List of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders
This list of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders is a list of the 50 current longest ruling heads of nation-states or national governments, who are not royalty, sorted by length of tenure.
The individuals on the list were not necessarily the most powerful figure in their country's national government throughout the listed timespan. Some of them have held more than one national leadership level office: presidency, prime ministership, or some other title implying or widely believed to confer national leadership. When more than one such office exists in a country, there may be uncertainty as to which member of the national government actually has the greatest power. This list combines all national leader level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual.
Rank | Name | Country | Office | Tenure Began | Length of Tenure |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Paul Biya | ![]() |
Prime Minister, then President | 30 June 1975 | 39 years, 17 days |
2. | Mohamed Abdelaziz | ![]() |
General Secretary and President | 30 August 1976 | 37 years, 321 days |
3. | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo | ![]() |
President[1] | 3 August 1979 | 34 years, 348 days |
4. | José Eduardo dos Santos | ![]() |
President | 10 September 1979 | 34 years, 310 days |
5. | Robert Mugabe | ![]() |
Prime Minister, then President | 18 April 1980 | 34 years, 90 days |
6. | Ali Khamenei | ![]() |
President, then Supreme Leader | 13 October 1981 | 32 years, 277 days |
7. | Hun Sen | ![]() |
Prime Minister[2] | 14 January 1985 | 29 years, 184 days |
8. | Yoweri Museveni | ![]() |
President | 29 January 1986 | 28 years, 169 days |
9. | Blaise Compaoré | ![]() |
President[3] | 15 October 1987 | 26 years, 275 days |
10. | Nursultan Nazarbayev | ![]() |
First Secretary, then President | 22 June 1989 | 25 years, 25 days |
11. | Islam Karimov | ![]() |
First Secretary, then President | 23 June 1989 | 25 years, 24 days |
12. | Omar al-Bashir | ![]() |
President[4] | 30 June 1989 | 25 years, 17 days |
13. | Idriss Déby | ![]() |
President[5] | 2 December 1990 | 23 years, 227 days |
14. | Isaias Afewerki | ![]() |
President[6] | 27 April 1991 | 23 years, 81 days |
15. | Emomalii Rahmon | ![]() |
President[7] | 19 November 1992 | 21 years, 240 days |
16. | Alexander Lukashenko | ![]() |
President | 20 July 1994 | 19 years, 362 days |
17. | Yahya Jammeh | ![]() |
President[8] | 22 July 1994 | 19 years, 360 days |
18. | Jean-Claude Juncker | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 20 January 1995 | 19 years, 178 days |
19. | Denzil Douglas | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 7 July 1995 | 19 years, 10 days |
20. | Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson | ![]() |
President | 1 August 1996 | 17 years, 350 days |
21. | Denis Sassou Nguesso | ![]() |
President[9] | 25 October 1997 | 16 years, 265 days |
22. | Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 23 November 1998 | 15 years, 236 days |
23. | Abdelaziz Bouteflika | ![]() |
President | 27 April 1999 | 15 years, 81 days |
24. | Ismaïl Omar Guelleh | ![]() |
President | 8 May 1999 | 15 years, 70 days |
25. | Vladimir Putin | ![]() |
President[10] | 9 August 1999 | 14 years, 342 days |
26. | Sam Hinds | ![]() |
Prime Minister[11] | 11 August 1999 | 14 years, 340 days |
27. | Oqil Oqilov | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 20 December 1999 | 14 years, 209 days |
28. | Paul Kagame | ![]() |
President | 24 March 2000 | 14 years, 115 days |
29. | Bashar al-Assad | ![]() |
President | 17 July 2000 | 14 years, 0 days |
30. | Joseph Kabila | ![]() |
President | 17 January 2001 | 13 years, 181 days |
31. | José Maria Neves | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 1 February 2001 | 13 years, 166 days |
32. | Ralph Gonsalves | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 29 March 2001 | 13 years, 110 days |
33. | Hamid Karzai | ![]() |
President[12] | 22 December 2001 | 12 years, 207 days |
34. | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 14 March 2003 | 11 years, 125 days |
35. | Filip Vujanović | ![]() |
President[13] | 22 May 2003 | 11 years, 56 days |
36. | Anote Tong | ![]() |
President | 10 July 2003 | 11 years, 7 days |
37. | Ilham Aliyev | ![]() |
Prime Minister, then President[14] | 4 August 2003 | 10 years, 347 days |
38. | Artur Rasizade | ![]() |
Prime Minister[15] | 6 August 2003 | 10 years, 345 days |
39. | Abdelkader Taleb Omar | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 29 October 2003 | 10 years, 261 days |
40. | Shavkat Mirziyoyev | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 11 December 2003 | 10 years, 218 days |
41. | Roosevelt Skerrit | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 8 January 2004 | 10 years, 190 days |
42. | Baldwin Spencer | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 24 March 2004 | 10 years, 115 days |
43. | Mahinda Rajapaksa | ![]() |
Prime Minister, then President[16] | 6 April 2004 | 10 years, 102 days |
44. | James Michel | ![]() |
President | 14 April 2004 | 10 years, 94 days |
45. | Manmohan Singh | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 22 May 2004 | 10 years, 56 days |
46. | Ivan Gašparovič | ![]() |
President[17] | 15 June 2004 | 10 years, 32 days |
47. | Heinz Fischer | ![]() |
President | 8 July 2004 | 10 years, 9 days |
48. | Lee Hsien Loong | ![]() |
Prime Minister | 12 August 2004 | 9 years, 339 days |
49. | Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono | ![]() |
President | 20 October 2004 | 9 years, 270 days |
50. | Traian Băsescu | ![]() |
President[18] | 20 December 2004 | 9 years, 209 days |
Footnotes
See also
- Current reigning monarchs by length of reign
- List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office
- List of longest ruling non-royal national leaders
External links
- Rulers.org List of rulers throughout time and places