Top 10 Most Powerful People

The World’s 10 Most Powerful People

World's Most Powerful People · Forbes 400 Richest Americans · The World's Billionaires · World's ... Browse The List .




 1. Michael Duke

 Duke heads the world's No. 1 retailer ($470 billion in 2012) and biggest private employer (2.2 million employees). Wal-Mart can make or break a company simply by deciding to stock its product. Last year Sweden's $785 billion in assets sovereign wealth fund (none bigger) dropped its Wal-Mart stock – reportedly worth about $140 billion -- on advice from its Ethical Council that cited a "serious and systematic abuse of workers' rights."

2. Mario Draghi

Saudi Arabia's aging monarch holds the keys to two of Islam's holiest mosques and the world's second largest crude oil deposit of 265 billion barrels, amounting to 20% of the world's reserves. The Kingdom boasts a $727 billion GDP, putting it in the top 20 richest countries worldwide. But with 12% of nationals without a job, including 25% of its under 25s, the king has pushed $130 billion at unemployment funds and housing projects in recent years. 

3. Vladimir Putin

Who’s more powerful: the omnipotent head of a corroding but still feisty power or the handcuffed head of the most dominant country in the world? This year’s snapshot of power puts the Russian President on top. Putin has solidified his control over Russia (“dictator” is not longer an outlandish word to ponder) and the global stage. Anyone watching the chess match over Syria has a clear idea of the shift in the power towards Putin. The ex-KGB strongman--who controls a nuclear-tipped army, a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves—is allowed to serve two more terms, which could keep him office until 2024. 

4. Barack Obama

His signature legislation, Obamacare, is under fire, U.S. allies are outraged over NSA surveillance overseas and the government shutdown for 16 days in October begs the question: who's in control here? It appears that President Obama's lame duck period has set in earlier than usual for a two-term president, causing him to drop one notch from the No. 1 spot. To be sure, though, the leader of the free world remains in charge of the the most powerful nation in the world.

5. Xi Jinping

REUTERS/Edgar Su

Recently promoted in March, the 60-year-old is the paramount political and military leader of China. Xi exercises near dictatorial control over 1.3 billion people (close to 20% of the world's population). China has the largest central bank, with $3.5 trillion in assets -- and owns some $1.3 trillion in U.S. securities, making it the largest shareholder of U.S. debt. Along with India, the country is predicted to overtake the U.S. in aggregate GDP in coming decades; it is currently $8.2 trillion.

6. Pope Francis

REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

The March election of Pope Francis has injected new energy into the world’s largest religion with 1.2 billion followers around the world. The first Jesuit and Latin American Vicar of Christ preaches compassion for the poor and a greater role for women while signaled the church to quiet its focus on “only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptives.




 
7. Angela Merkel

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

 
The world's most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Merkel's hard-line austerity prescription for easing the European debt crisis has been challenged by both hard-hit southern countries and the more affluent north, most particularly French President Francois Hollande. Merkel is fresh off a commanding reelection victory, and has served as ¬chancellor since 2005; the first woman in the position.Merkel has earned the top spot on the FORBES list of Most Powerful Women In The World for eight of the past 10 years. 

8. Bill Gates

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

 
Gates is the wealthiest man in the U.S., despite his past gifts of more than $28 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He bolstered his foundation's efforts to eradicate polio in April, securing $335 million in pledges to the cause from six billionaire comrades, including $100 million each from Mexico's Carlos Slim and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Shares of Microsoft jumped in late August on news that Steve Ballmer will step down as CEO; Gates will remain chairman of the software company he cofounded with Paul Allen in 1975. He and fellow Most Powerful Warren Buffett have thus far convinced over 100 billionaires to sign on to the Giving Pledge, a promise to donate at least half one's net worth to charity. 

9. Ben Bernanke

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Big Ben is stepping down as of January 31, 2014, and Janet Yellen has been nominated to lead the Fed next year. Bernanke has served as chairman during some of the biggest financial challenges since the Depression. The former Princeton professor’s decisive actions and policies helped to avert a global economic meltdown during late 2000s fiscal crisis, and jump-started a still-moderate U.S. recovery. The American economy's "adult in the room" has said that there is only so much the Fed can do; politicians are the ones with the power to keep us from going over a fiscal cliff. 

10. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

 
Saudi Arabia's aging monarch holds the keys to two of Islam's holiest mosques and the world's second largest crude oil deposit of 265 billion barrels, amounting to 20% of the world's reserves. The Kingdom boasts a $727 billion GDP, putting it in the top 20 richest countries worldwide. But with 12% of nationals without a job, including 25% of its under 25s, the king has pushed $130 billion at unemployment funds and housing projects in recent years. 

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