Top 10 Most Powerful People in the World 2020

The variables that are used to determine the powerfulness of individuals changes with time depending upon the dynamism of geopolitical and socio-economic factors. In this digital era, the people who are managing the balance of quality, effectiveness and speed of the momentary propaganda-driven popularity, knowledge and information resources are the most powerful people in the world.

The powerfulness is about the ability to change the perception smoothly and being in control of the narrative. The powerfulness is beyond the right and wrong things. It is all about the power to control the decision which sets and rests on the course of history. 

There are mainly four factors that define powerfulness that is economic power, impact, command and news-worthiness according to the current scenario. These most powerful people in the world have the power to change the life of the people living in this world. So, it is very important for everyone to know about the most powerful people in the world. So, in this article, we have ranked the 10 most powerful people in the world. 

Here is the list of the top 10 most powerful people in the world 2020:    

10. Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud

Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who was born on 31 August 1985 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is the 8th child and 7th son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. He completed his bachelor’s degree from King Saud University in law.

After completing his graduation from college, he has spent in the private sector for several years before becoming a personal aide to his father. Mohammed Bin Salman is currently serving as Saudi Arabia’s deputy prime minister and he is also Chairman of the Council for Economic and Development along with Chairman of the Council of Political and Security Affairs.

He is also a Minister of Defence and is the youngest in the world at the time of his appointment. In June 2017, he was appointed as the crown prince of Saudi Arabia following King Salman’s decision to remove Muhammad bin Nayef. 

9. Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist who is known for co-founding Facebook Inc. Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York on May 14, 1984, in the United States. He also serves as the chairman, chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of Facebook.

He is also a board member of the solar sail spacecraft development project Breakthrough Starshot which was co-founded by him. Mark Zuckerberg joined Harvard University and he launched the Facebook social networking service from his dormitory room with the help of his college roommates on February 4, 2004.

The site expanded rapidly and reached one billion users by 2012 but originally the site was launched to select college campuses. He took the company public with majority shares in May 2012. He became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 23 in 2007. As of March 2020, his net worth is estimated to be nearly $54.7 billion and he is also 9th most powerful people in the world.

8. Bill Gates

Bill Gates is an American business magnate, investor, software developer, and philanthropist who is the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. Gates also served as the chairman, chief executive officer, president and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation. He was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington of the United States.

Bill Gates is also considered as the best entrepreneur of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico which went to be the world’s largest personal computer software company. Bill has been included in the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people since 1987.

As reported by Forbes in March 2020, Bill Gates is the 2nd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $98 billion and it is obvious that the world’s richest man also ranks among the most powerful people in the world.

7. Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi is a politician of India who was born on 17 September 1950 in a Gujarati Hindu family who is serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India. He is a member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).

He is the first prime minister to win 2 consecutive elections with a full majority who is not from Indian National Congress and second after Atal Bihari Vajpayee to complete 5 years in office. Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party in the general election of 2014 in which his party got a majority in the lower house of parliament.

In his administration, he tried to improve efficiency in the bureaucracy, reduced spending on healthcare and social welfare programs and raise foreign direct investment in the Indian economy. He is one of the most admired leaders due to his excellent communication skill and strong decision making.      

6. Pope Francis

Pope Francis is sovereign of the Vatican City state and head of the Catholic Church who was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a provincial superior of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) of Argentina from 1973 to 1979. In 1998, he also became the archbishop of Buenos Aires and in 2001, he has created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. During the December 2001 riots in Argentina, he also led the Argentine Church.

Pope Francis became the 266th Pope by replacing Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 and leads the world’s largest religious group towards the betterment of this world. He is very proactive about interfaith harmony and war along with migration and climate change issues. He chose his papal name or pontifical name as Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.   

5. Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is an American industrialist, investor, and media proprietor who is known as the founder, CEO, and president of the online retail company Amazon. He was born on January 12, 1964, in Albuquerque and raised in Houston and later in Miami.

In 1986, Bezos graduated with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University. He worked in a variety of related fields on Wall Street from 1986 to early 1994. He founded Amazon in late 1994 on a road trip from New York to Seattle. At first, he began the company as an online bookstore and later he expanded to a wide variety of e-commerce products.

Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $113 billion according to the Forbes report in March 2020 and it is obvious that the richest man in the world is also one of the most powerful people in the world and he ranks in the 5th position in the list of the most powerful people in the world.

4. Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel is a German politician who was born in Hamburg, West Germany on 17 July 1954 and has been Chancellor of Germany from 2005. She also served as the Leader of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) from the year 2000 to 2018. She has been widely described all around the world as the most powerful woman in the world and the European Union’s de facto leader and some people also considered her as the “leader of the free world”. 

Angela Merkel was appointed as the first female Chancellor of Germany in the federal election in 2005 and her CDU party obtained the largest share of the vote at the 2009 federal election and formed a coalition government with the FDP (Free Democratic Party). She also won the federal election in 2017 and was sworn as Chancellor for the joint-record 4th term on 14 March 2018.

3. Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping is a politician of China and who was born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing, China. He has served the Chinese Communist Party as General Secretary and CMC (Central Military Commission) as Chairman since 2012 and the People’s Republic of China since 2013.

He studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University of Beijing from 1975 to 1979 as a “Worker-Peasant-Soldier student”. Xi Jinping has been the most prominent leader in China since 2012 and in 2016 he also officially received the title of “leadership core” from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Since 2007, he has been a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee.

He has been tagged as a dictator by various political observers and human rights activists. As he is the president of one of the most powerful countries, he also ranks among the most powerful people in the world. 

2. Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is a former KGB officer and politician of Russia who was born on 7 October 1952 in Saint Petersburg, Russia (then Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union). He has been serving as President of Russia since 2012. He studied at Leningrad State University in law and completed his graduation in 1975.

He has also served the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Secretary of the Security Council as Director before being appointed as Prime Minister of Russia in 1999. Vladimir Putin believes in the classic Russian superiority and he is transforming the Russian nationality and the economy successfully with absolute control.

Russia has experienced de-democratization under Putin’s Leadership. Russia has also scored poorly on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index and Freedom House’s Freedom in the World index.  

1. Donald Trump

Donald Trump is the current President of the United States of America who was born on June 14, 1946, in Queens, New York City. He is the 45th president of the US and he was a businessman and television personality before entering into politics.

In 1971, he took charge of the real-estate business of his family and renamed it as The Trump Organization and expanded the operation of the company from Queens and Brooklyn into Manhattan. Donald Trump’s scale, control and impact of power make him the most powerful people in the world. Despite being one of the most powerful people in the world, he is also the richest president of the United States until now.

During his presidency, he imposed import tariffs which result in a trade war with China, withdrew US troops from northern Syria and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and he also met with North Korean leader thrice and talks on denuclearization broke down back in 2019. 

Final Words

So that’s it for today’s article guys. We hope you have got enough information about the 10 most powerful people in the world. These people can change anyone’s life living in this world with their influence. Thanks for patiently reading our article and don’t forget to comment on your opinion about these people in the comment box down below. We are looking forward to knowing about your perspective on this topic.

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