Forbes list of the World's Most Powerful People

Between 2009 and 2018 (with absence in 2017) the business magazine Forbes had compiled an annual list of the world's most powerful people. The list had one slot for every 100 million people, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list, and by 2018, there were 75. Slots were allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they had sway over, as well as their influence on world events.^[1]

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Gallery of top ten in rankings 2018

Historical top ten rankings

Note: No list was released for 2017.

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015^[2]	2016^[3]	2018^[4]
1	Barack Obama President of the United States	Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Barack Obama President of the United States		Vladimir Putin President of Russia				Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
2	Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Barack Obama President of the United States	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany	Barack Obama President of the United States		Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany	Donald Trump President-elect of the United States	Vladimir Putin President of Russia
3	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia	Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Vladimir Putin President of Russia	Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party		Barack Obama President of the United States	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany	Donald Trump President of the United States
4	Ben Bernanke U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft	Francis Pope of the Holy See			Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany
5	Sergey Brin Larry Page Co-Founders of Google	Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft	Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany		Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Francis Pope of the Holy See	Jeff Bezos Chairman and CEO of Amazon
6	Carlos Slim Chief Executive of Telmex	Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia	Ben Bernanke U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft	Janet Yellen U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft	Janet Yellen U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Francis Pope of the Holy See
7	Rupert Murdoch Chairman of News Corporation	David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia	Ben Bernanke U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft	Janet Yellen U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft
8	Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart	Ben Bernanke U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve		Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia	Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank	David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	Larry Page Co-Founder of Google	Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
9	Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia	Sonia Gandhi President of the Indian National Congress	Mark Zuckerberg Founder and CEO of Facebook	Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party	Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank	Sergey Brin Larry Page Co-Founders of Google	Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India
10	Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft		David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom		Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart	David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	Larry Page Co-Founder of Google	Mark Zuckerberg Co-Founder of Facebook	Larry Page Co-Founder of Google