Forbes list of the World 's Most Powerful people - wikipedia Forbes list of the World 's Most Powerful people Since 2009, Forbes business magazine had compiled an annual list of the world 's most powerful people. The list has one slot for every 100 million people, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list and by 2018 there were 75. Slots are allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they have sway over, as well as their influence on world events. Contents 1 Historical Top Ten rankings 2 Listed seven or more times 2.1 Listed every time 2.2 Listed eight times 2.3 Listed seven times 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Historical Top Ten rankings Note : No list was released for 2017. 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018 Barack Obama President of the United States Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Barack Obama President of the United States Vladimir Putin President of Russia Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Barack Obama President of the United States Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Barack Obama President of the United States Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Donald Trump President - elect of the United States Vladimir Putin President of Russia Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Hu Jintao Presidents of China Vladimir Putin President of Russia Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Barack Obama President of the United States Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Donald Trump President of the United States Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve Vladimir Putin Prime Minister of Russia Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft Francis Pope of the Holy See Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany 5 Sergey Brin Larry Page Co-Founders of Google Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Francis Pope of the Holy See Jeff Bezos Chairman and CEO of Amazon 6 Carlos Slim Chief executive of Telmex Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King of Saudi Arabia Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve Francis Pope of the Holy See 7 Rupert Murdoch Chairman of News Corporation David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Benedict XVI Pope of the Holy See Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft Janet Yellen Chair of the Federal Reserve Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft 8 Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King of Saudi Arabia Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Larry Page Co-Founder of Google Mohammad bin Salman Al - Saud Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia 9 Abdullah of Saudi Arabia King of Saudi Arabia Sonia Gandhi President of the Indian National Congress Mark Zuckerberg Founder & CEO of Facebook Xi Jinping General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Mario Draghi President of the European Central Bank Sergey Brin Larry Page Co-Founders of Google Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India 10 Bill Gates Co-Chair of the Gates Foundation Founder of Microsoft David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Mike Duke Chief Executive of Walmart David Cameron Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Larry Page Co-Founder of Google Mark Zuckerberg Co-Founder of Facebook Larry Page Co-Founder of Google Listed seven or more times Listed every time Mukesh Ambani Lloyd Blankfein Michael Bloomberg Sergey Brin Warren Buffett Jamie Dimon Laurence D. Fink Bill Gates Li Ka - shing Ali Khamenei Angela Merkel Rupert Murdoch Benjamin Netanyahu Larry Page Vladimir Putin Carlos Slim Listed eight times Bernard Arnault ( not listed : 2016 ) Jeff Bezos ( not listed : 2009 ) Jeff Immelt ( not listed : 2018 ) Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( not listed : 2009 ) Charles Koch ( not listed : 2009 ) Robin Li ( not listed : 2009 ) Barack Obama ( not listed : 2018 ) Masayoshi Son ( not listed : 2009 ) Rex Tillerson ( not listed : 2018 ) Mark Zuckerberg ( not listed : 2009 ) Listed seven times Tim Cook ( not listed : 2009 & 2010 ) Mario Draghi ( not listed : 2009 & 2010 ) Xi Jinping ( not listed : 2009 & 2010 ) Christine Lagarde ( not listed : 2009 & 2010 ) Lakshmi Mittal ( not listed : 2016 & 2018 ) John Roberts ( not listed : 2010 & 2011 ) Akio Toyoda ( not listed : 2010 & 2011 ) See also Forbes list of The World 's 100 Most Powerful Women 40 under 40 ( Fortune magazine ) References Jump up ^ Michael Noer and Nicole Perlroth ( 11 November 2009 ). `` The World 's Most Powerful People ''. Forbes. Retrieved 2009 - 11 - 16. Jump up ^ Ewalt, David M. ( 4 November 2015 ). `` The World 's Most Powerful People 2015 ''. Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018. Jump up ^ Ewalt, David M. ( 14 December 2016 ). `` The World 's Most Powerful People 2016 ''. Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018. Jump up ^ Ewalt, David M. ( 8 May 2018 ). `` The World 's Most Powerful People 2018 ''. Forbes. Retrieved 10 May 2018. External links The World 's Most Powerful People, Forbes. Forbes magazine lists Companies Global 2000 Forbes 500 People General Celebrity 100 30 Under 30 China Celebrity 100 Fictional 15 Korea Power Celebrity World 's 100 Most Powerful Women World 's Most Powerful People Richest The World 's Billionaires Forbes 400 Forbes Asia Australia 's 50 Richest Places America 's Best Colleges Sports Highest - paid athletes Most valuable sports teams Most valuable football clubs Major League Soccer 's most valuable teams Technology Midas List ( Tech 's Top Deal Makers ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Forbes_list_of_The_World%27s_Most_Powerful_People&oldid=864657277 '' Categories : Forbes lists 21st century - related lists Top people lists Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español فارسی Français हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Latviešu 日本 語 Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Português ไทย Tiếng Việt 粵語 中文 7 more Edit links This page was last edited on 18 October 2018, at 16 : 43 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: who is the most powerful person in europe
Answer: Vladimir Putin