#1 Vladimir Putin

President, Russia

Age
Residence
Citizenship
Marital Status
Children
Education

63
Moscow, Russia
Russia
Divorced
2

Doctor of Jurisprudence, Saint Petersburg State University

Vladimir Putin on Forbes Lists
#1 Powerful People (2015)
#1 in 2014
Russia's president continues to prove he's one of the few men in the world
powerful enough to do what he wants --and get away with it. International
sanctions set in place after he seized Crimea and waged war-by-proxy in the
Ukraine have kneecapped the Ruble and driven Russia into deepening recession,
but haven't hurt Putin one bit: In June his approval ratings reached an alltime high of 89%. In October, he bombed ISIS forces in Syria and then met faceto-face with President Assad, making the U.S. and NATO look weak in the region,
and helping rebuild Russian influence abroad.

#2 Angela Merkel

Chancellor, Germany
Age
62

Residence

Berlin, Germany

Citizenship
Marital Status

Germany
Married

Education

Master of Science, Leipzig University; Doctorate, Leipzig University

Angela Merkel on Forbes Lists

#1 Power Women (2016)

#1 in 2015
#2 Powerful People (2015)
If there is a single leader able to defy existential economic and
political challenges to the European Union, from edges and core, it has
been German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her successes on the one hand to
convince ailing EU brethren such as Greece and Spain to aspire to German
fiscal and legal logic, and on the other hand to persuade Germany's own
constituents and political egos to buy in to her solutions, is illustrated
by a European Union that in 2016 remains standing. Merkel guided her
country through a recession with stimulus packages and subsidies for
companies that cut hours for workers, with Germany entering 2016 with a
budget surplus of 12.1 billion euros ($13.1 billion) and an AAA rating
from credit rating agencies. She used her power against ISIS, breaking the
post-Nazi-era taboo of direct involvement in military actions by sending
arms to Kurdish fighters. But her latest act may be the boldest. By
opening Germany's borders to over 1 million immigrants from Syria and
other Muslim countries in the last several years, Merkel has decided to
wield her power with the most curious of geopolitical strategies: sheer
humanism. The next vote for her office takes place in autumn 2017, and
polls indicate a weary constituency. Yet winning another term despite low
polls is, for Merkel, a proven trait.

#3 Barack Obama

President, United States

Age

54

Residence
Citizenship
Marital Status

Washington, DC
United States
Married

Children

2
Education
Bachelor of Arts / Science, Columbia University; Doctor of Jurisprudence,
Harvard University
Barack Obama on Forbes Lists

#3 Powerful People (2015)

#2 in 2014
#49 Celebrity 100 (2009)

There's no doubt that the United States remains the world's greatest economic,
cultural, diplomatic, technological and military power. But as Obama enters the
final year of his presidency, it's clear his influence is shrinking, and it's a
bigger struggle than ever to get things done. At home, his approval ratings are
perpetually stuck under 50%; abroad, he's outshined by Angela Merkel in Europe,
and outmaneuvered by Putin in the Middle East.

#4 Pope Francis

Bishop of Rome, Roman Catholic Church

Age

79

Residence
Citizenship

Vatican City, Vatican City State

Vatican City State

Pope Francis on Forbes Lists

#4 Powerful People (2015)

#4 in 2014

The spiritual leader to one-sixth of the world's population -- 1.2 billion

souls. Pope Francis has made it his mission to transform the longstanding
conservative image of the Catholic Church. The pontiff made a six-day visit to
the U.S. in September, addressing Congress and the United Nations and urging
actions on issues including climate change, immigration, and the persecution of
Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.He also visited
inmates in a Philadelphia jail and met with victims of sexual abuse, telling
those who were molested by priests he was "deeply sorry" for occasions where
their accounts were not believed. The first Jesuit and Latin American Bishop of
Rome preaches compassion for the poor and a greater role for women while
signaling the church to quiet its focus on "issues related to abortion, gay
marriage and the use of contraceptives."

#5 Xi Jinping

General Secretary, Communist Party, China

Age

63

Residence
Citizenship

Beijing, China
China

Marital Status
Children

Married

1
Education
Bachelor of Arts / Science, Tsinghua University; Doctor of Jurisprudence,
Tsinghua University
Xi Jinping on Forbes Lists

#5 Powerful People (2015)

#3 in 2014
Xi Jinping holds all three offices required to be China's paramount leader,
becoming what some have called the most powerful Chinese ruler since Mao
Zedong. Xi was quick to see the benefits of privatization-friendly reforms
and further signs of fresh thinking are everywhere. He has a surprisingly
assertive public profile, even allowing the state media to publish a day-inthe-life account of his workday. Xi has fought harder than his predecessors
against corruption and in favor of greater economic and security alliances.
Xi has been a strong proponent of Chinese investment abroad. He met with
leaders in the U.S. and U.K. in October in a trip that brought about an
estimated $46 billion in trade and investment deals, and heads to Vietnam and
Singapore in November.

#6 Bill Gates

Real Time Net Worth As of 7/30/16

$77.7 Billion
Cofounder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Age
60

Source Of Wealth
Self-Made Score

Microsoft, Self Made

8

Residence

Medina, WA

Citizenship

United States

Marital Status

Married

Children

Education

Drop Out, Harvard University

Bill Gates on Forbes Lists

The Richest Person In Every State (2016)

2015

#1 Billionaires (2016)
#1 in United States

The Richest Person In Americas 50 Largest Cities (2016)

#6 Powerful People (2015)

#1 Forbes 400 (2015)

#1 Richest In Tech (2015)

Bill Gates has built a reputation as a serious thinker about the world's
problems and has steered the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to tackle knotty
issues like improving health care and the use of vaccines in developing
countries. In December 2015, at the United Nations climate talks in Paris,
Gates raised his profile on the global stage when he announced the formation of
the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of more than 20 billionaires who
have agreed to invest in innovative clean energy. "Our primary goal with the
coalition is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a
profit," Gates said at the time. Gates recruited the likes of Mark Zuckerberg,
Chinese e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, and Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest
man, to join the coalition. Gates owns roughly 2.5% of Microsoft, which
accounts for just under 15% of his fortune. Some of his other investments
include stakes in Canadian National Railway, Deere & Co., waste collection
outfit Republic Services and hygiene and water technology firm Ecolab. In
October 2015, Gates reportedly invested in Impossible Foods, a startup that is
creating plant-based foods that taste like meat but use fewer resources to
produce.

#7 Janet Yellen

Chair, Federal Reserve, Washington, United States

Age
69

Residence
Citizenship
Marital Status

Washington, DC
United States

Children

Married

1
Education
Bachelor of Arts / Science, Brown University; Doctorate, Yale University
Janet Yellen on Forbes Lists

#3 Power Women (2016)

#4 in 2015

#7 Powerful People (2015)

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has become known for steadiness, not
inscrutability: She indicated throughout 2015 that she would raise interest
rates, and last December, for the first time since June 2006, interest rates
rose. Reminding markets again in late May that the Fed's job is to suppress
unemployment and inflation, she stated, simply, that rates may rise again in
July. Performing neither as wizard nor innovator, instead Yellen asserts her
power by way of plain sentences and easy logic -- making it easy to forget that
the Yale- and Brown-educated economist is the world's top market-mover.

#8 David Cameron

Prime Minister, United Kingdom

Age
49

Residence
Citizenship
Marital Status

London, United Kingdom

United Kingdom
Married

Children

Education

Master of Science, Oxford University

David Cameron on Forbes Lists

#8 Powerful People (2015)

#10 in 2014
The U.K. prime minister held onto his spot at 10 Downing Street this year,
winning reelection in May. He now presides over the country's only conservative
majority government in 23 years. The Conservative leader is fond of Twitter he has 834,000 followers - and selfies, most famously the shot with Barack
Obama and then Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt during Nelson Mandela's
memorial service in 2013.

#9 Narendra Modi

Prime Minister, India

Age
65

Residence
Citizenship

New Delhi, India

India

Marital Status

Separated

Education

Master of Arts, Gujarat University; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Delhi

University
Narendra Modi on Forbes Lists

#9 Powerful People (2015)

#15 in 2014
India's populist PM presided over 7.4% GDP growth in his first year in office,
and raised his profile as a global leader during official visits with Barack
Obama and Xi Jinping. A barnstorming tour of Silicon Valley reinforced his
nation's massive importance in tech. But governing 1.2 billion people requires
more than shaking hands: Now Modi must pass his party's reform agenda and keep
fractious opposition under control.

#10 Larry Page

Real Time Net Worth As of 7/30/16

$38.4 Billion
CEO, Google
Age
43

Source Of Wealth
Self-Made Score

Google, Self Made

8

Residence
Citizenship
Marital Status

Palo Alto, CA
United States
Married

Children

Education

Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of Michigan; Master of Science,

Stanford University
Larry Page on Forbes Lists

Global Game Changers (2016)

#12 Billionaires (2016)

#9 in United States

#10 Powerful People (2015)

#10 Forbes 400 (2015)

#5 Richest In Tech (2015)

Larry Page is now CEO of Alphabet, a new publicly traded parent company that
includes Google, the Google X lab, and businesses such as Calico, Nest and
Fiber. In August 2015, he handed over his Google CEO post to the search giant's
product czar, Sundar Pichai. Alphabet stock hit an all-time high in December
2015, and it surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company after posting
strong quarterly earnings in February 2016. Page cofounded Google in 1998 with
fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin and was its first CEO until 2001.
After serving as president of products, he took the helm again in 2011. A clean
energy advocate, Page's network of houses in Palo Alto uses fuel cells,
geothermal energy and rainwater capture.