World's 10 Most Powerful People in 2018

The world has been controlled by powerful elite and aristocratic leaders who have been making key decisions in the development of the countries and international institutions; the global system depends upon these individuals and hence makes them the world’s powerful individuals.

The new world order has made private individuals more powerful rendering centralized systems redundant. In this prevalent system there are ten most powerful people, who rule the roost.

Xi Jin Ping

Xi jin ping is the most powerful person on the planet since the 2016 declaration by the the Communist Party of China (CPC) officially giving him the title of "core leader" . As General Secretary, Xi holds an ex-officio seat on the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China's top decision-making body. Political analysts have termed Xi  jin ping the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. Xi has notably departed from the collective leadership practices of his post-Mao predecessors, centralizing his power and creating working groups with himself at the head in order to subvert government bureaucracy, making himself unmistakably the central figure of the new administration.

One belt one road (OBOR)  master plan under his leadership which aims to connect the entire Eurasia and Asia pacific makes him the most powerful man on earth influencing most part of the world, filling in the vacuum left by the US.

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is serving as President of Russia since 2012, previously holding the position from 2000 until 2008.In May 2014, following the annexation of Crimea, Putin's approval rating rebounded to 85.9%, a six-year high making him the most powerful leader of post s-soviet era and modern day Russia.

Observers see Putin's high approval ratings as a consequence of significant improvements in living standards, and Russia's reassertion of itself on the world scene during his presidency. His recent adventure in Syria, flexing military muscles and threatening American hegemony over the world has made him the second most powerful man.

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump falls to the No. 3 spot. The US president is under investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, and can't shake off scandals arising from his personal and business life raising the threats of him being impeached –but he's still Commander in Chief of the world's greatest economic and military power. The republican majority in the congress has allowed the President to sail through some major laws promised in his election campaign.

Angela Merkel

Merkel was elected as Germany's first female chancellor following 2005 success in the federal election. Successive success In the 2009 and 2013 federal election, Merkel's CDU has been claiming landslide victories.

Angela Merkel has been widely acknowledged as the de facto leader of the European Union throughout her tenure as Chancellor. Merkel has twice been named the world's second most powerful person following Vladimir Putin by Forbes magazine, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman. Since the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency in November 2016, Merkel was described by The New York Times as "the Liberal West's Last Defender". 

Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Bezos is an American entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known as the , chairman, and CEO of  Amazon. On July 27, 2017, he became the world's wealthiest person when his estimated net worth increased to just over $90 billion. His wealth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 24, he was formally designated the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes on March 6, 2018 with a net worth of $112 billion. The first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index, he was designated the "wealthiest person in modern history" after his net worth increased to $150 billion in July 2018.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis is current Pope and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis is pope from outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III, who reigned in the 8th century. Pope Francis leads most of Christian world which is the largest practicing religion in the world.

Bill Gates

William Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of Microsoft Corporation. In 2016, President Barack Obama honored Bill and Melinda Gates were honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama for their philanthropic efforts.

Mohammad bin Salman 

Muhammad Bin Salman is the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He is serving as the country's  minister of defense – the world's youngest at the time of his appointment. The young prince is considered to be the power behind the throne of King Salman as the king suffers from Alzheimer's disease. The young prince has vowed to transform the Kingdom by economic and political reforms. However, his military purchases from US have made him the darling prince in Washington. His recent military campaigns in Yemen has made him the most powerful person in the Middle East and earned him an image of strongman.

Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi is elected as the prime minister of India in 2014. Modi, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is a Hindu nationalist and member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

On October 3, 2018, PM Modi received UN's highest environmental award, the 'Champions of the Earth award', for his “pioneering work in championing” the International Solar Alliance and “new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action”.

Lawrence Edward Page

Lawrence Edward is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin. Page is the chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. (Google's parent company). Under Page, Alphabet is seeking to deliver major advancements in a variety of industries.

Page is the twelfth-richest person in the world hitherto according to Forbes in 2018 with a net worth of $53.4 billion.