Not all world leaders are made equal, and although in theory each should be able to wield extraordinary power, they don’t all enjoy extraordinary wealth.
For example, Jose Mujica, the president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, lived in a small home and gave away 90 % of his salary.
However, as modest as President Mujica’s lifestyle might have been, the opulence of the world’s wealthiest state leaders is just as extreme.
Express.co.uk takes you through the planet’s richest world leaders, and some of them might surprise you.
William Ruto
Coming in at ten is the President of Kenya, William Ruto. The leader of the east African country is worth a staggering £315m, although his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta was worth even more, an eyewatering £395m.
His wealth chiefly comes from real estate, including major hotels in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Mara.
Cyril Ramaphosa
The South Arican President has a net worth of £355m. However, that figure was estimated by Forbes in 2015, so the true net worth of the leader of the African National Congress may be far higher.
He earns an annual salary of £137,000, but reportedly gives half of that to charity.
Paul Kagame
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame is the third African leader to make the top ten. Kagame has been in power in the small east African country since 2000 and is reportedly worth £395m.
Kagame led the RPF rebel militia during the Rwandan civil war, overthrowing the Hutu authorities and ending the genocide in the country.
Despite the country’s rocky past, Rwanda is growing at a rapid rate. According to the World Bank, the first half of 2024 saw growth of 9.7 %.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The Turkish president since 2014 is up there with the best known faces on this list. Erdogan was the former mayor of Istanbul, before becoming Turkey’s prime minister and then president.
Despite the weakness of the Lira – the country’s ailing currency – Erdogan is personally well off.
He is reportedly worth £395m, although some place his wealth in the billions.
Ilham Aliyev
Prime Minister Aliyev is the leader of Azerbaijan, a small country is Turkey’s sphere of influence. The Aliyev family has not been shy about flaunting its wealth.
In 2010, his then-12-year-old son Heydar is said to have purchased nine waterfront properties in Dubai for a combined £50m in today’s money.
Aliyev himself is said to be worth around £395m, although like with many of these leaders the true figure may be higher.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
Africa’s richest leader, is President Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Mbasogo took power in a coup in 1979, ousting his uncle.
Mbasogo’s wealth can largely be attributed to the fact that he’s the leader of an oil-rich state and Forbes’ most recent estimate of his fortune is £473m.
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad is the only leader on this no longer in power. Nevertheless, the recently deposed tyrant of Syria had a net wealth of £1.2bn.
Videos and images shared from his compound following the fall of his regime showed a vast luxury car collection, and the ex-despot was said to have owned up to 70 percent of Syria’s assets along with his friends.
Now, however, his net wealth will be sizeably smaller. The precise figure remains unknown.
Xi Jinping
The leader of the Chinese Communist Party’s total wealth is hard to estimate with the same accuracy as other world leaders, due to the paucity of trustworthy information coming out of China.
However, many estimates are that the Chinese leader, who has ruled the second most populous state on earth since 2013, is worth around £1.2bn.
Despite his £17,000-a-year salary, President Xi reportedly had a £264m in shares in property investment firm Shenzhen Yuanwei.
Kim Jong-un
The leader of North Korea may be easy to lampoon, but his fortune can’t be sniffed at. At around £3.9bn, the third-generation dictator is one of the world’s richest leaders.
However, similarly to Xi Jinping, due to the authoritarianism of the North Korean state, it’s hard to know exactly what Kim is worth.
US and South Korean officials have previously found bank accounts held in China, Austria, Luxembourg, Russia, and Switzerland.
Vladimir Putin
Although precise figures in the list are hard to come by, there’s little doubt that the world’s richest leader is Vladimir Putin.
Former Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder, a long-time Russia expert, told the US Senate Judiciary Committee under oath that Putin’s total wealth was around £158bn.
That would make him one of the richest peoeple on the planet.
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