This list of current longest-ruling non-royal national leaders is a list of the current living longest-ruling heads of nation-states or national governments, excluding royalty, who have served ten years or longer, sorted by length of tenure. Heads of generally recognized sovereign states are ranked by number, while heads of sovereign states with limited international recognition are listed in italics and are not given a numbered rank.
The individuals on the list are not always the most powerful figure in their country's national government. Some are or have been at one time the most powerful figures in their country's national government but not necessarily continuously throughout the listed timespan. Some of them have held more than one national leadership-level office: presidency, prime minister-ship, or some other title implying or widely believed to confer national leadership. When more than one such office exists in a country, there may be uncertainty as to which member of the national government actually has the ultimate power. Therefore, this list combines all national level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual leader.
Rank | Image | Name | Age | Country | Office | Tenure began | Length of tenure |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Paul Biya | 88 | Cameroon | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 1] | 30 June 1975 | 46 years, 75 days | |
2. | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo | 79 | Equatorial Guinea | President [lower-alpha 2] | 3 August 1979 | 42 years, 41 days | |
3. | Ali Khamenei | 82 | Iran | President, then Supreme Leader [lower-alpha 3] | 13 October 1981 | 39 years, 335 days | |
4. | Denis Sassou Nguesso | 77 | Republic of the Congo | President [lower-alpha 4] | 8 February 1979 – 31 August 1992 (1st time) 25 October 1997 – present (2nd time) | 37 years, 163 days | |
5. | Hun Sen | 69 | Cambodia | Prime Minister [lower-alpha 5] | 26 December 1984 | 36 years, 261 days | |
6. | Yoweri Museveni | 76 | Uganda | President | 26 January 1986 | 35 years, 230 days | |
7. | Nursultan Nazarbayev | 81 | Kazakhstan | Chairman of the Security Council, formerly President [lower-alpha 6] | 16 December 1991 | 29 years, 271 days | |
8. | Emomali Rahmon | 68 | Tajikistan | De facto Head of State, then President [lower-alpha 7] | 19 November 1992 | 28 years, 298 days | |
9. | Isaias Afwerki | 75 | Eritrea | President [lower-alpha 8] | 24 May 1993 | 28 years, 112 days | |
10. | Alexander Lukashenko | 67 | Belarus | President | 20 July 1994 | 27 years, 55 days | |
11. | Daniel Ortega | 75 | Nicaragua | Acting Head of State, then President [lower-alpha 9] | 4 March 1981 – 25 April 1990 (1st time) 10 January 2007 – present (2nd time) | 23 years, 298 days | |
12. | Ismaïl Omar Guelleh | 73 | Djibouti | President | 8 May 1999 | 22 years, 128 days | |
13. | Vladimir Putin | 68 | Russia | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 10] | 9 August 1999 – 7 May 2000 (1st term as Prime Minister) 8 May 2000 – 7 May 2008 (1st & 2nd terms as president) 8 May 2008 – 7 May 2012 (2nd term as Prime Minister) 7 May 2012 – present (3rd & 4th terms as president) | 22 years, 35 days | |
14. | Keith Mitchell | 74 | Grenada | Prime Minister | 22 June 1995 – 9 July 2008 (1st time) 20 February 2013 – present (2nd time) | 21 years, 222 days | |
15. | Paul Kagame | 63 | Rwanda | President | 22 April 2000 | 21 years, 144 days | |
16. | Hage Geingob | 80 | Namibia | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 11] | 21 March 1990 – 28 August 2002 (1st time) 4 December 2012 – present (2nd time) | 21 years, 78 days | |
17. | Bashar al-Assad | 56 | Syria | President | 17 July 2000 | 21 years, 58 days | |
18. | Ralph Gonsalves | 75 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Prime Minister | 29 March 2001 | 20 years, 168 days | |
19. | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | 67 | Turkey | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 12] | 14 March 2003 | 18 years, 183 days | |
20. | Ilham Aliyev | 59 | Azerbaijan | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 13] | 4 August 2003 | 18 years, 40 days | |
21. | Shavkat Mirziyoyev | 64 | Uzbekistan | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 14] | 12 December 2003 | 17 years, 275 days | |
22. | Sheikh Hasina | 73 | Bangladesh | Prime Minister | 23 June 1996 – 15 July 2001 (1st time) 6 January 2009 – present (2nd time) | 17 years, 272 days | |
23. | Roosevelt Skerrit | 49 | Dominica | Prime Minister | 8 January 2004 | 17 years, 248 days | |
– | Mahmoud Abbas | 85 | Palestine | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 15] | 19 March 2003 – 6 September 2003 (1st time) 15 January 2005 – present (2nd time) | 17 years, 47 days | |
24. | Lee Hsien Loong | 69 | Singapore | Prime Minister | 12 August 2004 | 17 years, 32 days | |
25. | Faure Gnassingbé | 55 | Togo | President [lower-alpha 16] | 5 February 2005 – 25 February 2005 (1st time) 4 May 2005 – present (2nd time) | 16 years, 152 days | |
26. | Angela Merkel | 67 | Germany | Federal Chancellor | 22 November 2005 | 15 years, 295 days | |
27. | Viktor Orbán | 58 | Hungary | Prime Minister | 6 July 1998 – 27 May 2002 (1st time) 29 May 2010 – present (2nd time) | 15 years, 67 days | |
28. | Frank Bainimarama | 67 | Fiji | Acting Head of State, then Prime Minister [lower-alpha 17] | 29 May 2000 – 13 July 2000 (1st time) 5 December 2006 – present (2nd time) | 14 years, 327 days | |
29. | Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow | 64 | Turkmenistan | President [lower-alpha 18] | 21 December 2006 | 14 years, 266 days | |
30. | Alassane Ouattara | 79 | Côte d'Ivoire | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 19] | 7 November 1990 – 9 December 1993 (1st time) 4 December 2010 – present (2nd time) | 13 years, 315 days | |
31. | Mahinda Rajapaksa | 75 | Sri Lanka | Prime Minister [lower-alpha 20] | 6 April 2004 – 19 November 2005 (1st term as Prime Minister) 19 November 2005 – 9 January 2015 (Term as president) 26 October 2018 – 15 December 2018 (2nd disputed term as Prime Minister) [lower-alpha 21] 21 November 2019 – present (3rd term as Prime Minister) | 12 years, 259 days | |
32. | Ueli Maurer | 70 | Switzerland | Federal Council Member, formerly President [lower-alpha 22] | 1 January 2009 | 12 years, 255 days | |
33. | Macky Sall | 59 | Senegal | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 23] | 21 April 2004 – 19 June 2007 (1st time) 2 April 2012 – present (2nd time) | 12 years, 223 days | |
34. | Miloš Zeman | 76 | Czech Republic | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 24] | 22 July 1998 – 15 July 2002 (1st time) 8 March 2013 – present (2nd time) | 12 years, 182 days | |
35. | Azali Assoumani | 62 | Comoros | President [lower-alpha 25] | 30 April 1999 – 21 January 2002 (1st time) 6 May 2002 – 26 May 2006 (2nd time) 26 May 2016 – present (3rd time) | 12 years, 31 days | |
36. | Borut Pahor | 57 | Slovenia | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 26] | 21 November 2008 – 10 February 2012 (1st time) 22 December 2012 – present (2nd time) | 11 years, 346 days | |
37. | Ali Bongo Ondimba | 62 | Gabon | President | 16 October 2009 | 11 years, 332 days | |
– | Arayik Harutyunyan | 47 | Artsakh | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 27] | 14 September 2007 – 25 September 2017 (1st time) 21 May 2020 – present (2nd time) | 11 years, 126 days | |
38. | Mark Rutte | 54 | Netherlands | Prime Minister | 14 October 2010 | 10 years, 334 days | |
39. | Simonetta Sommaruga | 61 | Switzerland | Federal Council Member, formerly President [lower-alpha 28] | 1 November 2010 | 10 years, 316 days | |
40. | Nguyễn Phú Trọng | 77 | Vietnam | General Secretary, formerly also President [lower-alpha 29] | 19 January 2011 | 10 years, 237 days | |
41. | Milo Đukanović | 59 | Montenegro | President [lower-alpha 30] | 3 June 2006 – 10 November 2006 (1st term as Prime Minister) 29 February 2008 – 29 December 2010 (2nd term as Prime Minister) 4 December 2012 – 29 November 2016 (3rd term as Prime Minister) 20 May 2018 – present (Term as president) | 10 years, 211 days | |
42. | Faustin-Archange Touadéra | 64 | Central African Republic | Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 31] | 22 January 2008 – 17 January 2013 (1st time) 30 March 2016 – present (2nd time) | 10 years, 163 days | |
43. | Salva Kiir Mayardit | 70 | South Sudan | President [lower-alpha 32] | 9 July 2011 | 10 years, 66 days | |
44. | Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi | 76 | Yemen | Acting President, then President [lower-alpha 33] | 4 June 2011 – 23 September 2011 (1st time) 23 November 2011 – present (2nd time) | 10 years, 38 days | |
45. | Jorge Carlos Fonseca | 70 | Cabo Verde | President | 9 September 2011 | 10 years, 4 days |
These are lists of incumbents, including heads of states or of subnational entities.
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