Forbes World’s Most Powerful, Obama Drops, Dangote Amongst 2 Africans

via Business Insider

Lifestyle Magazine, the Forbes magazine, in its annual ranking of ‘The World’s Most Powerful People’, has released its list of the World’s Most Powerful people with the strong man of Russia, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, as the most powerful while United States President, Barack Obama dropped a step down to number 3 while Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel stepped ahead to number 2 as she is also the World’s most powerful woman.

Pope Francis, the Spiritual leader to a billion Catholics ranks fourth while China’s president Xi Jinping rounds up the top 5.

At 32, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (#46) was the youngest leader on the list as he has near absolute control over the lives of the 25 million people who live in his country, and is known to punish dissent with death while Facebook boss 31 year old Mark Zukerberg is the youngest person on the list and is on the top 20.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote and Abdel el Sisi, Egyptian President are the only Africans who made the list among other world leaders

Observers view Putin’s ranking could be traceable to Russia’s capacity to check the US threat to attack Syria.

The Russian President has been so ranked by the magazine for the third year in a row.

“Putin continues to prove he’s one of the few men in the world powerful enough to do what he wants,” Forbes noted.

The list has 73 people who are presidents, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. Nigeria’s billionaire businessman, Dangote, was listed in the 71st position.

“Forget the 1%. The men and women who are featured on Forbes’ annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People are the 0.00000001% – the global elite whose actions move the planet. These heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs truly run the world,” Forbes stated.

According to Forbes, to compile the list, “we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions. First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people.”

“Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. Are they relatively large compared to their peers? For heads of state we used GDP, while for CEOs, we looked at measures like their company’s assets and revenues. When candidates have a high personal net worth.”

Check the full list on Forbes Here