List of current longest-ruling non-royal national leaders

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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.

Contents

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.

RankImageNameAgeCountryOfficeTenure beganLength of tenure
1.
Paul Biya 2014.png
Paul Biya 88Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 1] 30 June 197546 years, 75 days
2.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo at the White House in 2014.jpg
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo 79Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg  Equatorial Guinea President [lower-alpha 2] 3 August 197942 years, 41 days
3.
Ali Khamenei portrait 2019.jpg
Ali Khamenei 82Flag of Iran.svg  Iran President, then
Supreme Leader [lower-alpha 3]
13 October 198139 years, 335 days
4.
Denis Sassou Nguesso 2014.png
Denis Sassou Nguesso 77Flag of the Republic of the Congo.svg  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 at 12th ASEM (cropped).jpg
Hun Sen 69Flag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia Prime Minister [lower-alpha 5] 26 December 198436 years, 261 days
6.
Yoweri Museveni September 2015.jpg
Yoweri Museveni 76Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda President26 January 198635 years, 230 days
7.
Nursultan Nazarbayev at the 2013 Astana Economic Forum (cropped).jpg
Nursultan Nazarbayev 81Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan Chairman of the
Security Council,
formerly President [lower-alpha 6]
16 December 199129 years, 271 days
8.
Emomali Rahmon-1.jpg
Emomali Rahmon 68Flag of Tajikistan.svg  Tajikistan De facto Head of State,
then President [lower-alpha 7]
19 November 199228 years, 298 days
9.
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in the Eritrean city of Massawa (cropped).JPG
Isaias Afwerki 75Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea President [lower-alpha 8] 24 May 199328 years, 112 days
10.
Alexander Lukashenko crop.jpeg
Alexander Lukashenko 67Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus President20 July 199427 years, 55 days
11.
Daniel Ortega (cropped).jpg
Daniel Ortega 75Flag of Nicaragua.svg  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.
Ismail Omar Guelleh 2018.jpg
Ismaïl Omar Guelleh 73Flag of Djibouti.svg  Djibouti President8 May 199922 years, 128 days
13.
Vladimir Putin - 2006.jpg
Vladimir Putin 68Flag of Russia.svg  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.jpg
Keith Mitchell 74Flag of Grenada.svg  Grenada Prime Minister22 June 1995 – 9 July 2008 (1st time)
20 February 2013 – present (2nd time)
21 years, 222 days
15.
Paul Kagame Portrait 2016-10-14.jpg
Paul Kagame 63Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda President22 April 200021 years, 144 days
16.
H.E. Hage Gottfried Geingob (cropped).jpg
Hage Geingob 80Flag of Namibia.svg  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 (cropped).jpg
Bashar al-Assad 56Flag of Syria.svg  Syria President17 July 200021 years, 58 days
18.
Ralph Gonsalves.jpg
Ralph Gonsalves 75Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.svg  Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines
Prime Minister29 March 200120 years, 168 days
19.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan 2019 (cropped).jpg
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 67Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 12] 14 March 200318 years, 183 days
20.
Ilham Aliyev 2020 (cropped).jpg
Ilham Aliyev 59Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 13] 4 August 200318 years, 40 days
21.
Mirziyoyev Kuksaroy.png
Shavkat Mirziyoyev 64Flag of Uzbekistan.svg  Uzbekistan Prime Minister, then President [lower-alpha 14] 12 December 200317 years, 275 days
22.
Sheikh Hasina in New York - 2018 (44057292035) (cropped).jpg
Sheikh Hasina 73Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh Prime Minister23 June 1996 – 15 July 2001 (1st time)
6 January 2009 – present (2nd time)
17 years, 272 days
23.
RooseveltSkerrit.jpg
Roosevelt Skerrit 49Flag of Dominica.svg  Dominica Prime Minister8 January 200417 years, 248 days
Mahmoud Abbas 2007.jpg
Mahmoud Abbas 85Flag of Palestine.svg  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 June 2018.JPG
Lee Hsien Loong 69Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore Prime Minister12 August 200417 years, 32 days
25.
Faure Gnassingbe 2014.png
Faure Gnassingbé 55Flag of Togo.svg  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. Tallinn Digital Summit.jpg
Angela Merkel 67Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Federal Chancellor22 November 200515 years, 295 days
27.
Viktor Orban 2018.jpg
Viktor Orbán 58Flag of Hungary with arms (state).svg  Hungary Prime Minister6 July 1998 – 27 May 2002 (1st time)
29 May 2010 – present (2nd time)
15 years, 67 days
28.
Frank Bainimarama November 2014.jpg
Frank Bainimarama 67Flag of Fiji.svg  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.jpg
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow 64Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan President [lower-alpha 18] 21 December 200614 years, 266 days
30.
A. Ouattara.jpg
Alassane Ouattara 79Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  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.
The former President of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa meeting the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on September 12, 2018 (cropped).JPG
Mahinda Rajapaksa 75Flag of Sri Lanka.svg  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 Maurer2018.jpg
Ueli Maurer 70Flag of Switzerland.svg   Switzerland Federal Council Member,
formerly President [lower-alpha 22]
1 January 200912 years, 255 days
33.
Secretary Pompeo Meets With President Macky Sall in Dakar (49554060831) (cropped).jpg
Macky Sall 59Flag of Senegal.svg  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.
Milos Zeman brezen 2015.JPG
Miloš Zeman 76Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  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.
President Azali Assoumani.jpg
Azali Assoumani 62Flag of the Comoros.svg  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 (cropped).jpg
Borut Pahor 57Flag of Slovenia.svg  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 - allocution du 21 mars 2020 (cropped).jpg
Ali Bongo Ondimba 62Flag of Gabon.svg  Gabon President16 October 200911 years, 332 days
Arayik Harutyunyan.png
Arayik Harutyunyan 47Flag of Artsakh.svg  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 2015 (1).jpg
Mark Rutte 54Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Prime Minister14 October 201010 years, 334 days
39.
Simonetta Sommaruga 2016.jpg
Simonetta Sommaruga 61Flag of Switzerland.svg   Switzerland Federal Council Member,
formerly President [lower-alpha 28]
1 November 201010 years, 316 days
40.
Nguyen Phu Trong 092916 (cropped).jpg
Nguyễn Phú Trọng 77Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam General Secretary,
formerly also
President [lower-alpha 29]
19 January 201110 years, 237 days
41.
Milo Dukanovic in 2010 (cropped).jpg
Milo Đukanović 59Flag of Montenegro.svg  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 Touadera October 2019.jpg
Faustin-Archange Touadéra 64Flag of the Central African Republic.svg  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 at the White House (cropped).jpg
Salva Kiir Mayardit 70Flag of South Sudan.svg  South Sudan President [lower-alpha 32] 9 July 201110 years, 66 days
44.
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.jpg
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi 76Flag of Yemen.svg  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 de Almeida Fonseca no Brasil.jpg
Jorge Carlos Fonseca 70Flag of Cape Verde.svg  Cabo Verde President9 September 201110 years, 4 days

See also

Footnotes

  1. Was Prime Minister of Cameroon from 30 June 1975 to 6 November 1982
  2. Was Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council / Supreme Military Council of Equatorial Guinea from 3 August 1979 to 12 October 1982
  3. Was President of Iran from 13 October 1981 to 2 August 1989, leaving the presidency close to two months after becoming Supreme Leader. Was approved as Supreme Leader of Iran by the Assembly of Experts and sworn in on 4 June 1989, shortly after the death of the founder of this Shia Islamic republic, Ruhollah Khomeini.
  4. Was previously President from 8 February 1979 to 31 August 1992, when the country was a one-Party state known as the People's Republic of the Congo
  5. Was Acting Prime Minister of the Vietnam-occupation one-Party state called the People's Republic of Kampuchea from 26 December 1984 to 14 January 1985, then Prime Minister of the Vietnam-occupation one-Party state People's Republic of Kampuchea from 14 January 1985 to 1 May 1989. Was also Prime Minister during the entire existence of the State of Cambodia from 1 May 1989 to 24 September 1993.
  6. Was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR from 22 June 1989 to 14 December 1991, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (Speaker of Parliament and de facto head of state) of the Kazakh SSR from 22 February 1990 to 24 April 1990, and President of the Kazakh SSR from 24 April 1990 to 16 December 1991, on which date Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union. He has an emeritus position as permanent Chairman of the Kazakh National Security Council from 12 July 2018 to the present.
  7. Was Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Speaker of Parliament) of Tajikistan – de facto head of state – from 19 November 1992 to 16 November 1994
  8. Was Secretary-General of the Provisional Government of Eritrea from 27 April 1991 to 24 May 1993, when Eritrea declared independence from Ethiopia.
  9. Was a member of the Nicaraguan Junta of National Reconstruction from 18 July 1979 to 4 March 1981, then the Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction (effectively the head of state) from 4 March 1981 to 10 January 1985; he was then President from 10 January 1985 to 25 April 1990.
  10. Was Prime Minister of Russia from 9 August 1999 to 7 May 2000 and Acting President from 31 December 1999 to 7 May 2000; then President of Russia from 7 May 2000 to 7 May 2008; then Prime Minister again from 8 May 2008 to 7 May 2012.
  11. Was Prime Minister of Namibia from 21 March 1990 to 28 August 2002 and 4 December 2012 to 21 March 2015
  12. Was Prime Minister of Turkey from 14 March 2003 to 28 August 2014
  13. Was Acting President of Azerbaijan from 6 August 2003 to 31 October 2003
  14. Was Prime Minister of Uzbekistan from 12 December 2003 to 14 December 2016, and Acting President from 8 September 2016 to 14 December 2016.
  15. Was Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority from 19 March 2003 to 6 September 2003
  16. Was President of Togo from 5 February 2005 to 25 February 2005, when it was disputed whether he had inherited the presidency from his deceased father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma.
  17. Was President of the second Interim Military Government of Fiji from 29 May 2000 to 13 July 2000; then President of a third Interim Military Government of Fiji from 5 December 2006 to 4 January 2007. Was Acting Prime Minister from 5 January 2007 to 22 September 2014.
  18. Was Acting President of Turkmenistan from 21 December 2006 to 14 February 2007
  19. Was Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire from 7 November 1990 to 9 December 1993. The Presidency was disputed between Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo from 4 December 2010 to 11 April 2011.
  20. Was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 6 April 2004 to 19 November 2005, President of Sri Lanka from 19 November 2005 to 9 January 2015, then the disputed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (with Ranil Wickremesinghe) from 26 October 2018 to 15 December 2018.
  21. The office of Prime Minister was disputed between Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe from 26 October 2018 to 15 December 2018.
  22. The Swiss Federal Council is a collective seven-member head of state. Maurer previously served as chairperson of the Federal Council, i.e. the President of the Swiss Confederation, in the constitutional customary one-year period from 1 January to 31 December 2013 and 1 January to 31 December 2019. From 1 January to 31 December 2012 and 1 January to 31 December 2018, he was the deputy chairperson of the Federal Council, or Vice President of Switzerland.
  23. Was Prime Minister of Senegal from 21 April 2004 to 19 June 2007
  24. Was Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 22 July 1998 to 15 July 2002
  25. Was Chief of Staff of the National Development Army (de facto leader of the Comoros) from 30 April 1999 to 6 May 1999, Head of State of the Comoros from 6 May 1999 to 21 January 2002, then the elected President from 6 May 2002 to 26 May 2006.
  26. Was Prime Minister of Slovenia from 21 November 2008 to 10 February 2012
  27. Was Prime Minister of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh from 14 September 2007 to 25 September 2017. The country was called the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh until 10 March 2017.
  28. The Swiss Federal Council is a collective seven-member head of state. Sommaruga previously served as chairperson of the Federal Council, i.e. the President of the Swiss Confederation, in the constitutional customary one-year period from 1 January to 31 December 2015 and 1 January to 31 December 2020. From 1 January to 31 December 2014 and 1 January to 31 December 2019, she was the deputy chairperson of the Federal Council, or Vice President of Switzerland.
  29. Was concurrently the President of Vietnam from 23 October 2018 to 5 April 2021. Under the one-Party system, the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam is a more important and powerful office than the Presidency of Vietnam.
  30. Was Prime Minister of the Republic of Montenegro from 15 February 1991 to 5 February 1998, both Prime Minister and President of the Republic of Montenegro from 15 January 1998 to 5 February 1998, President of the Republic of Montenegro from 15 January 1998 to 25 November 2002, Prime Minister again from 8 January 2003 to 10 November 2006; then Prime Minister of independent Montenegro from 29 February 2008 to 29 December 2010 and 4 December 2012 to 29 November 2016. Montenegro became independent on 3 June 2006 by seceding from Serbia and Montenegro.
  31. Was Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 22 January 2008 to 17 January 2013
  32. Was President of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region – a region of Sudan – from 30 July 2005 to 9 July 2011, when South Sudan declared independence.
  33. Was Acting President of Yemen from 4 June 2011 to 23 September 2011 and 23 November 2011 to 27 February 2012. Since 6 February 2015, the office of Head of State of Yemen has been disputed between Hadi and commanders of the Ansar Allah Houthi movement.

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