United Nations Secretary-General

The **secretary-general of the United Nations** (**UNSG** or **UNSECGEN**) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six main parts of the United Nations.

## Background

The role of the secretary-general and of the secretariat is listed by Chapter XV (Articles 97 to 101) of the United Nations Charter. However, the office's qualifications, how they are picked and tenure are open to debate.

## List of secretaries-general

|scope=col rowspan=2||scope=col rowspan=2|Portrait|scope=col rowspan=2|Name|scope=col colspan=3|Term of office|scope=col rowspan=2|Country|scope="col" rowspan=2|UN Regional Group|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|***Acting***||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|24 October 1945|data-sort-type="date"|2 February 1946|||Western European and Others||||||
|**1**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|2 February 1946|data-sort-type="date"|10 November 1952|||Western European and Others||||||
|**2**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|10 April 1953|data-sort-type="date"|18 September 1961 †|||Western European and Others||||||
|***Acting***|rowspan="2"|||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|3 November 1961|data-sort-type="date"|30 November 1962||rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Asia-Pacific||||
|**3**|data-sort-type="date"|30 November 1962|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 1971||||||||
|**4**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 1972|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 1981|10 years||Western European and Others||||||
|**5**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 1982|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 1991|10 years||Latin American and Caribbean||||||
|**6**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 1992|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 1996|5 years||African||||||
|**7**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 1997|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 2006|10 years||African||||||
|**8**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 2007|data-sort-type="date"|31 December 2016|10 years||Asia-Pacific||||||
|**9**||||||||||||
|data-sort-type="date"|1 January 2017|data-sort-type="date"|_Incumbent_|||Western European and Others||||||

## Infobox (official post)

- **post**: Secretary-General
- **body**: the
- **insignia**: Emblem of the United Nations.svg
- **insigniacaption**: Flag of the United Nations#Design, Emblem of the United Nations
- **flag**: Flag of the United Nations.svg
- **flagcaption**: Flag of the United Nations
- **image**: António Guterres, 23.03.23.jpg
- **imagecaption**: António Guterres has been Secretary-General of the United Nations since January 2017
- **incumbent**: António Guterres
- **department**: United Nations Secretariat
- **style**: His Excellency
- **type**: Chief administrative officer
- **abbreviation**: UNSECGEN
- **member of**: United Nations Secretariat, Secretariat
United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly
- **residence**: York Avenue and Sutton Place, Sutton Place, New York City
- **seat**: United Nations Headquarters, New York City (Extraterritoriality, international territory)
- **nominator**: United Nations Security Council, Security Council
- **appointer**: United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly
- **termlength**: Five years, renewable
- **termlength qualified**: (traditionally limited to two terms)
- **constituting instrument**: United Nations Charter
- **precursor**: List of leaders of the League of Nations##Secretaries General, Secretary-General of the League of Nations
- **formation**: 24 October 1945
- **first**: Gladwyn Jebb
as acting _Secretary-General_
Trygve Lie
as first _Secretary-General_
- **deputy**: Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General
- **salary**: $ 227,253 per annum (2024)