There are nearly 7.4 billion humans on planet Earth, but these 74 men and women make the world turn. Forbes’ annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People identifies one person out of every 100 million whose actions mean the most.
Africa’s richest person and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has been named along other world leaders such as Russian President, Vladimir Putin; American President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump; and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, as the most powerful persons in the world.
To compile the list, FORBES considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions. First, it was asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people. Pope Francis, ranked #5, is the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics. Doug McMillon (#27), is the CEO of the world’s largest private employer, Wal-Mart Stores WMT -0.14%, with more than 2.3 million workers around the globe.
The business mogul has constantly featured on the list since 2013 when he was listed as the only black African among 100 most powerful persons on the planet.
View the full list of The World’s Most Powerful People
Listed as number 71 ahead of Trump, Dangote moved up the ladder of influential people as he was named as the 68th most powerful in the world for this year, coming only after the Egyptian President, Abdel el-Sisi, who was adjudged the most powerful in Africa and 44th in the world.
Forbes, in the latest edition of its 74 World Most Powerful People released at the weekend, listed the 64-year-old Putin as the most powerful in the world, ahead of Trump.
While Merkel was ranked as the third most powerful person in the world, out-going American President, Barack Obama, placed 48th on the list.
The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, is the fifth most powerful person, while the world’s richest person, Bill Gates, comes seventh. Chinese President, Xi Jinping comes before the Pope in number four, while the Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is the number 10 most powerful person in the world.
Forbes reports that there are nearly 7.4 billion people on planet earth, but that the listed 74 men and women make the world turn.
As of 2013, Dangote was the only African listed among the most powerful people in the world before the Egyptian President recently featured on the list.