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International protocol holds that a head of state takes precedence over all other officials, and that heads of state rank in the order that they took office. The following list contains the heads of state for all United Nations member states and non-member observer states. (Entities conducting official diplomatic relations with other states excluded from this list are: the Republic of China (Taiwan), the State of Palestine and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.)
The King of Thailand holds the distinction of being the longest-serving head of state and consequently precedes all dignitaries in the world.
Queen Elizabeth II is represented in each of her Commonwealth Realms by a Governor-General. Governors-General are not heads of state, but are frequently accorded the status and privileges of a head of state at diplomatic events when considered to represent the British Monarch. They are included in the list and are highlighted in blue.
However, in many cases it is not this 'neutral' principle but national rules of protocol that are acted upon, usually by an international event's host nation, as in many bilateral and even certain multilateral occasions. Various international organisations have a system for internal use. Even in the presence of one or more heads of state, certain occasions are governed by specific protocol, e.g. military. Thus in many cases precedence is given to Monarchs over republican Heads of State (especially in monarchies); in some (especially Catholic) nations His Holiness the Pope (himself a head of state) ranks above secular heads of state.
| Title |
Name |
Head of State since |
Country |
| King |
Bhumibol Adulyadej |
9 June 1946 |
 Thailand |
| Queen |
Elizabeth II |
6 February 1952 |
 Antigua and Barbuda,  Australia,  The Bahamas,  Barbados,  Belize,  Canada,  Grenada,  Jamaica,  New Zealand,  Papua New Guinea,  Saint Kitts and Nevis,  Saint Lucia,  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,  Solomon Islands,  Tuvalu,  United Kingdom |
| O le Ao o le Malo |
Malietoa Tanumafili II |
5 April 1963 |
 Samoa |
| Sultan |
Sir Hassanal Bolkiah |
4 October 1967 |
 Brunei |
| President |
Omar Bongo |
28 November 1967 |
 Gabon |
| Sultan |
Qaboos ibn Sa’id |
23 July 1970 |
 Oman |
| Queen |
Margrethe II |
14 January 1972 |
 Denmark |
| King |
Carl XVI Gustaf |
15 September 1973 |
 Sweden |
| King |
Juan Carlos I |
22 November 1975 |
 Spain |
| President |
Fidel Castro |
3 December 1976 |
 Cuba |
| President |
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom |
11 November 1978 |
 Maldives |
| President |
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo |
3 August 1979 |
 Equatorial Guinea |
| President |
José Eduardo dos Santos |
10 September 1979 |
 Angola |
| Queen |
Beatrix |
30 April 1980 |
 Netherlands |
| President |
Hosni Mubarak |
14 October 1981 |
 Egypt |
| President |
Paul Biya |
6 November 1982 |
 Cameroon |
| President |
Lansana Conté |
3 April 1984 |
 Guinea |
| President |
Yoweri Museveni |
26 January 1986 |
 Uganda |
| King |
Mswati III |
25 April 1986 |
 Swaziland |
| President |
Blaise Compaoré |
15 October 1987 |
 Burkina Faso |
| President |
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali |
7 November 1987 |
 Tunisia |
| President |
Robert Mugabe |
31 December 1987 |
 Zimbabwe |
| Emperor |
Akihito |
7 January 1989 |
 Japan |
| Supreme Leader |
Ali Khamenei |
4 June 1989 |
 Iran |
| President |
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir |
30 June 1989 |
 Sudan |
| Prince |
Hans-Adam II |
13 November 1989 |
 Liechtenstein |
| President |
Islom Karimov |
24 March 1990 |
 Uzbekistan |
| President |
Nursultan Nazarbayev |
24 April 1990 |
 Kazakhstan |
| President |
Ali Abdullah Saleh |
22 May 1990 |
 Yemen |
| President |
Idriss Déby Itno |
2 December 1990 |
 Chad |
| King |
Harald V |
17 January 1991 |
 Norway |
| Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council |
Than Shwe |
23 April 1992 |
 Myanmar |
| General secretary of the General People's Congress |
Zentani Muhammad az-Zentani |
18 November 1992 |
 Libya |
| President |
Emomali Rahmonov |
20 November 1992 |
 Tajikistan |
| President |
Isaias Afewerki |
24 May 1993 |
 Eritrea |
| Governor-General |
Sir James Carlisle |
10 June 1993 |
Antigua and Barbuda |
| King |
Albert II |
9 August 1993 |
 Belgium |
| Governor-General |
Sir Colville Young |
17 November 1993 |
Belize |
| President |
Alexander Lukashenko |
20 July 1994 |
 Belarus |
| President |
Yahya Jammeh |
22 July 1994 |
 The Gambia |
| President |
Jacques Chirac |
17 May 1995 |
 France (also Co-Prince of  Andorra) |
| Emir |
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani |
27 June 1995 |
 Qatar |
| Governor-General |
Sir Cuthbert Sebastian |
1 January 1996 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| King (and Paramount chief) |
Letsie III |
7 February 1996 |
 Lesotho |
| Governor-General |
Sir Clifford Husbands |
1 June 1996 |
Barbados |
| President |
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson |
1 August 1996 |
 Iceland |
| Governor-General |
Sir Daniel Williams |
8 August 1996 |
Grenada |
| Governor-General |
Dame Pearlette Louisy |
17 September 1997 |
Saint Lucia |
| President |
Denis Sassou Nguesso |
25 October 1997 |
 Republic of the Congo |
| President |
Mary McAleese |
11 November 1997 |
 Ireland |
| President |
Robert Kocharian |
4 February 1998 |
 Armenia |
| President |
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah |
10 March 1998 |
 Sierra Leone |
| President |
Festus Mogae |
1 April 1998 |
 Botswana |
| Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly |
Kim Yongnam[1] |
5 September 1998 |
 North Korea |
| President |
Émile Lahoud |
24 November 1998 |
 Lebanon |
| President |
Hugo Chávez |
2 February 1999 |
 Venezuela |
| King |
Abdullah II |
7 February 1999 |
 Jordan |
| President |
Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
27 April 1999 |
 Algeria |
| President |
Ismail Omar Guelleh |
8 May 1999 |
 Djibouti |
| President |
Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ |
29 May 1999 |
 Nigeria |
| President |
Thabo Mbeki |
16 June 1999 |
 South Africa |
| President |
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga |
8 July 1999 |
 Latvia |
| King |
Mohammed VI |
23 July 1999 |
 Morocco |
| President |
Bharrat Jagdeo |
11 August 1999 |
 Guyana |
| President |
S.R. Nathan |
1 September 1999 |
 Singapore |
| President |
Tandja Mamadou |
22 December 1999 |
 Niger |
| President |
Vladimir Putin |
31 December 1999 |
 Russia |
| President |
Kessai Note |
10 January 2000 |
 Marshall Islands |
| President |
Stipe Mesić |
18 February 2000 |
 Croatia |
| President |
Tarja Halonen |
1 March 2000 |
 Finland |
| President |
Paul Kagame |
24 March 2000 |
 Rwanda |
| President |
Abdoulaye Wade |
1 April 2000 |
 Senegal |
| President |
Ahmet Necdet Sezer |
16 May 2000 |
 Turkey |
| President |
Bashar al-Assad |
17 July 2000 |
 Syria |
| President |
Ratu Josefa Iloilo |
18 July 2000 |
 Fiji |
| President |
Moshe Katsav |
1 August 2000 |
 Israel |
| President |
Ronald Venetiaan |
12 August 2000 |
 Suriname |
| Grand Duke |
Henri |
7 October 2000 |
 Luxembourg |
| President |
Laurent Gbagbo |
26 October 2000 |
 Côte d'Ivoire |
| President |
Tommy Remengesau |
1 January 2001 |
 Palau |
| President |
John Kufuor |
7 January 2001 |
 Ghana |
| President |
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo |
20 January 2001 |
 Philippines |
| President |
George W. Bush |
20 January 2001 |
 United States |
| President |
Joseph Kabila |
26 January 2001 |
 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| President |
Pedro Pires |
22 March 2001 |
 Cape Verde |
| President |
Vladimir Voronin |
7 April 2001 |
 Moldova |
| King |
Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva |
4 June 2001 |
 Nepal |
| President |
Pervez Musharraf |
20 June 2001 |
 Pakistan |
| President |
Fradique de Menezes |
3 September 2001 |
 São Tomé and Príncipe |
| President |
Girma Wolde-Giorgis |
8 October 2001 |
 Ethiopia |
| President |
Hamid Karzai |
22 December 2001 |
 Afghanistan |
| President |
Levy Mwanawasa |
2 January 2002 |
 Zambia |
| President |
Georgi Parvanov |
22 January 2002 |
 Bulgaria |
| King |
Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah |
14 February 2002 |
 Bahrain |
| President |
Marc Ravalomanana |
22 February 2002 |
 Madagascar |
| President |
Xanana Gusmão |
20 May 2002 |
 East Timor |
| President |
Amadou Toumani Touré |
8 June 2002 |
 Mali |
| President |
Alfred Moisiu |
24 July 2002 |
 Albania |
| President |
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam |
25 July 2002 |
 India |
| President |
Álvaro Uribe Vélez |
7 August 2002 |
 Colombia |
| Governor-General |
Sir Frederick Ballantyne |
2 September 2002 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| President |
Iajuddin Ahmed |
6 September 2002 |
 Bangladesh |
| President |
Janez Drnovšek |
22 December 2002 |
 Slovenia |
| President |
Mwai Kibaki |
30 December 2002 |
 Kenya |
| President |
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |
1 January 2003 |
 Brazil |
| President |
Roh Moo Hyun |
25 February 2003 |
 South Korea |
| President |
Tassos Papadopoulos |
28 February 2003 |
 Cyprus |
| President |
Václav Klaus |
7 March 2003 |
 Czech Republic |
| President |
François Bozizé |
15 March 2003 |
 Central African Republic |
| President |
Hu Jintao |
15 March 2003 |
 People's Republic of China |
| President |
George Maxwell Richards |
17 March 2003 |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
| President |
Joseph J. Urusemal |
11 May 2003 |
 Federated States of Micronesia |
| Co-Prince |
Joan Enric Vives Sicília |
12 May 2003 |
Andorra |
| President |
Néstor Kirchner |
25 May 2003 |
 Argentina |
| President |
Anote Tong |
10 July 2003 |
 Kiribati |
| Governor-General |
Michael Jeffery |
11 August 2003 |
Australia |
| President |
Nicanor Duarte Frutos |
15 August 2003 |
 Paraguay |
| President |
Nicholas Liverpool |
2 October 2003 |
 Dominica |
| President |
Sir Anerood Jugnauth |
7 October 2003 |
 Mauritius |
| President |
Ilham Aliyev |
31 October 2003 |
 Azerbaijan |
| President |
Óscar Berger Perdomo |
14 January 2004 |
 Guatemala |
| President |
Mikheil Saakashvili |
25 January 2004 |
 Georgia |
| President |
Eddie Fenech Adami |
4 April 2004 |
 Malta |
| President |
James Michel |
14 April 2004 |
 Seychelles |
| President |
Branko Crvenkovski |
12 May 2004 |
 Republic of Macedonia |
| President |
Bingu wa Mutharika |
24 May 2004 |
 Malawi |
| President |
Antonio Saca |
1 June 2004 |
 El Salvador |
| President |
Ivan Gašparovič |
15 June 2004 |
 Slovakia |
| President |
Ludwig Scotty |
22 June 2004 |
 Nauru |
| Governor-General |
Sir Paulias Matane |
29 June 2004 |
Papua New Guinea |
| President |
Horst Köhler |
1 July 2004 |
 Germany |
| Governor-General |
Sir Nathaniel Waena |
7 July 2004 |
Solomon Islands |
| President |
Heinz Fischer |
8 July 2004 |
 Austria |
| President |
Boris Tadić |
11 July 2004 |
 Serbia |
| President |
Valdas Adamkus |
12 July 2004 |
 Lithuania |
| President |
Leonel Fernández |
16 August 2004 |
 Dominican Republic |
| President |
Kalkot Mataskelekele |
16 August 2004 |
 Vanuatu |
| President |
Martín Torrijos |
1 September 2004 |
 Panama |
| King |
Norodom Sihamoni |
14 October 2004 |
 Cambodia |
| President |
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed |
14 October 2004 |
 Somalia |
| President |
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono |
20 October 2004 |
 Indonesia |
| President |
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan |
3 November 2004 |
 United Arab Emirates |
| President |
Traian Băsescu |
20 December 2004 |
 Romania |
| President |
Viktor Yushchenko |
23 January 2005 |
 Ukraine |
| President |
Armando Guebuza |
2 February 2005 |
 Mozambique |
| President |
Tabaré Vázquez |
1 March 2005 |
 Uruguay |
| President |
Karolos Papoulias |
12 March 2005 |
 Greece |
| President |
Hifikepunye Pohamba |
21 March 2005 |
 Namibia |
| President |
Kurmanbek Bakiyev |
25 March 2005 |
 Kyrgyzstan |
| Prince |
Albert II |
6 April 2005 |
 Monaco |
| President |
Jalal Talabani |
7 April 2005 |
 Iraq |
| Governor-General |
Filoimea Telito |
15 April 2005 |
Tuvalu |
| Sovereign Pontiff |
Benedict XVI |
19 April 2005 |
 Vatican City |
| President |
Faure Gnassingbé |
4 May 2005 |
 Togo |
| President |
Nambaryn Enkhbayar |
24 June 2005 |
 Mongolia |
| King |
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz |
1 August 2005 |
 Saudi Arabia |
| President |
Ely Ould Mohamed Vall |
3 August 2005 |
 Mauritania |
| President |
László Sólyom |
5 August 2005 |
 Hungary |
| President |
Pierre Nkurunziza |
26 August 2005 |
 Burundi |
| Governor General |
Michaëlle Jean |
27 September 2005 |
Canada |
| President |
João Bernardo Vieira |
1 October 2005 |
 Guinea-Bissau |
| President |
Mahinda Rajapaksa |
19 November 2005 |
 Sri Lanka |
| President |
Jakaya Kikwete |
21 December 2005 |
 Tanzania |
| President |
Lech Kaczyński |
23 December 2005 |
 Poland |
| President |
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf |
16 January 2006 |
 Liberia |
| President |
Evo Morales |
22 January 2006 |
 Bolivia |
| President |
Manuel Zelaya |
27 January 2006 |
 Honduras |
| Emir |
Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah |
29 January 2006 |
 Kuwait |
| Governor-General |
Arthur Dion Hanna |
1 February 2006 |
The Bahamas |
| Governor-General |
Kenneth Hall |
15 February 2006 |
Jamaica |
| President |
Aníbal Cavaco Silva |
9 March 2006 |
 Portugal |
| President |
Michelle Bachelet |
11 March 2006 |
 Chile |
| President |
Yayi Boni |
6 April 2006 |
 Benin |
| President |
Óscar Arias Sánchez |
8 May 2006 |
 Costa Rica |
| President |
René Préval |
14 May 2006 |
 Haiti |
| President |
Giorgio Napolitano |
15 May 2006 |
 Italy |
| President |
Ahmed Abdallah Sambi |
26 May 2006 |
 Comoros |
| President |
Filip Vujanović |
3 June 2006 |
 Montenegro |
| President |
Choummaly Sayasone |
8 June 2006 |
 Laos |
| President |
Nguyễn Minh Triết |
27 June 2006 |
 Vietnam |
| President |
Alan García |
28 July 2006 |
 Peru |
| Governor-General |
Anand Satyanand |
23 August 2006 |
New Zealand |
| King |
George Tupou V |
11 September 2006 |
 Tonga |
| Captains-Regent |
Antonio Carattoni |
1 October 2006 |
 San Marino |
| Roberto Giorgetti |
| President |
Toomas Hendrik Ilves |
9 October 2006 |
 Estonia |
| Presidency[2] |
Nebojša Radmanović |
6 November 2006 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Haris Silajdžić |
| Željko Komšić |
| President |
Felipe Calderón |
1 December 2006 |
 Mexico |
| Paramount ruler (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) |
Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin |
13 December 2006 |
 Malaysia |
| King |
Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck |
15 December 2006 |
 Bhutan |
| President |
Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow |
21 December 2006 |
 Turkmenistan |
| President |
Micheline Calmy-Rey |
1 January 2007 |
 Switzerland |
| President |
Daniel Ortega |
10 January 2007 |
 Nicaragua |
| President |
Rafael Correa |
15 January 2007 |
 Ecuador |
[edit] References
