This is a list of current heads of state and heads of government. In some cases, mainly in presidential systems, there is only one leader being both head of state and head of government. In other cases, mainly in semi-presidential and parliamentary systems, the head of state and the head of government are different people. In semi-presidential and parliamentary systems, the head of government role (i.e. executive branch) is fulfilled by both the listed head of government and the head of state. In single-party systems, the ruling party's leader (i.e. General Secretary) is usually the de facto top leader of the state, though sometimes this leader also holds the presidency or premiership. In some countries like Andorra and Vatican City (Holy See), a clergy member also acts as the head of state for both countries (Bishop of Urgell as Co-Prince of Andorra and the Pope) and head of government for the latter (President of the Governorate of Vatican City State).
The list includes the names of recently elected or appointed heads of state and government who will take office on an appointed date, as presidents-elect and prime ministers-designate, and those leading a government in exile if internationally recognised.
| Colour key |
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Green cells indicate leaders whose offices constitutionally administer the executive of their respective state/government. |
Blue cells indicate de facto executive branch leaders whose offices lack de jure constitutional power. |
The following states are in free association with another UN member state.
| State | Associated with | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cook Islands |  New Zealand | King – Charles III [lower-greek 13] King's Representative – Sir Tom Marsters | Prime Minister – Mark Brown |
 Niue | New Zealand | King – Charles III [lower-greek 13] King's Representative – Dame Cindy Kiro [lower-greek 9] | Premier – Dalton Tagelagi |
The following states control at least part of their territory and are recognised by at least one UN member state.
| State | Also claimed by | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|
 Abkhazia |  Georgia | President – Aslan Bzhania | Prime Minister – Aleksander Ankvab |
 Republic of China (Taiwan) |  People's Republic of China | President – Tsai Ing-wen | Premier – Chen Chien-jen Premier-designate – Cho Jung-tai |
| President-elect – Lai Ching-te | |||
 Kosovo |  Serbia | President – Vjosa Osmani | Prime Minister – Albin Kurti |
 Northern Cyprus |  Cyprus | President – Ersin Tatar | Prime Minister – Ünal Üstel |
 Sahrawi Republic |  Morocco | General Secretary of the Polisario Front – Brahim Ghali | |
| President – Brahim Ghali | Prime Minister – Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun | ||
 South Ossetia | Georgia | President – Alan Gagloyev | Prime Minister – Konstantin Dzhussoyev |
The following states control their territory, but are not recognised by any UN member states.
| State | Also claimed by | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|
 Somaliland |  Somalia | President – Muse Bihi Abdi | |
 Transnistria |  Moldova | President – Vadim Krasnoselsky | Prime Minister – Aleksander Rozenberg |
These alternative governments control part of their territory and are recognised as legitimate by at least one UN member state.
These alternative governments control part of their territory, but are not recognized as legitimate by any UN member states.
| Government | State | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|
 Government of National Stability | Libya | Supreme Commander of the Libyan National Army – Khalifa Haftar | |
| Chairman of the Presidential Council – Mohamed al-Menfi [lower-greek 14] | Acting Prime Minister – Osama Hammad [15] | ||
 Hamas government in Gaza |  Palestine | Hamas Chief in the Gaza Strip – Yahya Sinwar | |
| President – Mahmoud Abbas [lower-greek 15] | Head of the Government Administrative Committee – Essam al-Da'alis | ||
 National Unity Government | Myanmar | Acting President – Duwa Lashi La | Prime Minister – Mahn Win Khaing Than |
 Syrian Salvation Government |  Syria | Commander-in-Chief of Tahrir al-Sham – Abu Mohammad al-Julani [16] | |
| President of the General Shura Council – Mustafa al-Mousa | Prime Minister – Ali Keda | ||
These alternative governments do not control their territory but are recognized as legitimate by at least one UN member state.
| Government | State | Head of state | Head of government |
|---|---|---|---|
 Coordination Council |  Belarus | President and Head of the Cabinet – Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya | |
 National Assembly (2015) | Venezuela | President of the National Assembly – Dinorah Figuera [17] | |
The politics of Cambodia are defined within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the king serves as the head of state, and the prime minister is the head of government. The collapse of communism set in motion events that led to the withdrawal of the Vietnamese armed forces, which had established their presence in the country since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The 1993 constitution, which is currently in force, was promulgated as a result of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, followed by elections organized under the aegis of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. The constitution declares Cambodia to be an "independent, sovereign, peaceful, permanently neutral and non-aligned country." The constitution also proclaims a liberal, multiparty democracy in which powers are devolved to the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. However, there is no effective opposition to the Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power from 1984 up to 2023. His Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly in 2018 after the banning of opposition party CNRP and KNLF. KNLF became a main opposition exiled in Denmark after CNRP was dissolved. During the communal election in 2022 and the national election in 2023, there were no international observers. The government is considered to be autocratic.
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state. The specific naming of the head of state depends on the country's form of government and separation of powers; the head of state may be a ceremonial figurehead or concurrently the head of government and more.
Currently, the politics of Sudan takes place in the framework of a federal provisional government. Previously, a president was head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two chambers, the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (higher), of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court. However, following a deadly civil war and the still ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However, al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup which occurred on April 11, 2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council or TMC. On 20 August 2019, the TMC dissolved giving its authority over to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022, in the process of transitioning to democracy. However, the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021.
The president of Haiti, officially called the president of the Republic of Haiti, is the head of state of Haiti. Executive power in Haiti is divided between the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister of Haiti. Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry served as Acting President following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on 7 July 2021. A Transitional Presidential Council was constituted by decree of April 12, 2024 and is pending creation.
The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse. Provisional governments are generally appointed, and frequently arise, either during or after civil or foreign wars, or during difficult times such as during invasion, economic crisis, or widespread infiltration of saboteurs and counter-revolutionaries such as during the French Revolution.
The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president chairs the National Defence and Security Council and normally leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the Burmese government, though the military prime minister leads the cabinet under the current state of emergency. The current president is Myint Swe, who assumed the presidency through a military coup d'état on 1 February 2021. Though a constitutionally powerful position, the presidency is a largely symbolic post under the current military government, with Myint Swe appearing only to rubber-stamp military rule.
A non-sovereign monarchy, subnational monarchy or constituent monarchy is one in which the head of the monarchical polity, and the polity itself, are subject to a temporal authority higher than their own. The constituent states of the German Empire or the princely states of the Indian Empire during British rule provide historical examples; while the Zulu king, whose power derives from the Constitution of South Africa, is a contemporary one.
A coup d'état took place in Sudan in the late afternoon on 11 April 2019, when President Omar al-Bashir was overthrown by the Sudanese Armed Forces after popular protests demanded his departure. At that time, the army, led by Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, toppled the government and National Legislature and declared a state of emergency in the country for a period of 3 months, followed by a transitional period of two years before an agreement was reached later.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdelrahman al-Burhan is a Sudanese army general who is the de facto ruler of Sudan. Following the Sudanese Revolution in April 2019, he was handed control of the military junta, the Transitional Military Council, a day after it was formed, due to protesters' dissatisfaction with the establishment ties of initial leader Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf. He served as chairman of the TMC until a draft constitutional declaration signed with civilians went into effect on the 17th of August and a collective head of state Transitional Sovereignty Council was formed, also to be initially headed by al-Burhan.
The Transitional Sovereignty Council is the collective head of state of Sudan, formed on 20 August 2019, by the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration. It was dissolved by Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in the October 2021 Sudanese coup d'état and reconstituted the following month with new membership, effectively changing it from a unity government to a military junta.
The September 2021 Sudanese coup d'état attempt was a coup attempt against the Sovereignty Council of Sudan on Tuesday 21 September 2021.
On 25 October 2021, the Sudanese military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, took control of the Government of Sudan in a military coup. At least five senior government figures were initially detained. Civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok refused to declare support for the coup and on 25 October called for popular resistance; he was confined to house arrest on 26 October. Internet outages were reported. Later the same day, the Sovereignty Council was dissolved, a state of emergency was put in place, and a majority of the Hamdok Cabinet and a number of pro-government supporters were arrested. As of 5 November 2021, the list of those detained included "government ministers, members of political parties, lawyers, civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and protest leaders", who were held in secret locations, without access to their families or lawyers.
The political history of Africa in the 2010s covers political events in the continent between 2010 and 2019.
Hun Sen will however retain leadership of the ruling Cambodian People's Party - a position political analysts say still gives him ultimate control.•Murphy, Matt (6 August 2023). "Hun Sen: Cambodia election result confirms expected win for PM". BBC News. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
[Hun Sen] is expected to become president of the Senate early next year and will serve as acting head of state when King Norodom Sihamoni is abroad.
On Tuesday, Henry was sworn in, pledging to hold new elections in 120 days. For now, Haiti has no president[...].
The constitutional mandate of Haiti's de facto ruler, Prime Minister Ariel Henry — which some viewed as questionable from the start, as he was never technically sworn in — ended more than a year ago. The country has had no president since its last one, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in 2021.
The 14-point deal between Hamdok and the military, signed in the presidential palace in Khartoum on Sunday, also provides for the release of all political prisoners detained during the coup and stipulates that a 2019 constitutional declaration be the basis for a political transition, according to details read out on state television.
The head of the Salvation Government is [the prime minister], who assumed his post late last year, but the region's strongman is HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
