Lists of state leaders by age

Since 1800, the youngest serving state leader has been 0-day-old Alfonso XIII, King of Spain ^[1] (left), while the oldest has been 96-year-old Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms (right).

This article contains various lists of state leaders organized by age, defined as heads of state and/or heads of government.

Oldest serving state leaders

Top ten currently serving

Paul Biya, currently the oldest serving state leader

People currently serving as head of state and/or head of government, a party leader of a one-party state, or a representative of a head of state.

Rank	Name	Position	Assumed office	Born	Age
1	Paul Biya	President of Cameroon	1982 [2]	(1933-02-13)13 February 1933	92 years, 6 days
2	Mahmoud Abbas	President of the Palestinian National Authority, President of the State of Palestine	2005	(1935-11-15)15 November 1935	89 years, 96 days
3	Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud	King of Saudi Arabia	2015 [3]	(1935-12-31)31 December 1935	89 years, 50 days
4	Francis	Pope of the Holy See, Sovereign of the Vatican City State	2013	(1936-12-17)17 December 1936	88 years, 64 days
5	Harald V	King of Norway [4]	1991	(1937-02-21)21 February 1937	87 years, 364 days
6	Ali Khamenei	Supreme Leader of Iran	1989 [5]	(1939-04-19)19 April 1939	85 years, 306 days
7	Muhammad Yunus	Chief Adviser of Bangladesh	2024	(1940-06-28)28 June 1940	84 years, 236 days
8	Mishal I	Emir of Kuwait	2023	(1940-09-27)27 September 1940	84 years, 145 days
9	Michael D. Higgins	President of Ireland	2011	(1941-04-18)18 April 1941	83 years, 307 days
10	Sergio Mattarella	President of Italy	2015	(1941-07-23)23 July 1941	83 years, 211 days

Top ten of all time

Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, the oldest serving state leader of all time whose age is fully verifiable.

Rank	Name	Position	Last year in office (reason term ended)	Age at end
1	Giovanni Paolo Lascaris	Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller	1657 (death)	97 years, 47 days
		Ruler of Malta
2	Elizabeth II	Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms [6]	2022 (death)	96 years, 140 days
3	Prem Tinsulanonda	Regent of Thailand	2016 (tenure ended)	96 years, 97 days
4	George Tupou I	King of Tonga	1893 (death)	95 years, 76 days
5	Mahathir Mohamad	Prime Minister of Malaysia	2020 (resigned)	94 years, 235 days
6	Nicolò da Ponte	Doge of Venice	1585 (death)	94 years, 196 days
7	Malietoa Tanumafili II	O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa	2007 (death)	94 years, 127 days
8	Robert Mugabe	President of Zimbabwe	2017 (resigned)	93 years, 273 days
9	Leo XIII	Pope of the Holy See [7]	1903 (death)	93 years, 140 days
10	Beji Caid Essebsi	President of Tunisia	2019 (death)	92 years, 238 days

Youngest serving state leaders

Top ten currently serving

Kristrún Frostadóttir, the youngest serving state leader

Rank	Name	Position	Assumed office	Born	Age
1	Kristrún Frostadóttir	Prime Minister of Iceland	2024	12 May 1988	36 years, 283 days
2	Ibrahim Traoré	President of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration of Burkina Faso	2022	14 March 1988	36 years, 342 days
		Interim President of Burkina Faso	2022
3	Daniel Noboa	President of Ecuador	2023	30 November 1987	37 years, 81 days
4	Milojko Spajić	Prime Minister of Montenegro	2023	24 September 1987	37 years, 148 days
5	Jakov Milatović	President of Montenegro	2023	7 December 1986	38 years, 74 days
6	Paetongtarn Shinawatra	Prime Minister of Thailand	2024	21 August 1986	38 years, 182 days
7	Gabriel Boric	President of Chile	2022	11 February 1986	39 years, 8 days
8	Mohammed bin Salman	Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia	2022	31 August 1985	39 years, 172 days
9	Mahamat Déby	President of Chad [8]	2024	4 April 1984	40 years, 322 days
9–10	Mohammed al-Bashir	Transitional Prime Minister of Syria	2024	1984	40 years, 50 days to 41 years, 49 days

Top ten since 1800

     Currently living

Rank	Name	Position	Assumed office	Age when assuming office
1	Alfonso XIII	King of Spain	1886	0 days [1]
2	Sobhuza II	King of Swaziland	1899	141 days
3	Fuad II	King of Egypt	1952	192 days
4	Puyi	Emperor of China	1908	2 years, 299 days
5	Rajendra Bikram Shah	King of Nepal	1816	2 years, 353 days
6	Isabella II	Queen of Spain	1833	2 years, 354 days
7	Gyanendra	King of Nepal	1950 [9]	3 years, 123 days
8	Guangxu	Emperor of China	1875	3 years, 195 days
9	Faisal II	King of Iraq	1939	3 years, 337 days
10	Pedro II	Emperor of Brazil	1831	5 years, 126 days

Oldest state leaders

The following lists show the oldest people who have served office as state leader (not limited to their age while in office).

Top ten living

Guillermo Rodríguez, the oldest-living state leader

Main article: List of oldest living state leaders

Rank	Name	Position	In office	Born	Age
1	Guillermo Rodríguez	Acting President of Ecuador	1972–1976	(1923-11-04)4 November 1923	101 years, 107 days
2	Khamtai Siphandone	Prime Minister of Laos	1991–1998	(1924-02-08)8 February 1924	101 years, 11 days
		Chairman of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party	1992–2006
		President of Laos	1998–2006
3	Tomiichi Murayama	Prime Minister of Japan	1994–1996	(1924-03-03)3 March 1924	100 years, 353 days
4	Mahathir Mohamad	Prime Minister of Malaysia	1981–2003; 2018–2020	(1925-07-10)10 July 1925	99 years, 224 days
5	Mohammad Hasan Sharq	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Afghanistan	1988–1989	(1925-07-17)17 July 1925	99 years, 217 days
6	Abdoulaye Wade	President of Senegal	2000–2012	(1926-05-29)29 May 1926	98 years, 266 days
7	Valdas Adamkus	President of Lithuania	1998–2003; 2004–2009	(1926-11-03)3 November 1926	98 years, 108 days
8	Raif Dizdarević	President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia	1988–1989	(1926-12-09)9 December 1926	98 years, 72 days
9	Thanin Kraivichien	Prime Minister of Thailand	1976–1977	(1927-04-05)5 April 1927	97 years, 320 days
10	Kim Yong-nam	Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea	1998–2019	(1928-02-04)4 February 1928	97 years, 15 days

Top ten since 1800

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum, the longest-lived state leader

Rank	Name	Position	Born	Died	Age
1	Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum	Acting Prime Minister of Cambodia (1962)	1905	2009	103 years, 143 days
2	Celâl Bayar	Prime Minister of Turkey (1937–1939)	1883	1986	103 years, 98 days
		President of Turkey (1950–1960)
3	Antoine Pinay	Prime Minister of France (1952–1953)	1891	1994	102 years, 348 days
4	André Prunet-Foch	French Viguier in Andorra (1977–1980)	1914	2017	102 years, 211 days
5	Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni	Prime Minister of Japan (1945)	1887	1990	102 years, 48 days
6	Babiker Awadalla	Prime Minister of Sudan (1969)	1917	2019	101 years, 321 days
7	Willem Drees	Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958)	1886	1988	101 years, 314 days
8	Đỗ Mười	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam (1988–1991)	1917	2018	101 years, 241 days
		General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1991–1997)
9	Zhang Qun	Premier of the Republic of China (1947–1948)	1889	1990	101 years, 219 days
10	Yasuhiro Nakasone	Prime Minister of Japan (1982–1987)	1918	2019	101 years, 186 days

See also

• Lists of state leaders

Notes

1. Became a monarch at birth as his father, Alfonso XII, had died the previous year.
2. Previously served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975–1982.
3. Served concurrently as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015–2022.
4. The Kingdom of Norway includes the dependent territory of Svalbard.
5. Previously served as President of Iran from 1981–1989.
6. In 1952, Princess Elizabeth acceded as the monarch of seven Commonwealth realms. At the time of her death, she reigned as Queen of 15 sovereign states including the United Kingdom. From 1957–1983, most of her British colonies attained independence, and some joined the other realms in different years; most states ceased to be a realm upon becoming republics.
7. The Vatican was in a territorial dispute with the Kingdom of Italy from 1870–1929.
8. Previously President of the Transitional Military Council of Chad from 2021–2022, and Transitional President of Chad from 2022–2024.
9. Gyanendra's first occupation of the throne was in 1950; he was deposed in the 1951 Nepalese revolution.