TWIPLOMACY 2022
World Leader
Power Ranking: Top 10
The world’s top 10 most influential leaders span geographies, differ in age, and have spent vastly different amounts of time in office.
A truly global list, Latin America is well-represented among our top 10 with half the leaders hailing from the region. Both Europe and North America claim two leaders apiece, while one South Asian leader makes the cut.
A notable exception however is Africa, with no world leaders featured in the top 10. This could be down to the region having only around 22.3 million Twitter users, a relatively small margin compared to others. Conversely, Latin America has a sizeable 76.5 million-strong userbase, while North America has some 92.1 million Twitter users.
But what happens when population is taken out of the equation for our top 10? Broadly, many leaders' positioning stayed stable, signalling other statistical drivers performed well for them. The exception was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Without the mass of followers his population provides, Modi would have fallen 125 places, meaning he would have finished 126th were this not a factor.
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Age diversity is notable too. The oldest world leader in our top 10 snapshot is US President Joe Biden, who is 80 years old. Our youngest leader, by half a decade, is Chilean President Gabriel Boric at 36 years old. That’s 44 years between them.
Our top 10 is also younger compared to the wider list, at 58.1 years old on average - two years younger than that of the full rankings.
Top 10: Age Comparison
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Top 10: Age Range Comparison
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What about time in office?
Our top 10 leaders have spent four years in power, on average – three years fewer than the wider rankings. Indeed, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Chile’s Boric both secure a top 10 spot, without having spent a full 12 months in their respective roles.
Among today’s top leaders, a strong pre-existing presence and reach on Twitter goes a long way. Take Boric, who had just over 1 million Twitter followers in December 2021, the month of his presidential election win. Two years prior to this, he still commanded an impressive 684,300 followers – a total coveted by many politicians.
Our research suggests that a strong following doesn’t only help politicians secure the top job – but further amplifies and reinforces their influence once in it.
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