Russian President Vladimir Putin has been chosen as the world’s most powerful person for the third time in a row by Forbes magazine.
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For the first time in its seven-year history, a sitting US president was not named in the top two spots in Forbes’ annual list of The World’s Most Powerful people.
The Forbes magazine’s list of most powerful people places Narendramodi as world’s ninth most powerful person, whereas Vladimir Putin, the Russian president is ranked 1st in the list.
The list considers people’s power along four dimensions-power over people, financial resources, power in multiple spheres, and whether candidates actively used their power.
“At home, his approval ratings are perpetually stuck under 50 percent; overseas, he’s outshined by Merkel in Europe, and outmaneuvered by Putin in the Middle East”.
Merkel has shown an apparent improvement as a leader as she jumped from last year’s 5 th position to the second. Next is Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, up two places after showing strong leadership during the Greek debt and European refugee crises. Yellen last month kept interest rates unchanged at 0-0.25% due to weak economy and called for a possibility of a modest policy tightening in December this year where she expects U.S. interest rates to be raised from its current record low. Hillary Clinton (No. 58) is a returnee to the list while Gina Rinehart fell off this year.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the biggest mover on the list, rising 22 places to 49th.
British prime minister David Cameron squeezes into the top ten at number eight on the list, but is below Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Pope Francis.
Donald Trump isn’t the only presidential hopeful to make the list.
“Over the past decade, one trend is clear: gradually less power in the West, gradually more power in the East”, he said.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un are the youngest on the list, at ages 31 and 32, respectively.
