List of awards and honours received by Muhammad Yunus

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Muhammad Yunus, 2013

A list of awards granted to Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi entrepreneur, banker, economist, politician and civil society leader.

Awards list

In Bangladesh:

• Rashtropoti Purushkar (President's Award) (1978)
• Central Bank Award (1985)
• Swadhinata Purushkar (Independence Award) (1987)
• Rear Admiral M. A. Khan Memorial Gold Medal Award (1993) ^[1]
• Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Memorial Gold Medal Award (1994)
• Rotary Club of Metropolitan Dhaka Foundation Award (1995)
• IDEB Gold Medal Award by the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (2000)
• Bangladesh Computer Society Gold Medal by the Bangladesh Computer Society (2005)

Internationally:

• Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Field of "Community Leadership", Philippines (1984)
• Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Switzerland (1989)
• Humanitarian Award by the CARE, USA (1993)
• Mohamed Sahabdeen Award for Science (Socio Economic), Sri Lanka (1993)
• World Food Prize by World Food Prize Foundation, USA (1994)
• Pfeffer Peace Prize by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA (1994)
• Tun Abdul Razak Award, Malaysia (1994)
• Max Schmidheiny Foundation Freedom Prize, Switzerland (1995)
• International Simon Bolivar Prize, Venezuela & UNESCO (1996)
• Distinguished Alumnus Award" of Vanderbilt University, USA (1996)
• International Activist Award Gleitsman Foundation, USA (1997)
• Planetary Consciousness Business Innovation Prize, Germany (1997)
• Help for self help Prize by the Stromme Foundation, Norway (1997)
• Man for Peace Award by the Together For Peace Foundation, Italy (1997)
• State of the World Forum Award by the State of the World Forum, San Francisco, USA (1997)
• One World Broadcasting Trust Media Award, UK (1998)
• The Prince of Austurias Award for Concord, Spain (1998)
• Sydney Peace Prize by the Sydney Peace Foundation, Australia (1998)
• Ozaki (Gakudo) Award by the Ozaki Yukio Memorial Foundation, Japan (1998)
• Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, India (1998)
• Juste of the Year by the Les Justes D'or, France (1998)
• Rotary Award for World Understanding, USA (1999)
• Golden Pegasus Award by the TUSCAN Regional Government, Italy (1999)
• Roma Award for Peace and Humanitarian Action by the Municipality of Rome, Italy (1999)
• Rathindra Puraskar for 1998 by the Visva-Bharati, India (1999)
• OMEGA Award of Excellence for Lifetime Achievement, Switzerland (2000)
• Award of the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Senate, Italy (2000)
• King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award by the King Hussein Foundation, Jordan (2000)
• Artusi prize by Comune di Forlimpopoli, Italy (2001)
• Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize, Japan (2001)
• Ho Chi Minh Award by the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee, Vietnam (2001)
• International Cooperation Prize Caja de Granada, Spain (2001)
• NAVARRA International Aid Award by the Autonomous Government of Navarra together with Caja Laboral (Savings Bank), Spain (2001)
• Mahatma Gandhi Award by the M.K Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, USA (2002)
• World Technology Network Award 2003 for Finance by the World Technology Network, UK (2003)
• Volvo Environment Prize, Sweden (2003)
• National Merit Order by the Honorable President of the Republic of Colombia, Colombia (2003)
• The Medal of the Painter Oswaldo Guayasamin by the UNESCO, France (2003)
• Telecinco Award for Better Path Towards Solidarity by the Spanish TV Netwark - Channel 5, Spain (2004)
• City of Orvieto Award by the Municipality of Orvieto, Italy (2004)
• The Economist Award for Social and Economic Innovation, USA (2004)
• World Affairs Council Award for Extra-ordinary Contribution to Social Change by the World Affairs Council of Northern California, USA (2004)
• Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award by Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, USA (2004)
• Premio Galileo 2000 - Special Prize for Peace by Ina Assitalia Fireuze, Italy (2004)
• Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Nikkei), Japan (2004)
• Golden Cross of the Civil Order of the Social Solidarity by the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Spain (2005)
• Freedom Award by the America's Freedom Foundation, Provo, Utah, USA (2005)
• Prize Il Ponte by the Fondazione Europea Guido Venosta, Italy (2005)
• Foundation of Justice, Spain (2005)
• Neustadt Award by Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA (2006)
• Global Citizen of the Year Award by Patel Foundation for Global understanding, Tampa, Florida, USA (2006)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award by Roosevelt Institute, Middleburg, Province of New Zeeland, Netherlands (2006)
• ITU World Information Society Award by International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland (2006)
• Seoul Peace Prize 2006 by Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea (2006)
• Convivencia (Good Fellowship) of Ceuta 2006 by Fundacion Premio Convivencia, Ceuta, Spain, (2006)
• Nobel Peace Prize, Norway (2006)
• Disaster Mitigation Award 2006 by FIRST INDIA Disaster Management Congress 2006, Delhi, India (2006)
• SHERA BANGALEE 2006 by ETV, India (2006)
• Global Trailblazer Award 2007 by the Vital Voices, Washington DC, USA (2007)
• ABICC Award For Leadership In Global Trade, USA (2007)
• Social Entrepreneur Award 2007 by the Geoffrey Palmer Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the Law, Pepperdine School of Law, USA (2007)
• Global Entrepreneurship Leader Award 2007 by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, USA (2007)
• Red Cross Gold Medal, Spain (2007)
• Rabindra Nath Tagore Birth Centenary Plaque 2007 by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, India (2007)
• EFR-Business Week Award 2007 by the University of Rotterdam, Netherlands, (2007)
• Nichols-Chancellor Medal by the Vanderbilt University, USA (2007)
• Vision Award by the Global Economic Network, Berlin, Germany (2007)
• BAFI Global Achievement Award by the Bangladesh-American Foundation Inc., USA (2007)
• Rubin Museum Mandala Award, USA (2007)
• Sakaal Person of the Year Award, India (2007)
• 1st AHPADA Global Award by the ASEAN Handicraft Promotion and Development Association (ASPADA), Philippines (2007)
• Medal of Honor by the Government, Santa Catrina State, Brazil (2007)
• UN South-South Cooperation by the United Nations, USA (2007)
• Project Concern Award by Project Concern International, Santa Barbara, California, USA (2008)
• International Women's Health Coalition Award, USA (2008)
• The Kitakyushu Environmental Award by the Mayor of City of Kitakyushu, Japan (2008)
• Chancellor's Medal by York College, USA (2008)
• President's Medal by Lehman College, USA, (2008)
• Human Security Award by Muslim Public Affairs Council, USA (2008)
• Annual Award for Development by OPEC Fund for International Development(OFID), Austria (2008)
• Humanitarian Award by The International Association of Lions Clubs, USA (2008)
• Friend of Children by Save the Children, Spain (2008)
• AGI International Science by University of Cologne, Germany (2008)
• Corine International Book Award by the Bavaraian Government for the book, "Creating World Without Poverty", Germany (2008)
• TWO WING prize by the Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany (2008)
• Global Humanitarian Awards by the Tech Museum, San Jose, California, USA (2008)
• World Affairs Council Awards, USA (2008)
• Full Impact Award, USA (2008)
• Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize, Portugal (2009)
• Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service, USA (2009)
• Golden Biatec Award by the Economic Club, Slovakia (2009)
• Gold Medal of Honor Award, USA (2009)
• PICMET Leadership in Technology Management, USA (2009)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom, USA (2009)
• The Sustainable Development Award by Ecology and Development Foundation, Spain (2009)
• The Bayreuth Leadership Award by the University of Bayreuth, Wiesbaden, Germany (2009)
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award at The Asian Awards (2010) ^[2]
• Prize for Ethical Business Award 2010 by the Creighton University, Omaha, USA (2010)
• Presidential Medallion Award by the President, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA (2010)
• Presidential Medal Award by the Emory University, Atlanta, USA (2010)
• SolarWorld Einstein Award, Spain (2010)
• Presidential Medal Award 2010 by the Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida, USA (2010)
• Congressional Gold Medal award by the US congress, USA (2010) ^[3]
• Order of the Sun in the Grade of Grand Cross, Peru (2010)
• Global Award, the Third China Poverty Eradication Awards by The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development Management, Government of People's Republic of China and China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, China (2010)
• St. Vincent de Paul Award by DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA (2011)
• Elon Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership, USA (2011)
• Jean Mayer Global Citizen Award by the Institute for Global Leadership of Tufts University, USA (2012)
• Outstanding Entrepreneur of Our Time and The Best Humanitarian of the Year" by OFC Venture Challenge, USA (2012)
• Transformational Leadership Award from the Wright Foundation for Transformational Leadership, USA (2012)
• Freedom Award by the National Civil Rights Museum at Memphis, Tennessee, USA (2012)
• Salute to Greatness Award 2013 by Martin Luther King Center, USA (2013)
• Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award 2013 by Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, USA 2013()
• Global Treasure Award by Skoll Foundation, Oxford, UK (2013)
• Forbes 400 Philanthropy Forum Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship by Forbes Magazine, USA (2013)
• Asian American/Asian Research Leadership Award, USA (2013)
• Olympic Laurel, International Olympic Committee (2020) ^[4]
• United Nations Foundation's Champion of Global Change Award (2021) ^[5]

Notable awards

• 1978 — President's Award, Bangladesh ^[6]
• 1984 — Ramon Magsaysay Award, Philippines ^[7]
• 1985 — Bangladesh Bank Award, Bangladesh ^[6]
• 1987 — Independence Award, Bangladesh ^[6]
• 1989 — Aga Khan Award for Architecture , Switzerland ^[8]
• 1993 — CARE Humanitarian Award ^[9]
• 1994 — World Food Prize . ^[10]
• 1994 — International Pfeffer Peace Award ^[11]
• 1995 — Max Schmidheiny Freedom Prize ^[12]
• 1996 — UNESCO International Simón Bolívar Prize ^[13]
• 1998 — Indira Gandhi Prize ^[14]
• 1998 — Prince of Asturias Award ^[15]
• 1998 — Sydney Peace Prize ^[16]
• 2001 — IDEB Gold Medal Award ^[11]
• 2001 — Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (Grand Prize) ^[17]
• 2003 — Volvo Environment Prize ^[18]
• 2004 — Nikkei Asia Prize ^[11]
• 2004 — The Economist 's first annual Innovation Award for social and economic innovation ^[19]
• 2006 — Mother Teresa Award instituted by the Mother Teresa International and Millennium Award Committee (MTIMAC), Kolkata, India ^[20]
• 2006 — Freedom from Want Award, one of the Four Freedoms Awards by Roosevelt Study Centre ^[21]
• 2006 — ITU World Information Society Award by International Telecommunication Union ^[22]
• 2006 — Seoul Peace Prize ^[23]
• 2006 — Nobel Peace Prize , shared with Grameen Bank
• 2007 — The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal awarded by Vanderbilt University ^[24]
• 2007 — Order of the Liberator in First Class with Grand Decoration awarded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez ^[25]
• 2009 — Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by Barack Obama ^[26]

State honours

Ribbon/replica	Decoration	Country	Date	Location	Presenter	Note	Post-nominal letters	Ref(s)
	Independence Award	Bangladesh	1987	Dhaka	President Hussain Muhammad Ershad	The highest civilian honour of Bangladesh	–
	National Order of the Legion of Honour	France	2004	Paris	President Jacques Chirac	Officer, the highest civilian and military honour of France.	–	[27]
	Order of King Abdulaziz	Saudi Arabia	2007	Riyadh	King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz	The second-highest civilian honour of Saudi Arabia.		[28]
	Order of the Liberator	Venezuela	11 May 2007	Caracas	President Hugo Chávez	First Class with Grand Decoration, the highest national honour of Venezuela.	–	[29]
	Presidential Medal of Freedom	United States	12 August 2009	Washington, D.C.	President Barack Obama	The highest civilian award of the United States.	–	[30]
	Order of the Sun of Peru	Peru	27 September 2010	Lima	President Alan García	The highest civilian honour of Peru.	–
	Order of Merit of the Italian Republic	Italy	26 July 2010	Rome	President of the Republic	The most senior Italian order of merit.	–	[31]
	Congressional Gold Medal	United States	17 April 2013	Washington, D.C.	Speaker John Boehner	The highest civilian honour of the United States	–	[32]

Scholastic

Muhammad Yunus has been awarded total 72 honorary doctorate degrees from universities across 27 countries.

The list of degrees given below: ^[33]

No.	Year	Degree	Institution	Country	Notes
1	1992	Doctor of Letters	University of East Anglia	United Kingdom	First honorary degree
2	1993	Doctor of Humanities	Oberlin College	United States
3	1994	Doctor of Law	Haverford College	United States
4	1995	Doctor of Law	University of Toronto	Canada
5	1996	Doctor of Law	Haverford College	United States
6	1996	Doctor of Law	Warwick University	United Kingdom
7	1997	Doctor of Public Service	Saint Xavier's University	United States
8	1998	Doctor of Civil Law, Honoris Causa	University of the South	United States
9	1998	Doctor Honoris Causa	Katholieke Universiteit Leuven	Belgium
10	1998	Doctor of Social Science, Honoris Causa	Yale University	United States
11	1998	Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa	Brigham Young University	United States
12	1998	Doctor of Science in Economics (Honorary)	University of Sydney	Australia
13	2000	Doctor of the University (Honorary)	Queensland University of Technology	Australia
14	2000	Doctor in Economics and Business (Laurea Honoris Causa)	University of Turin	Italy
15	2002	Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa	Colgate University	United States
16	2003	Doctor Honoris Causa	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
17	2003	Doctor Honoris Causa	Universidad Nacional de Cuyo	Argentina
18	2003	Doctor of Economics, Honoris Causa	University of Natal	South Africa
19	2004	Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa	Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya	India
20	2004	Doctor of Technology, Honoris Causa	Asian Institute of Technology	Thailand
21	2004	Doctor in Business Economics, Honoris Causa	University of Florence	Italy
22	2004	Doctor in Pedagogy (Honorary)	University of Bologna	Italy
23	2004	Doctor Honoris Causa	Universidad Complutense Madrid	Spain
24	2006	Honorary Doctorate in Economics	University of Venda	South Africa
25	2006	Doctor of Humane Letters	American University of Beirut	Lebanon
26	2006	Doctor Honoris Causa	University of Alicante	Spain
27	2006	Doctor Honoris Causa	University of Valencia	Spain
28	2006	Doctor Honoris Causa	Jaume I University	Spain
29	2007	Doctor of Laws (Honorary)	University of Dhaka	Bangladesh	First honorary degree in Bangladesh
30	2007	Doctor of Humanities (Honorary)	Rikkyo University	Japan
31	2007	Doctor of Economics (Honorary)	Universiti Sains Malaysia	Malaysia
32	2007	Doctor of Philosophy (Honorary)	Ewha Womans University	South Korea
33	2007	Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa	EARTH University	Costa Rica
34	2008	Honorary Degree	Regis University	United States
35	2008	Honorary Degree	University of British Columbia	Canada
36	2008	Honorary Doctorate	Moscow State University	Russia
37	2008	Honoris Causa in Science of Cooperation and Development	Sapienza University of Rome	Italy
38	2008	Doctor of Letters (D. Litt)	Glasgow Caledonian University	United Kingdom
39	2008	Honorary Doctorate	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
40	2009	Honorary Degree	Kobe University	Japan
41	2009	Doctor of Law (Honorary)	University of Pennsylvania	United States
42	2009	Honorary Degree	Hokkaido University	Japan
43	2009	Honorary Doctorate	Istanbul Commerce University	Turkey
44	2010	Doctor of Humane Letters	Duke University	United States
45	2010	Honorary Doctorate	Kwansei Gakuin University	Japan
46	2010	Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa	Carleton University	Canada
47	2010	Doctor Honoris Causa	San Ignacio de Loyola University	Peru
48	2010	Doctor Honoris Causa	Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos	Peru
49	2010	Doctor Honoris Causa	University of Mons	Belgium
50	2011	Doctor of Science in Economics (Honorary)	London School of Economics	United Kingdom
51	2012	Honorary Doctorate	Tohoku University	Japan
52	2012	Doctor of Humane Letters	Tuskegee University	United States
53	2012	Doctor of Letters	Emory University	United States
54	2013	Doctoris Honoris Causa	European University of Tirana	Albania
55	2013	Honorary Degree	University of Salford	United Kingdom
56	2013	Doctor Honoris Causa	Bolivia University of Aquino	Bolivia
57	2014	Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa	Dublin City University	Ireland
58	2015	Doctorate Honoris Causa	Federal University of Paraná	Brazil
59	2016	Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters	Babson College	United States
60	2017	Honorary Doctor of Science	Chandigarh University	India
61	2018	Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa	Amity University Rajasthan	India
62	2018	Honorary Degree	Autonomous University of Baja California	Mexico
63	2019	Honorary Doctorate	National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	Greece
64	2019	Doctor Honoris Causa	Menéndez Pelayo International University	Spain
65	2021	Honorary Doctor of Literature	Sharda University	India
66	2022	Honorary Doctorate in Economic Sciences	University Putra Malaysia	Malaysia
67	2022	Ph.D. Honorary Causa	Cesar Vallejo University	Peru
68	2023	Honorary Doctorate	Ryukoku University	Japan
69	2025	Honorary Doctorate	Peking University	China	[34]
70	2025	Honorary Doctorate of Literature	University of Chittagong	Bangladesh	[35]
71	2025	Honorary Doctorate	Soka University	Japan	[36]
72	2025	Honorary Doctorate of philosophy in social business	UKM	Malaysia	[37]

References

1. "Rear Admiral M. A. Khan Memorial Gold Medal Award: 1993".
2. List of Winners of 2010 Asian Awards .
3. "US Congressional Gold Medal for Professor Muhammad Yunus".
4. "Yunus receives Olympic Laurel award at Tokyo Olympics opening". Dhaka Tribune. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
5. Dr Yunus receives United Nations Foundation’s Champion of Global Change Award, The Daily Star, 14 December 2021
6. "CV of Professor Muhammad Yunus". www.muhaggmmadyunus.org. Archived from the original on 2024-08-07. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
7. Ramon Magsaysay Award, 1984: Citation for Muhammad Yunus Archived 2012-05-09 at the Wayback Machine ; Retrieved: 2007-09-01
8. Muhammad Yunus: The man who empowered Bangladeshi women; Ismaili Mail; Retrieved: 2007-09-01
9. "Muhammad Yunus – Biography". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
10. "Dr. Muhammad Yunus – 1994 World Food Prize Laureate". WorldFoodPrize.org. Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
11. "The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 849". The Daily Star . 14 October 2006. Archived from the original on 2023-07-08.
12. "Dr. Muhammad Yunus, 1995". The Max Schmidheiny Foundation. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
13. Prize Winner: Muhammad Yunus, Prizes, UNESCO; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
14. "Profile: 'World banker to the poor'". BBC News. 2006-10-13. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
15. "Minutes of the Jury: Concord 1998". Prince of Asturias Foundation. 1998-06-19. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2007-09-20.
16. Sydney Peace Prize recipients, Sydney Peace Prize Foundation website; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
17. "Laureates of the Past Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes". The Fukuoka Asian Culture Prizes. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
18. Volvo Environment Prize
19. "And the winners are..." The Economist. 2004-09-16. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
20. The Mother Teresa of the Financial World Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine , Internationale Projekt Consult; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
21. Four Freedoms Award winners 2006, Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award website; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
22. ITU World Information Society Award – 2006, ITU Home Page, International Telecommunication Union; Retrieved: 2007-12-09
23. Lauret 2006 Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine , Seoul Peace Prize website; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
24. Yunus to receive Nichols-Chancellor's Medal Archived 2008-06-18 at the Wayback Machine , Vanderbilt News, 2007-03-12; Retrieved: 2007-09-09
25. UNB, Dhaka (2007-05-14). "Prof Yunus gets highest Venezuelan honour". The Daily Star. Vol 5 Num 1048. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
26. "President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients" Archived 2009-12-15 at the Wayback Machine , White House Office of the Press Secretary, July 30, 2009
27. "Grameen Dialogue -- a regular publication from Grameen Trust". Archived from the original on 2004-08-20.
28. "Prof Yunus receives King Aziz Medal". The Daily Star. 6 September 2007.
29. UNB (14 May 2007). "Prof. Yunus gets highest Venezuelan honour". The Daily Star. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
30. "President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients". whitehouse.gov . 30 July 2009. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
31. "Yunus Prof. Muhammad". quirinale.it. 26 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
32. "Professor Muhammad Yunus Receives Congressional Gold Medal". United States Mint. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
33. "Honorary Degrees". Muhammad Yunus. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
34. "Peking University confers honorary doctorate on Prof Yunus". Prothom Alo . 29 March 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
35. "Dream of building a new world: Yunus to students". The Business Standard . 15 May 2025.
36. "Soka University confers honorary doctorate on CA Yunus". The Business Standard . 30 May 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
37. "Prof Yunus receives honorary doctorate degree from UKM". The Business Standard. 13 August 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2025.

External links

• Awards received by Professor Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank
• Yunus Center