List of heads of state by diplomatic precedence

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.

Commonwealth realms, other than the United Kingdom, each have a governor-general to represent the monarch. 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 monarch in right of the realm. The princes of Andorra each have a representative as well. 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, mostly in monarchies; in some nations, the Pope (himself a monarchical head of state) ranks above secular heads of state, especially in Roman Catholic countries.

Contents

States recognised by the United Nations

Current

Title Name Assumed office Country
King Bhumibol Adulyadej 9 June 1946  Thailand
Queen Elizabeth II 6 February 1952  Australia
Queen  Canada
Queen  New Zealand
Queen  United Kingdom
Queen 6 August 1962  Jamaica
Queen 30 November 1966  Barbados
Sultan Qaboos 23 July 1970  Oman
Queen Margrethe II 14 January 1972  Denmark
Queen Elizabeth II 10 July 1973  Bahamas
King Carl XVI Gustaf 15 September 1973  Sweden
Queen Elizabeth II 7 February 1974  Grenada
Queen 16 September 1975  Papua New Guinea
King Juan Carlos 22 November 1975  Spain
Queen Elizabeth II 7 July 1978  Solomon Islands
President Ali Abdullah Saleh 18 July 1978  Yemen
Queen Elizabeth II 1 October 1978  Tuvalu
Queen 22 February 1979  Saint Lucia
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo 3 August 1979  Equatorial Guinea
President José Eduardo dos Santos 10 September 1979  Angola
Queen Elizabeth II 27 October 1979  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Queen Beatrix 30 April 1980  Netherlands
Queen Elizabeth II 21 September 1981  Belize
Queen 1 November 1981  Antigua and Barbuda
President Paul Biya 6 November 1982  Cameroon
Queen Elizabeth II 19 September 1983  Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah 1 January 1984  Brunei
President Yoweri Museveni 26 January 1986  Uganda
King Mswati III 25 April 1986  Swaziland
President Blaise Compaoré 15 October 1987  Burkina Faso
President Robert Mugabe 31 December 1987  Zimbabwe
Emperor Akihito 7 January 1989  Japan
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 4 June 1989  Iran[1][2]
President Omar al-Bashir 30 June 1989  Sudan
Prince Hans-Adam II 13 November 1989  Liechtenstein[3][4]
President Idriss Déby 2 December 1990  Chad
King Harald V 17 January 1991  Norway[5]
President Nursultan Nazarbayev 25 December 1991  Kazakhstan
President Islam Karimov 25 December 1991  Uzbekistan
President Emomalii Rahmon 20 November 1992  Tajikistan
President Isaias Afewerki 24 May 1993  Eritrea
Representative Nemesi Marqués Oste 3 June 1993  Andorra
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  Gambia
Emir Hamad ibn Khalifa 27 June 1995  Qatar
Governor-General Sir Cuthbert Sebastian 1 January 1996  Saint Kitts and Nevis
King Letsie III 7 February 1996  Lesotho
President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson 1 August 1996  Iceland
Governor-General Dame Pearlette Louisy 17 September 1997  Saint Lucia
President Denis Sassou Nguesso 25 October 1997  Congo-Brazzaville
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong-nam 5 September 1998  North Korea[6]
President Hugo Chávez 2 February 1999[7]  Venezuela
King Abdullah II 7 February 1999  Jordan
King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah 6 March 1999  Bahrain
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika 27 April 1999  Algeria
President Ismail Omar Guelleh 8 May 1999  Djibouti
King Muhammad VI 23 July 1999  Morocco
President Tarja Halonen 1 March 2000  Finland
President Paul Kagame 24 March 2000  Rwanda
President Abdoulaye Wade 1 April 2000  Senegal
President Bashar al-Assad 17 July 2000  Syria
Grand Duke Henri 7 October 2000  Luxembourg[8]
President Joseph Kabila 26 January 2001  Congo-Kinshasa
President Girma Wolde-Giorgis 8 October 2001  Ethiopia
President Hamid Karzai 22 December 2001  Afghanistan[9]
President Georgi Parvanov 22 January 2002  Bulgaria
President Amadou Toumani Touré 8 June 2002  Mali
Governor-General Sir Frederick Ballantyne 2 September 2002  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
President Mwai Kibaki 30 December 2002  Kenya
President Václav Klaus 7 March 2003  Czech Republic
President François Bozizé 15 March 2003  Central African Republic
President Hu Jintao 15 March 2003  China
President George Maxwell Richards 17 March 2003  Trinidad and Tobago
Co-Prince Joan Enric Vives Sicília 12 May 2003  Andorra
President Anote Tong 10 July 2003  Kiribati
President Nicholas Liverpool 2 October 2003  Dominica
President Sir Anerood Jugnauth 7 October 2003  Mauritius
President Ilham Aliyev 31 October 2003  Azerbaijan
President James Michel 14 April 2004  Seychelles
President Bingu wa Mutharika 24 May 2004  Malawi
President Ivan Gašparovič 15 June 2004  Slovakia
President Heinz Fischer 8 July 2004  Austria
Prince-Regent Alois 15 August 2004  Liechtenstein[4]
President Leonel Fernández 16 August 2004  Dominican Republic
King Norodom Sihamoni 14 October 2004  Cambodia
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 20 October 2004  Indonesia
President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan 3 November 2004  United Arab Emirates
President Traian Băsescu 20 December 2004  Romania[10]
President Armando Guebuza 2 February 2005  Mozambique
President Karolos Papoulias 12 March 2005  Greece
President Hifikepunye Pohamba 21 March 2005  Namibia
President Mahmoud Abbas 15 January 2005  Palestine
Prince Albert II 6 April 2005  Monaco[11]
President Jalal Talabani 7 April 2005  Iraq
Pope Benedict XVI 19 April 2005  Vatican City[12]
President Faure Gnassingbé 4 May 2005  Togo
King Abdullah 1 August 2005  Saudi Arabia
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 5 August 2005  Iran[2]
President Pierre Nkurunziza 26 August 2005  Burundi
President Mahinda Rajapaksa 19 November 2005  Sri Lanka
President Jakaya Kikwete 21 December 2005  Tanzania
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 16 January 2006  Liberia
President Evo Morales 22 January 2006  Bolivia
Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 29 January 2006  Kuwait
President Aníbal Cavaco Silva 9 March 2006  Portugal
President Yayi Boni 6 April 2006  Benin
President Giorgio Napolitano 15 May 2006  Italy
President Filip Vujanović 3 June 2006  Montenegro
President Boris Tadić 3 June 2006  Serbia
President Choummaly Sayasone 8 June 2006  Laos
King George Tupou V 11 September 2006  Tonga
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves 9 October 2006  Estonia
President Felipe Calderón 1 December 2006  Mexico
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck 15 December 2006  Bhutan
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow 21 December 2006  Turkmenistan
President Daniel Ortega 10 January 2007  Nicaragua
President Rafael Correa 15 January 2007  Ecuador
President Manny Mori 11 May 2007  FS Micronesia
President Nicolas Sarkozy 16 May 2007  France
Co-Prince Nicolas Sarkozy 16 May 2007  Andorra
President José Ramos-Horta 20 May 2007  East Timor[13]
O le Ao o le Malo Tufuga Efi 11 May 2007  Samoa
President Shimon Peres 15 July 2007  Israel
Governor-General Dame Louise Lake-Tack 17 June 2007  Antigua and Barbuda
President Bamir Topi 23 July 2007  Albania
President Pratibha Patil 25 July 2007  India
President Abdullah Gül 28 August 2007  Turkey
President Ernest Bai Koroma 17 September 2007  Sierra Leone
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner 10 December 2007  Argentina
President Danilo Türk 23 December 2007  Slovenia
President Álvaro Colom 14 January 2008  Guatemala
President Mikheil Saakashvili 20 January 2008  Georgia
President Raúl Castro 24 February 2008  Cuba[14]
President Lee Myung-bak 25 February 2008  South Korea
President Dimitris Christofias 29 February 2008  Cyprus
President Ian Khama 1 April 2008  Botswana
President Serzh Sargsyan 9 April 2008  Armenia
President Dmitry Medvedev 7 May 2008  Russia
President Michel Suleiman 25 May 2008  Lebanon
President Ram Baran Yadav 23 July 2008  Nepal
President Fernando Lugo 15 August 2008  Paraguay
Governor-General Quentin Bryce 5 September 2008  Australia
President Asif Ali Zardari 9 September 2008  Pakistan
Representative Christian Frémont 24 September 2008  Andorra
President Mohamed Nasheed 11 November 2008  Maldives
Governor-General Sir Carlyle Glean 27 November 2008  Grenada
President John Atta Mills 7 January 2009  Ghana
President Johnson Toribiong 15 January 2009  Palau
President Barack Obama 20 January 2009  United States
President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed 31 January 2009  Somalia
President Zillur Rahman 12 February 2009  Bangladesh
Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen 26 February 2009  Jamaica
President of the High Authority of Transition Andry Rajoelina 17 March 2009  Madagascar
President George Abela 4 April 2009  Malta
President Jacob Zuma 9 May 2009  South Africa
President Gjorge Ivanov 12 May 2009  Macedonia
President Mauricio Funes 1 June 2009  El Salvador
President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj 18 June 2009  Mongolia
President Ricardo Martinelli 1 July 2009  Panama
Governor General Sir Frank Kabui 7 July 2009  Solomon Islands
President Dalia Grybauskaitė 12 July 2009  Lithuania
President Epeli Nailatikau 30 July 2009  Fiji[15]
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz 5 August 2009  Mauritania
President Iolu Abil 2 September 2009  Vanuatu
President Malam Bacai Sanhá 8 September 2009  Guinea-Bissau
President Ali Bongo Ondimba 16 October 2009  Gabon
President Jurelang Zedkaia 2 November 2009  Marshall Islands
President Porfirio Lobo Sosa 27 January 2010  Honduras
President Ivo Josipović 18 February 2010  Croatia
President Viktor Yanukovych 25 February 2010  Ukraine
President José Mujica 1 March 2010  Uruguay
President Sebastián Piñera 11 March 2010  Chile
Governor-General Sir Arthur Foulkes 14 April 2010  Bahamas
Governor-General Sir Iakoba Italeli 16 April 2010  Tuvalu
President Goodluck Jonathan 6 May 2010  Nigeria[16]
President Laura Chinchilla 8 May 2010  Costa Rica
President Benigno Aquino 30 June 2010  Philippines
President Christian Wulff 30 June 2010  Germany
President Pál Schmitt 6 August 2010  Hungary
President Bronisław Komorowski 6 August 2010  Poland
President Juan Manuel Santos 7 August 2010  Colombia
President Dési Bouterse 12 August 2010  Suriname
Governor General David Johnston 1 October 2010  Canada
Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio 20 December 2010  Papua New Guinea
President Alpha Condé 21 December 2010  Guinea
Acting President Marian Lupu 30 December 2010  Moldova
President Dilma Rousseff 1 January 2011  Brazil
Acting President Mohamed Hussein Tantawi 11 February 2011  Egypt
President Thein Sein 30 March 2011  Myanmar
President Mahamadou Issoufou 7 April 2011  Niger
President Alassane Ouattara 11 April 2011  Ivory Coast
President Michel Martelly 14 May 2011  Haiti
President Ikililou Dhoinine 26 May 2011  Comoros
President Andris Bērziņš 8 July 2011  Latvia
President Salva Kiir Mayardit 9 July 2011  South Sudan
Chairman of the Presidency Željko Komšić 10 July 2011  Bosnia and Herzegovina[17]
President Trương Tấn Sang 25 July 2011  Vietnam
President Ollanta Humala 28 July 2011  Peru
Chairperson of the National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdul Jalil 23 August 2011  Libya
Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae 31 August 2011  New Zealand
President Tony Tan Keng Yam 1 September 2011  Singapore
President Manuel Pinto da Costa 3 September 2011  São Tomé and Príncipe
President Jorge Carlos Fonseca 9 September 2011  Cape Verde
President Michael Sata 23 September 2011  Zambia
Captains Regent Gabriele Gatti 1 October 2011  San Marino
Matteo Fiorini
Acting Governor-General Elliot Belgrave 1 November 2011  Barbados
President Michael D. Higgins 11 November 2011  Ireland
President Sprent Dabwido 15 November 2011  Nauru
President Almazbek Atambayev 1 December 2011  Kyrgyzstan
President Donald Ramotar 3 December 2011  Guyana
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdul Halim 13 December 2011  Malaysia
President Moncef Marzouki 13 December 2011  Tunisia
President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf 1 January 2012  Switzerland[18]

Future

Title Name Assuming office Country
Acting President-designate Amado Boudou 4 January 2012  Argentina
President-elect Otto Pérez Molina 14 January 2012  Guatemala
President-elect Rosen Plevneliev 22 January 2012  Bulgaria
President-designate Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi February 2012  Yemen

Non-UN member states

Current

Title Name Assumed office Country
President Mohamed Abdelaziz 30 August 1976  Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
President Mahmoud Abbas 15 January 2005  State of Palestine
President Bako Sahakyan 7 September 2007  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
President Ma Ying-jeou 20 May 2008  Republic of China
President Derviş Eroğlu 23 April 2010  Northern Cyprus
President Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo 27 July 2010  Somaliland
President Atifete Jahjaga 7 April 2011  Kosovo
President Alexander Ankvab 29 May 2011  Abkhazia
Acting President Vadim Brovtsev 10 December 2011  South Ossetia
President Yevgeny Shevchuk 30 December 2011  Transnistria

Future

Title Name Assuming office Country

See also

References

  1. ^ Ali Khamenei was previously President of Iran from 2 October 1981 – 4 June 1989.
  2. ^ a b The President and Supreme Leader of Iran share head of state powers.
  3. ^ Hans-Adam II was previously Prince-Regent from 26 August 1984 – 13 November 1989.
  4. ^ a b Alois has been Prince-Regent for Hans-Adam II since 15 August 2004.
  5. ^ Harald V was previously Prince-Regent from 1 June 1990 – 17 January 1991, while Haakon was Prince-Regent from 25 November 2003 – 13 April 2004 and 29 March 2005 – 7 June 2005.
  6. ^ The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea share head of state powers while the deceased Kim Il-sung is recognised in the constitution as the Eternal President.
  7. ^ Pedro Carmona was Acting President from 12 April 2002 – 13 April 2002 and Diosdado Cabello was Acting President from 13 April 2002 – 14 April 2002.
  8. ^ Henri was previously Prince-Regent from 3 March 1998 – 7 October 2000.
  9. ^ Karzai was the Acting President until 7 December 2004.
  10. ^ Nicolae Vacaroiu was Acting President from 20 April 2007 – 23 May 2007.
  11. ^ Albert II was previously Prince-Regent from 31 March 2005 – 6 April 2005.
  12. ^ It is the Holy See and not the Vatican City state that maintains diplomatic relations with states and participates in international organisations. The Holy See and the Vatican City state are two separate and distinct entities. Foreign embassies are accredited to the Holy See, not to the Vatican City state, and it is the Holy See that establishes treaties and concordats with other sovereign entities. Also it is the Holy See that has United Nations Observer status not the Vatican City state.
  13. ^ Vicente Guterres was Acting President from 11 February 2008 – 13 February 2008 and Fernando de Araújo was Acting President from 13 February 2008 – 17 April 2008.
  14. ^ Raúl Castro was previously Acting President from 31 July 2006 – 24 February 2008.
  15. ^ Epeli Nailatikau was acting president from 30 July to 5 November 2009.
  16. ^ Goodluck Jonathan was previously acting president from 9 February 2010.
  17. ^ The three-member Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the head of state collectively, with the chairmanship rotating every eight months.
  18. ^ The seven-member Swiss Federal Council is the head of state collectively, with the presidency rotating every year.