Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the 10 most powerful people in the world, according to Forbes. Modi was ranked ninth on the list, and is ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May and Apple chief Tim Cook, who did not make it to the top 10.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping is at the top spot for the first time. Xi has pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held the top spot for four consecutive years, to second rank. United States President Donald Trump occupies the third spot.
The others in the top 10 list are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud. There are 17 new names on the list this year.
Forbes’ annual ranking of The World’s Most Powerful People identifies one person out of every 100 million. While compiling the rankings, Forbes took into account four things. First, it asked if the candidate has power over a large number of people. Then, it assessed the financial resources controlled by the candidate; next, if the candidate is powerful in more than one sphere. Lastly, it checks that the candidate actively used their power.
“To calculate the final rankings, a panel of Forbes editors ranked all of our candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score,” said Forbes. “This year’s list comes at a time of rapid and profound change, and represents our best guess about who will matter in the year to come.”
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