World's Most Powerful People

1.  Barrack Obama

 

• President, United States of America
• Age: 50
• Residence: Washington, DC
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 2

Sure, his jobs bill was gutted, his debt-ceiling negotiating was derided and his popularity has plummeted, endangering his reelection, but Obama regains his position as the most powerful person on the planet this year. Why? Despite faddish American declinism, the U.S. remains, indisputably, the most powerful nation in the world, with the largest, most innovative economy and the deadliest military. Plus, Obama's only legitimate rival for the title, last year's number one, Chinese President Hu Jintao, is diminishing in influence as he gives up political office.
2011 Highlight: Took out the world's deadliest terrorist in May.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 20: U.S. President Barack Obama attends a bilateral meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the United Nations General Assembly September 20, 2011 in New York City. The 66th session of United Nations General Assembly kicks off September 21, with leaders from around the world attending.

2.  Vladimir Putin

 

• Prime Minister, Russia
• Age: 59
• Residence: Moscow, Russia
• Country of Citizenship: Russia
• Marital Status: Married

Loyal lapdog Dmitry Medvedev recently announced he will not be seeking reelection as Russian president, setting up his mentor, Putin, for the job some would argue he never really gave up. Assuming that he serves 2 more terms, the increasingly autocratic Putin will be in office until 2024. Take that, Stalin!
2011 Highlight: Push for new Eurasian economic union of Russia and several former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine, by 2015.

3.  Hu Jintao

 

• President, People's Republic of China
• Age: 68
• Residence: Beijing, China
• Country of Citizenship: China
• Marital Status: Married

Hu currently holds all 3 offices required to be considered China's Paramount Leader: Communist Party General Secretary, President and Commander in Chief. But as part of a well-orchestrated succession plan, he will gradually give up his titles over the next few years, starting with the most important one-- General Secretary--next year. His presumed successor, Xi ­Jinping, will assume the ­pres­i­den­cy a year later.
2011 Lowlight: In a rare display of independence, Chinese media exposed government cover-up of a deadly bullet train crash in July.

4.   Angela Merkel

• Chancellor, Germany
• Age: 57
• Residence: Berlin, Germany
• Country of Citizenship: Germany
• Marital Status: Married

The world's most powerful woman heads Europe's most vibrant economy and is widely viewed as the de facto leader of the EU. A recent poll in France showed that the French have more faith in Germany's leader (46%) than in their own president, Nicolas Sarkozy (33%). Germany must take bolder measures toward resolving the euro zone debt crisis, despite the political risks to Merkel's ruling coalition. Half-­measures will not do.
2011 Lowlight: Refused to ­support NATO air strikes in Libya.

5.  Bill Gates

 

• Age: 56
• Source of Wealth: Microsoft, self-made
• Residence: Medina, WA
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Drop Out, Harvard University
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 3

First part of mission accomplished: Bill Gates, the most generous person on the planet (he's given away $28 billion already), has helped ­eradicate polio in India. In January the country announced its first polio-free year. Gates will continue to chip in $200 million a year to rid the world of a disease that is still endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. His Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is also spearheading a malaria vaccine that is showing promise in ­clinical trials. Meanwhile the vaccine-spreading organization he founded, called GAVI, raised $4.3 billion in pledges aimed at distributing drugs to thwart the deadly infections that cause meningitis, pneumonia, and diarrhea in developing countries. He also has a new endeavor in the works: fixing agriculture. His foundation has committed more than $2 billion to small farmers. Less than one-fourth of his net worth is still held in Microsoft, whose shares are trading higher than they have been in 10 years; the rest is in private equity, bonds and stocks such as Ecolab and Mexican broadcaster Televisa. 

6.  Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud 

• King, Saudi Arabia
• Age: 87
• Residence: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Country of Citizenship: Saudi Arabia
• Marital Status: Married

One of the world's few remaining absolute monarchs, King Abdullah has continued to pursue an agenda of moderate reform in the desert kingdom that contains 20% of the world's known oil reserves and Islam's 2 holiest sites. Recently granted women the right to vote in local elections and has consistently nudged the nation's educational system out from under clerical control. Yet al Saud is no liberal: He opposed the Arab Spring, spending more than $130 billion on social projects designed to quell any domestic pro-democracy movement.
2011 Lowlight: His younger brother, Crown Prince Sultan, died in October. Half-brother Prince Naif is the likely successor.

7.  Pope Benedict XVI

 

• Pope, Roman Catholic Church
• Age: 84
• Residence: Vatican City, Vatican City State
• Country of Citizenship: Germany
• Marital Status: Single

The spiritual leader to one-sixth of the world's population--1.2 billion souls--delivers the final word on matters of abortion, gay marriage, female priests and, most recently, Occupy Wall Street. In October the Vatican called for a supranational authority to oversee the global economy: "To function correctly the economy needs ethics, and not just of any kind but one that is people-centered."
2011 Lowlight: Two victim groups asked the International Criminal Court to ­investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI for covering up instances of sexual abuse. 

8.   Ben bernanke

 Chairman of the Federal Reserve, United States of America

• Age: 57
• Residence: Washington, DC
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 2

After 2 rounds of quantitative easing, the last of which injected some $600 billion into the U.S. economy, Bernanke is not ruling out QE3, yet another round of money creation. Most recently Bernanke has launched Operation Twist, an attempt to drive long-term interest rates even lower by manipulating the Fed's $1.7 trillion portfolio of U.S. government debt.
2011 Lowlight: All of the GOP presidential candidates have vowed that they will fire Bernanke if elected. 

 

9.  Mark Zukerbeg

• Founder, Facebook
• Age: 27
• Source of Wealth: Facebook, self-made
• Residence: Palo Alto, CA
• Country of Citizenship: United States
• Education: Drop Out, Harvard University
• Marital Status: In Relationship

There have been plenty of imitators: Andy Samberg, Jesse Eisenberg, Google+. But there is only one Mark Zuckerberg and one Facebook. The interest in both reached fever pitch in early February when Facebook filed paperwork to go public and analysts predicted a $100 billion valuation. Don't let the hoodie and sandals fool you: Zuckerberg has ­secured majority ­voting control of the company by getting fellow billionaires like Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker to let him vote their shares. The IPO is expected to be a hot ticket, but until it happens FORBES is sticking with a more conservative value for the Facebook chief's stake.

10.  David Cameron

• Prime Minister, United Kingdom
• Age: 45
• Residence: London, United Kingdom
• Country of Citizenship: United Kingdom
• Marital Status: Married

 Once hailed as the second coming of Margaret Thatcher, the British P.M. now serves as the U.K.'s punching bag. Cameron faces a splintering coalition and rebellion from within as Conservatives balk at his refusal to withdraw from or renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU. Even there, he has few friends. "You have lost a good opportunity to shut up," France's Nicolas Sarkozy recently sneered at Cameron when he insisted on attending a meeting on the euro crisis. "We are sick of you criticizing us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro, and now you want to interfere in our meetings."
2011 Lowlight: Phone-hacking scandal engulfs Cameron, who had hired former News of the World editor Andrew Coulson, now a criminal suspect, even after revelations of the tabloid's snooping began emerging.

sumber :Forbes.com