Since 2009 (with absences in 2017, 2019 and 2020), the business magazine, Forbes had compiled an annual list of the world's most powerful people. The list has one slot for every 100 million people, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list and by 2018 there were 75. Slots are allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they have sway over, as well as their influence on world events. [1]
Note: No list was released for 2017, 2019 and 2020.
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 [2] | 2016 [3] | 2018 [4] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Barack Obama |   Hu Jintao | Barack Obama President of the United States |  Vladimir Putin | Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | ||||
| 2 | Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Communist Party of China |  Barack Obama President of the United States | Vladimir Putin |  Angela Merkel | Barack Obama President of the United States | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | Donald Trump | Vladimir Putin President of Russia | |
| 3 | Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia |  Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Vladimir Putin President of Russia | Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Barack Obama President of the United States | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | Donald Trump President of the United States | |
| 4 | Ben Bernanke | Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation |  Francis | Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | ||
| 5 | Sergey Brin | Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Francis Pope of the Holy See | Jeff Bezos Chairman and CEO of Amazon | |
| 6 |  Carlos Slim Chief Executive of Telmex | Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia | Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve | Francis Pope of the Holy See |
| 7 |  Rupert Murdoch Chairman of News Corporation |  David Cameron | Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia | Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | |
| 8 | Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart | Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve |  Mario Draghi | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia | Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank | David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | Larry Page Co-Founder of Google | Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud | |
| 9 | Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia |  Sonia Gandhi | Mark Zuckerberg Founder and CEO of Facebook | Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank | Sergey Brin
| Narendra Modi | ||
| 10 | Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation | David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart | David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | Larry Page Co-Founder of Google | Mark Zuckerberg Co-Founder of Facebook | Larry Page Co-Founder of Google | ||
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