dec 16, 2016 07:12am

No 1, 2 and 4 have, or want to have, great ties with Pakistan. A big fail for haters.

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KARACHIwala

Dec 16, 2016 07:21am

For a country of that size, Modi has dropped way down to No 9. If only he could quit the hate policy towards his neighbors, he could have been at No 2 or 3.

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Harsh

Dec 16, 2016 08:13am

@Hyder He is at no 17

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Basit Ali

Dec 16, 2016 08:50am

@wasif Shah It is explained on Forbes website

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Abdul Rehman.

Dec 16, 2016 04:59pm

@asif Raheel shreef sb is at no.1 in the list.

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Dec 17, 2016 05:54am

@khalid YOUSAFZAI (UK) It is a list of leaders... Social workers and scientists aren't called leaders.

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