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  Cameroon Prime Minister, then President 30 June 1975 &1000000000000003600000036 years, &10000000000000259000000259 days
2. Mohamed Abdelaziz  Sahrawi Republic President and General Secretary 30 August 1976 &1000000000000003500000035 years, &10000000000000198000000198 days
3. Ali Abdullah Saleh  North Yemen/
 Yemen		 President 18 July 1978 &1000000000000003300000033 years, &10000000000000241000000241 days
4. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo  Equatorial Guinea President[1] 3 August 1979 &1000000000000003200000032 years, &10000000000000225000000225 days
5. José Eduardo dos Santos  Angola President 10 September 1979 &1000000000000003200000032 years, &10000000000000187000000187 days
6. Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe Prime Minister, then President 18 April 1980 &1000000000000003100000031 years, &10000000000000332000000332 days
7. Ali Khamenei  Iran President, then Supreme Leader 13 October 1981 &1000000000000003000000030 years, &10000000000000154000000154 days
8. Hun Sen PR Kampuchea/
 Cambodia		 Prime Minister[2] 14 January 1985 &1000000000000002700000027 years, &1000000000000006100000061 days
9. Yoweri Museveni  Uganda President 26 January 1986 &1000000000000002600000026 years, &1000000000000004900000049 days
10. Blaise Compaoré  Burkina Faso President 15 October 1987 &1000000000000002400000024 years, &10000000000000152000000152 days
11. Nursultan Nazarbayev  Kazakhstan First Secretary, then President 22 June 1989 &1000000000000002200000022 years, &10000000000000267000000267 days
12. Islam Karimov  Uzbekistan First Secretary, then President 23 June 1989 &1000000000000002200000022 years, &10000000000000266000000266 days
13. Omar al-Bashir  Sudan President[3] 30 June 1989 &1000000000000002200000022 years, &10000000000000259000000259 days
14. Idriss Déby  Chad President 2 December 1990 &1000000000000002100000021 years, &10000000000000104000000104 days
15. Meles Zenawi  Ethiopia Interim President, then Prime Minister 28 May 1991 &1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000292000000292 days
16. Emomalii Rahmon  Tajikistan President[4] 19 November 1992 &1000000000000001900000019 years, &10000000000000117000000117 days
17. Isaias Afewerki  Eritrea President 24 May 1993 &1000000000000001800000018 years, &10000000000000296000000296 days
18. Alexander Lukashenko  Belarus President 20 July 1994 &1000000000000001700000017 years, &10000000000000239000000239 days
19. Yahya Jammeh  Gambia President[5] 22 July 1994 &1000000000000001700000017 years, &10000000000000237000000237 days
20. Jean-Claude Juncker  Luxembourg Prime Minister 20 January 1995 &1000000000000001700000017 years, &1000000000000005500000055 days
21. Denzil Douglas  Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister 7 July 1995 &1000000000000001600000016 years, &10000000000000252000000252 days
22. Ólafur Ragnar Grimsson  Iceland President 1 August 1996 &1000000000000001500000015 years, &10000000000000227000000227 days
23. Denis Sassou Nguesso  Republic of the Congo President[6] 15 October 1997 &1000000000000001400000014 years, &10000000000000152000000152 days
24. Pakalitha Mosisili  Lesotho Prime Minister 29 May 1998 &1000000000000001300000013 years, &10000000000000291000000291 days
25. Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi  Samoa Prime Minister 23 November 1998 &1000000000000001300000013 years, &10000000000000113000000113 days
26. Hugo Chávez Frías  Venezuela President 2 February 1999 &1000000000000001300000013 years, &1000000000000004200000042 days
27. Abdelaziz Bouteflika  Algeria President 27 April 1999 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &10000000000000323000000323 days
28. Ismail Omar Guelleh  Djibouti President 8 May 1999 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &10000000000000312000000312 days
29. Vladimir Putin  Russia Prime Minister, then President
Currently Prime Minister		 9 August 1999 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &10000000000000219000000219 days
30. Sam Hinds  Guyana Prime Minister[7] 11 August 1999 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &10000000000000217000000217 days
31. Oqil Oqilov  Tajikistan Prime Minister 20 December 1999 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &1000000000000008600000086 days
32. Tarja Halonen  Finland President 1 March 2000 &1000000000000001200000012 years, &1000000000000001400000014 days
33. Paul Kagame  Rwanda President 24 March 2000 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000357000000357 days
34. Abdoulaye Wade  Senegal President 1 April 2000 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000349000000349 days
35. Bashar al-Assad  Syria President 17 July 2000 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000242000000242 days
36. Joseph Kabila  Democratic Republic of Congo President 17 January 2001 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &1000000000000005800000058 days
37. José Maria Neves  Cape Verde Prime Minister 1 February 2001 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &1000000000000004300000043 days
38. Dileita Mohamed Dileita  Djibouti Prime Minister 4 March 2001 &1000000000000001100000011 years, &1000000000000001100000011 days
39. Ralph Gonsalves  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister 29 March 2001 &1000000000000001000000010 years, &10000000000000352000000352 days
40. Girma Wolde-Giorgis  Ethiopia President 8 October 2001 &1000000000000001000000010 years, &10000000000000159000000159 days
41. Hamid Karzai  Afghanistan President[8] 22 December 2001 &1000000000000001000000010 years, &1000000000000008400000084 days
42. Georgi Parvanov  Bulgaria President 22 January 2002 &1000000000000001000000010 years, &1000000000000005300000053 days
43. Amadou Toumani Touré  Mali President[9] 8 June 2002 &100000000000000090000009 years, &10000000000000281000000281 days
44. Hu Jintao  People's Republic of China General Secretary and President[10] 15 November 2002 &100000000000000090000009 years, &10000000000000121000000121 days
45. Mwai Kibaki  Kenya President 30 December 2002 &100000000000000090000009 years, &1000000000000007600000076 days
46. Václav Klaus  Czech Republic President[11] 7 March 2003 &100000000000000090000009 years, &100000000000000080000008 days
47. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  Turkey Prime Minister 14 March 2003 &100000000000000090000009 years, &100000000000000010000001 day
48. François Bozizé  Central African Republic President 15 March 2003 &100000000000000090000009 years, &100000000000000000000000 days
49. Wen Jiabao  People's Republic of China Premier 16 March 2003 &100000000000000080000008 years, &10000000000000365000000365 days
50. George Maxwell Richards  Trinidad and Tobago President 17 March 2003 &100000000000000080000008 years, &10000000000000364000000364 days

Footnotes

  1. ^ was Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council / Supreme Military Council of Equatorial Guinea from August 3, 1979 to October 12, 1982
  2. ^ Was Prime Minister of the Vietnam-occupation People's Republic of Kampuchea from January 14, 1985 to May 1, 1989. Was also Prime Minister during the entire existence of the State of Cambodia from May 1, 1989 to September 24, 1993.
  3. ^ was Chairman of the Sudanese Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation from June 30, 1989 to October 16, 1993
  4. ^ was Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Speaker of Parliament) of Tajikistan – de facto head of state – from November 19, 1992 to November 16, 1994
  5. ^ was Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council of the Gambia from July 22, 1994 to September 28, 1996
  6. ^ previously was President from February 8, 1979 to August 31, 1992, when the country was known as the People's Republic of the Congo
  7. ^ Was Prime Minister of Guyana from October 9, 1992 to March 17, 1997 and December 22, 1997 to August 9, 1999; and Interim President from March 6, 1997 to December 19, 1997.
  8. ^ was Chairman of the Afghan Transitional Authority from December 22, 2001 to June 19, 2002
  9. ^ was previously Chairman of the Transitional Committee for the Salvation of the People of Mali from March 31, 1991 to June 8, 1992
  10. ^ Under the one-Party system, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China is a more important and powerful position than the Presidency of the People's Republic of China.
  11. ^ was previously Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from January 1, 1993 to December 17, 1997

See also

External links