Since 2004, Forbes , an American business magazine, has published an annual list of its ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Edited by prominent Forbes journalists, including Moira Forbes, the list is compiled using various criteria such as visibility and economic impact. In 2024, the gauge was "money, media, impact and spheres of influence". [3] The top 10 per year are listed below.
Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission 
Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank 
Giorgia Meloni , Prime Minister of Italy 
Claudia Sheinbaum , President of Mexico 
Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Abigail Johnson , CEO of Fidelity Investments Julie Sweet , CEO of Accenture Melinda French Gates , co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation MacKenzie Scott , philanthropist
Jane Fraser , CEO of Citigroup [4] 
Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank Kamala Harris , Vice President of the United States Giorgia Meloni , Prime Minister of Italy Taylor Swift , musician and singer-songwriter Karen Lynch , CEO of CVS Health Jane Fraser , CEO of Citigroup Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Melinda French Gates , co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [5] 
Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank Kamala Harris , Vice President of the United States Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Melinda French Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Giorgia Meloni , Prime Minister of Italy Karen Lynch , CEO of CVS Health Julie Sweet , CEO of Accenture Jane Fraser , CEO of Citigroup [6] 
MacKenzie Scott , philanthropist Kamala Harris , Vice President of the United States Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Melinda French Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments 
Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission 
Tsai Ing-wen , President of Taiwan Julie Sweet , CEO of Accenture 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank Kamala Harris , Vice President-elect of the United States Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Nancy Pelosi , Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Gail Koziara Boudreaux , CEO of Anthem [7] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] 
Christine Lagarde , President of the European Central Bank Nancy Pelosi , Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander Ginni Rometty , CEO of IBM Marillyn Hewson , CEO of Lockheed Martin [8] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Theresa May , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Susan Wojcicki , CEO of YouTube Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander Marillyn Hewson , CEO of Lockheed Martin Ginni Rometty , CEO of IBM [9] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Theresa May , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Susan Wojcicki , CEO of YouTube Abigail Johnson , President-CEO of Fidelity Investments Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander Ginni Rometty , CEO of IBM [10] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Hillary Clinton , United States presidential candidate Janet Yellen , Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Susan Wojcicki , CEO of YouTube Meg Whitman , CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ana Patricia Botín , Executive Chairman of Banco Santander [11] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Hillary Clinton , United States presidential candidate Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Janet Yellen , Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund 
Dilma Rousseff , President of Brazil Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Susan Wojcicki , CEO of YouTube Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States [12] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Janet Yellen , Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Dilma Rousseff , President of Brazil Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Hillary Clinton , former United States Secretary of State Mary Barra , CEO of General Motors Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Ginni Rometty , CEO of IBM [13] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Dilma Rousseff , President of Brazil Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton , United States Secretary of State Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Janet Napolitano , United States Secretary of Homeland Security 
Sonia Gandhi , President of the Indian National Congress Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo [14] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Hillary Clinton , United States Secretary of State Dilma Rousseff , President of Brazil Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Jill Abramson , Executive Editor of The New York Times Sonia Gandhi , President of the Indian National Congress Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Janet Napolitano , United States Secretary of Homeland Security Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook [15] [16] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [2] Hillary Clinton , United States Secretary of State Dilma Rousseff , President of Brazil Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Sheryl Sandberg , COO of Facebook Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Sonia Gandhi , President of the Indian National Congress Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States Christine Lagarde , Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Irene Rosenfeld , Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International [17] [18] 
Michelle Obama , First Lady of the United States Irene Rosenfeld , Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International Oprah Winfrey , talk show host on The Oprah Winfrey Show Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany Hillary Clinton , United States Secretary of State Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Lady Gaga , singer, actress and record producer
Gail Kelly , CEO of Westpac Beyoncé Knowles , singer, actress and record producer Ellen DeGeneres , talk show host on The Ellen DeGeneres Show [19] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [1] Sheila Bair , Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Cynthia Carroll , CEO of Anglo American plc 
Ho Ching , CEO of Temasek Holdings Irene Rosenfeld , Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International Ellen Kullman , CEO of DuPont Angela Braly , President-CEO of Anthem Anne Lauvergeon , CEO of Areva Lynn Elsenhans , Chairwoman, CEO and President of Sunoco [20] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [1] Sheila Bair , Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Angela Braly , President-CEO of Anthem Cynthia Carroll , CEO of Anglo American plc Irene Rosenfeld , Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International Condoleezza Rice , United States Secretary of State Ho Ching , CEO of Temasek Holdings Anne Lauvergeon , CEO of Areva Anne Mulcahy , Chairman and CEO of Xerox [21] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [1] 
Wu Yi , Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Ho Ching , CEO of Temasek Holdings Condoleezza Rice , United States Secretary of State Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Sonia Gandhi , President of the Indian National Congress Cynthia Carroll , CEO of Anglo American plc Patricia Woertz , President-CEO of ADM Irene Rosenfeld , Chairman and CEO of Mondelez International Patricia Russo , CEO of Alcatel-Lucent [22] 
Angela Merkel , Chancellor of Germany [1] Condoleezza Rice , United States Secretary of State Wu Yi , Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Indra Nooyi , Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Anne Mulcahy , Chairman and CEO of Xerox Sallie Krawcheck , CFO of Citigroup Patricia Woertz , President-CEO of ADM Anne Lauvergeon , CEO of Areva Brenda Barnes , President-CEO of Sara Lee Zoe Cruz , Co-President of Morgan Stanley [23] 
Condoleezza Rice , United States Secretary of State Wu Yi , Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China 
Yulia Tymoshenko , Prime Minister of Ukraine 
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , President of the Philippines Meg Whitman , President-CEO of eBay Anne Mulcahy , Chairman and CEO of Xerox Sallie Krawcheck , CFO of Citigroup Brenda Barnes , President-CEO of Sara Lee Oprah Winfrey , talk show host on The Oprah Winfrey Show Melinda Gates , Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [24] 
Condoleezza Rice , United States National Security Advisor Wu Yi , Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Sonia Gandhi , President of the Indian National Congress Laura Bush , First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton , United States Senator Sandra Day O'Connor , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Ruth Bader Ginsburg , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 
Megawati Sukarnoputri , President of Indonesia Gloria Macapagal Arroyo , President of the Philippines Carly Fiorina , CEO of Hewlett-Packard [25] 
William Henry Gates III is an American businessman and philanthropist best known for co-founding the software company Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He later held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief software architect of the company. Gates was also its largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He was a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist and a former multimedia product developer and manager at Microsoft. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, she graduated from Duke University and started working at Microsoft in 1987. Shortly afterwards, she began dating the company's co-founder and then-CEO Bill Gates, whom she married in 1994. In 2000, she and Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization. The couple, who have three children together, divorced in 2021. In 2024, she resigned from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue philanthropy independently, having received $12.5 billion for charitable work as part of her separation agreement.
Abigail Pierrepont Johnson is an American billionaire businesswoman and the granddaughter of late Edward C. Johnson II, the founder of Fidelity Investments. Since 2014, Johnson has been president and chief executive officer (CEO) of American investment firm Fidelity Investments (FMR), and chair of its former sister company Fidelity International (FIL). Her father, Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III, remained chair emeritus of FMR until his death in March 2022. As of March 2013, the Johnson family owned a 49% stake in the privately-held company, with Johnson herself holding an estimated 24.5%. She is a board member of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Edward Crosby "Ned" Johnson III was an American billionaire businessman who, along with daughter Abigail Johnson, owned and ran Fidelity Investments and Fidelity International until his death in March 2022. In April 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$8.2 billion.
Wolfgang Schäuble was a German politician whose political career spanned more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the longest-serving member of any democratic German parliament. Schäuble served as the 13th president of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021.
Sheryl Kara Sandberg is an American technology executive, philanthropist, and writer. Sandberg served as chief operating officer (COO) of Meta Platforms, a position from which she stepped down in August 2022. She is also the founder of LeanIn.Org. In 2008, she was made COO at Facebook, becoming the company's second-highest-ranking official. In June 2012, she was elected to Facebook's board of directors, becoming the first woman to serve on its board. As head of the company's advertising business, Sandberg was credited for making the company profitable. Prior to joining Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and was involved in its philanthropic arm Google.org. Before that, Sandberg served as research assistant to Lawrence Summers at the World Bank, and subsequently as his chief of staff when he was Bill Clinton's United States Secretary of the Treasury.
Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American business executive who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018.
Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde is a French politician and lawyer who has been the President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011 to 2019. Lagarde had also served in the Government of France, most prominently as Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry from 2007 until 2011. She is the first woman to hold each of those posts.
Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz de Sautuola O'Shea is a Spanish banker who has been the executive chairman of Santander Group since 2014.
Sue Desmond-Hellmann is an American oncologist and biotechnology leader who served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2014 to 2020. In March 2024 she was elected as a board member of OpenAI. She was previously Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the first woman to hold the position, and Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor, and before that president of product development at Genentech, where she played a role in the development of the first gene-targeted cancer drugs, Avastin and Herceptin.
Between 2009 and 2018 the business magazine Forbes had compiled an annual list of the world's most powerful people. The list had one slot for every 100 million people, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list, and by 2018, there were 75. Slots were allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they had sway over, as well as their influence on world events.
Hannelore Kraft is a German politician. She served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017. Kraft was the first woman to serve as head of government of this state and was the third woman to become head of a state government in Germany. Between 1 November 2010 and 31 October 2011, she was the President of the Bundesrat, again the first woman to hold the office. She is the former leader of the SPD North Rhine-Westphalia and served on the SPD's federal executive from November 2009 until May 2017, and was one of the four federal deputy chairs.
Juliana Rotich is a Kenyan information technology professional, who has developed web tools for crowdsourcing crisis information and coverage of topics related to the environment. She is the co-founder of iHub, a collective tech space in Nairobi, Kenya, and of Ushahidi, open-source software for collecting and mapping information. She is a TED Senior Fellow.
Mary Teresa Barra is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In December 2013, GM named her to succeed Daniel Akerson as CEO. Prior to being named CEO, Barra was executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain.
The 50 Most Influential ranking has been published by Bloomberg Media since 2011, annually featuring 50 individuals or initiatives with "the ability to move markets or shape ideas and policies".
The 43rd G7 summit was held on 26–27 May 2017 in Taormina (ME), Sicily, Italy. In March 2014, the G7 declared that a meaningful discussion was currently not possible with Russia in the context of the G8. Since then, meetings have continued within the G7 process.
The foreign policy of the Angela Merkel government has been the foreign policy of Germany when Merkel was in office as Chancellor of Germany from November 2005 to December 2021. During Merkel's chancellorship, Merkel has personally been highly active in the field of the foreign policy. She named Frank-Walter Steinmeier to serve as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009; the office was subsequently held by Guido Westerwelle from 2009 to 2013, and again by Steinmeier from 2013. He was succeeded by Sigmar Gabriel in 2017, who was himself succeeded by Heiko Maas in 2018.
The Bloomberg Global Business Forum is an annual event organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charity founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The event is held during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in each September in New York City as part of Global Goals Week - an annual week-long event for action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Angela Merkel was elected as the Chancellor of Germany in 2005 and reelected in 2009, 2013, and 2017. She has received numerous accolades, including being named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2015, ranking first in Forbes' Power Women 2020, and fourth in their Powerful People list in 2018. Merkel has also been awarded several honorary doctorates, such as from Harvard University in May 2019. Holding a doctorate in quantum chemistry earned in 1986, Merkel became the first female and first East German Chancellor of Germany in 2005. She is often referred to as “Mutti Merkel" or Mother Merkel, a nickname suggesting a motherly image, which is attributed to her leadership style in Germany. This article explores Angela Merkel's identity, life experiences, and the significant events that have influenced her public image.
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