The list is the result of the collective work of Forbes editors and advisors, who selected several dozen of the most influential candidates from among hundreds of candidates. Their power is measured based on four factors: the influence they have on society, the financial resources they control, their power in various areas (usually one is not enough), and the way they use their power. The top ranking shows that this last factor is the most important this year.

For the second year in a row, he became the winner of the Forbes ranking Vladimir Putin. This is primarily due to their desire to demonstrate their power both at home and globally – just consider the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, in which a missile, almost certainly sent by Russia, was shot down. a passenger plane belonging to Malaysia Airlines.

Two other leaders completed the podium. He took second place in the ranking Barack Obama, president of the most dominant country in the world. He placed third Xi JinpingGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Fourth place in the ranking is occupied by Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics (about 1/6 of the population). Fifth place is occupied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most influential woman in the world.

Bill Gates also made it into the top ten. His seventh position in the ranking of the most powerful people in the world comes not only from his wealth (estimated to be more than USD 80 billion), but also because of his charitable activities (he recently announced that his foundation will spend USD 500 million to fight diseases such as malaria , he previously spent USD 50 million dollars fighting Ebola) and the fact that he is a technology advisor to Microsoft, the world’s most powerful software manufacturer – a company he founded almost 40 years ago.

Look: The richest person in the world in 2014

The most important fact

1. In this year’s edition of the ranking, American Forbes classified 72 people. There is one for every 100 million people in the world.

2. Among the 72 most powerful people in the world are 12 new faces – among them: Jack Ma, China’s richest person and founder of Alibaba, who recently made the biggest stock exchange debut in history.

3. For the first time, two women appear in the top ten: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (in 5th place) and Fed Chair Janet Yellen (in 6th place).

4. The total wealth of the people on the list is $790 billion.

5. Entrepreneurs are well represented in the ranking, there are 14 entrepreneurs, including: Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Elon Musk (Tesla Motors).

6. There are 26 Americans on the list – by far the most. The Asian continent is also well represented, with 19 representatives.