The richest world leaders

Leadership is often accompanied by huge commitments, one of which is the responsibility of being the guardian of state resources and the fundamental welfare of the nation. Although their salaries aren't that much, the majority of world leaders have amassed substantial wealth via their roles as elected politicians, absolute popularity, or figureheads. Many of the world's wealthiest leaders are monarchs, and some of them come from oil-producing countries. Watch this video until the very end to know about the eye-opening net worth of the world's wealthiest leaders.

13. Lee Hsien Loong – $51 million

Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, gets a salary of $1.6 million a year, making him the world's highest-paid leader in terms of income. According to USA Today, his pay is so exorbitant that it is 20 times the country's GDP per capita and 12 times the salary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, making him the richest person in the world. He also serves as the chairman of GIC Private Limited, a sovereign wealth fund with estimated assets under the control of around $488 billion. According to Forbes, this man is reported to be worth 51 million Singapore dollars or 39 million USD.

12. Cyril Ramaphosa – at least $450 million

According to USA Today, Cyril Ramaphosa receives a yearly salary of around $200,000 for his work as President of South Africa—more than 20 times the average family income of his country's citizens, which is $10,872. South Africa has lately seen an increase in civil unrest due to high unemployment and a stagnant economy. The government replied by proposing compensation reductions for members of Parliament, although the country's 2019 budget actually saw Ramaphosa's salary raise. To prevent a conflict of interest, he stood down as chairman of investment firm Shanduka Group in 2015. He finalized the sale of his stock in the company a year later. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $450 million in 2015.

11. Paul Kagame – $500 million

Paul Kagame has been the President of Rwanda since 2000 when he led rebel troops to bring an end to the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in the deaths of more than a million people. Kagame has played a crucial role in the economic recovery of the African nation, earning it the nickname "Singapore of Africa." However, his intolerance for criticism has been matched by his intolerance for dissent in other African countries. Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front are said to be dominating the country's economy via a holding company called Crystal Ventures, which controls assets worth $500 million, including everything from private planes to the country's largest milk processor, according to a 2012 investigation. Several sources have reported that Kagame, the chairman of Crystal Ventures, has a net worth of 500 million dollars.

10. Uhuru Kenyatta – $500 million

Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, is reported to have a net worth of $500 million. Mr. Kenyatta is the legal owner of at least 500,000 acres of fertile farmland in his own state, passed down to him by his father, Jomo Nairobi, Kenya's first president. Kenyatta also owns a significant amount of stock in Kenya's largest dairy industry, a commercial bank, and a television station. His investments, however, are not limited to Kenya. According to the Pandora Papers, the President and six other family members are tied to as many as 13 offshore entities.

9. Ilham Aliyev – $500 million

Ilham Aliyev's official gross pay is apparently in the range of $230,000. However, his family is known to have substantial property holdings in other countries, and his net worth is estimated to be $500 million. Azerbaijan's typical citizen would have to labor for 10,000 years to accumulate the same amount of wealth as his 12-year-old son Heydar, who was believed to have acquired nine beachfront villas in Dubai in 2010 for a staggering price of around $44 million. His daughter is also said to have a substantial amount of wealth and lives a life of royals. The Aliyevs made news once again when the release of the Pandora Papers showed that the Crown Estate of the British royal family had purchased a $91 million London property from them.

8. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – $600 million

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been the President of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea since 1979 when he was ejected from power by a military coup led by his uncle Francisco Macas Nguema. Forbes magazine has assessed his net worth at $600 million, and he is claimed to own numerous residences in South Africa and a mansion in Malibu, California. Moreover, luxury appears to run in the family. In 2016, his son Teodoro 'Teodorin' Nguema Obiang (who is also the country's vice president) had his fleet of 26 luxury vehicles seized by Swiss authorities as part of a corruption investigation. The cars included seven Ferraris, five Bentleys, three Lamborghinis, a Maserati, a McLaren, and a Bugatti Veyron. In 2019, the fleet was auctioned for $27 million in a charity auction to benefit the American Red Cross.

7. Ali Bongo Ondimba – $1 billion

Gabon's President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, is estimated to be worth $1 billion while earning just $65,000 each year. Ondimba has long been accused by human rights organizations of plundering the country's oil and natural resources to amass his riches. When Transparency International initiated a lawsuit against his family in 2009, investigators revealed assets, including 39 houses in France and nine expensive automobiles. The matter was eventually abandoned in 2017, and his assets were forfeited. Following that, it was reported that he had spent $111 million on an extravagant property in Paris. According to reports, a gang of five soldiers attempted to topple the President in January 2019 to "establish democracy, but couldn’t succeed in their mission. The President has been suffering from health problems in recent years. Ondimba has once again made news after the release of the Pandora Papers revealed that the President had previously operated two shell corporations in the British Virgin Islands.

6. Bashar al-Assad – $1.5 billion

While efforts to freeze Syrian leader Bashar al- Assad's in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland were underway, the Syrian leader was believed to have acquired a wealth of approximately $1.5 billion. Preceding the commencement of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the Assads and their associates are believed to have controlled between 60 and 70 percent of the country's assets, including land, energy facilities, and industries. According to some estimations, he may be worth as much as $5 billion today which is quite accceptable for such a powerful leader.

5. Xi Jinping – $1.5 billion

Xi Jinping may be the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's Republic of China, and the chairman of the Central Military Commission. Still, his annual pay is just $22,000. However, in 2012, it was found that Jinping and his family had undisclosed investments in several holding firms, including a $244 million stake in property investment business Shenzen Yuanwei. According to Spear's, Jinping has a massive net worth of $1.5 billion. Although, those leaks aroused a great fuss in the parliament, but Xi Jinping somehow managed to satisfy the opposition.

4. Sebastian Piñera – $2.9 billion

The Chilean President Sebastian Piera served as President from 2010 to 2014, and he was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2018. According to Forbes, the Piera family's net worth is $2.9 billion after generating a fortune by creating Bancard's credit card business in 1976, which has since gone public. Aside from selling his 26 percent ownership in Chilean airline LAN, he sold the television station Chilevision to Time Warner for an estimated $150 million after the 2010 election. In addition, Piera is another international leader involved in the Panama Papers, and has been accused of selling a key copper and iron mine to a close friend.

3. Andrej Babiš – $3.7 billion

Czech President Andrej Babi was an agricultural entrepreneur before being elected to the presidency in 2017. According to Forbes, he had an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion before coming into power in 2017. Babi, sometimes known as the 'Czech Donald Trump,' has positioned himself as a self-made billionaire frustrated with corruption in the political establishment. However, hundreds of Czechs came to the streets in 2019 to demand his resignation, citing suspected conflicts of interest involving his old firm and a criminal investigation into fraud using EU funds. After Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted to initiate proceedings against Babi for a potential breach of EU law involving an alleged conflict of interest in Agrofert, the agriculture conglomerate he founded, the issue came to a head in June 2021, when Babi was sentenced to two years in prison. Following the Pandora Papers, Babi failed to disclose that he had used an offshore investment firm to purchase two homes in the south of France for a total of £12 million.

2. Kim Jong-un – $5 billion

Since 2013, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un is believed to have earned a net worth of $5 billion, according to estimates. However, a few years later, officials from the United States and South Korea discovered the assets and bank accounts controlled by the supreme leader and his family, finding out that much of their wealth was stashed away in over 200 bank accounts in countries such as Austria, Luxembourg, Russia, and Switzerland.

1. Vladimir Putin – $200 billion

Here comes the most anticipated and the richest leader of the world. The Russian President's finances are left vague, but one estimate submitted under oath to the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 by former Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder placed the former KGB officer's net worth at a whopping $200 billion. That is much more than the net worth of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's second-wealthiest individual after Elon Musk. However, the Russian Federation's Central Election Commission said in 2018 that Putin had only earned $673,000 between 2011 and 2016. It was also found that he had an apartment in St Petersburg and 230 shares in Bank St Petersburg.

In January 2021, a film made by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is now imprisoned in Russia, depicts a luxurious mansion near the Black Sea that was purportedly funded as a "bribe" by billionaires close to the President. Navalny further claims that Putin is preoccupied with money and plots to take the country's resources. Putin disputed ownership of the mansion and called the footage a "compilation and montage." The Pandora Papers have connected his inner circle's financial dealings to clandestine commercial activities in Monaco, which has apparently become a "Moscow-on-the-sea" for affluent Russians looking to evade taxes. In addition, Svetlana Krivonogikh, Putin's reputed mistress, is said to have acquired a hidden wealth of $100 million.

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