There are certainly quite a lot of aged presidents and heads of state in several countries of the world. We have compiled a list of the oldest living presidents, heads of state or state leaders across the world.
This is a list of people currently serving as heads of state and/or government, president or ruler of an independent state or country. These are also current state leaders whose age are confirmed beyond reasonable doubt.
This list is restricted to people who are confirmed to be alive (at least within the last 3 years) and still in office. We hope to update this list at least on an annual basis with new information at our disposal.
Here we go!
Queen Elizabeth II – 95
Queen Elizabeth II has been the Queen of the United Kingdom and head of government since February 6, 1962 till date. Born in 1926 the Queen is currently aged 95 and was married to Prince Phillip (Duke of Edinburgh) who died in 2021.
Paul Biya – 88
Paul Biya is a dictator and President of Cameroon, a position he has occupied since November 1982! He has been in power for over 36 years. He is the longest serving non-royal (monarchial) leader in the world. Having run a one party system for decades, Biya reluctantly allowed multi party politics in the 1990s. However since then Biya has won every single election and most recently in 2018 won the Presidential election for another 7 years in office.
Michel Naim Aoun – 86
Michel serves as President of Lebanon since 31 October 2016. He was a former military officer who got appointed Prime Minister of a military government on 22 September 1988. After refusing to the newly elected Presidents Rene Moawad and Elias Hrawi he survived an assassination attempt on 12 October 1990.
He later fled into asylum in France, from Syrian forces, where he lived in exile for 15 years. In exile he founded the Free Patriotic Movement and later returned to Lebanon in 2005 after the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
He was elected to Parliament same year, with his party winning 21 seats thus forming the largest christian bloc and second largest bloc in parliament. In 2006 he signed a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah kickstarting a major alliance that has remained since.
After getting endorsements from Lebanese forces, Progressive socialist party and Hezbollah he became the 13th president of Lebanon in 2016.
Mahmoud Abbas – 85
Abbas, born 15 November 1935, is the President of the state of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority. He assumed office on 15 January 2005.
Abbas served as the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority from March to September 2003. Before that he led the PLO Negotiation Affairs department.
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – 85
Salman has been King of Saudi Arabia since 23 January 2015. He is the 25th son of King Abdulaziz. Before becoming King he was governor of Riyadh for 48 years from 1963 to 2011 and then became appointed Minister of Defence. He was named Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in 2012 and became King in 2015 upon the death of his half brother King Abdullah.
One of his notable achievements is the 2017 decree allowing Saudi women to drive.
Pope Francis – 84
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17th December 1936, Pope Francis is the head of the catholic church and sovereign leader of the Vatican city since 2013. He is the first to become Pope from the Americas.
He sits atop the Holy See – the universal government of the catholic church – from the Vatican city which itself is a sovereign, independent city state.
Harald V – 84
King Harald V is the king of Norway, he ascended the throne on 17 January 1991. As king he is the head of state of Norway (Norway is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system).
The King does not, by convention, have direct participation in government. He ratifies laws and royal resolutions, receives and sends envoys from and to foreign countries and hosts state visits. The King is also Supreme Commander of the Norwegian armed forces.
Cornelius A. Smith – 84
Cornelius is the Governor-General of the Bahamas. The Governor-General is a representative of the Bahamian monarchy (currently Queen Elizabeth II) and serves at the Queen’s pleasure (usually 5 years). Governor-Generals appoint the Prime Minister, as well as other government ministers after consultation with the Prime Minister.
Before becoming Governor-General, Cornelius was Ambassador to the United States, as well as Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the Organisation of American States.
Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah – 84
Al-Sabah is the Emir of Kuwait and Commander of the Kuwait military forces. The Emir is the country’s head of state, head of government and the country’s most powerful office. He became Emir on 30 September 2020 after his half brother Sabah Al Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah died.
Previously he was, at various times, Governor of Hawalli, Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior, Acting Minister of Labour, Deputy Chief of the Kuwait National Guard, Deputy Prime Minister.
Alpha Conde – 83
Alpha Conde is the current President of Guinea, a position he has held since December 2010. He became the first freely elected President of his country. In 2020 he won a presidential election for a controversial 3rd term in office amidst allegations of fraud.
This was after changing the constitution’s 2 term limit controversially to enable him extend his stay in power and run for another term.
** All ages are as of the time of publishing this article.
Recommended Read: Richest Kings in Africa – How Africa’s Wealthiest Monarchs Flaunt Their Wealth
