Lists of state leaders by age

Since 1900, the youngest serving state leader has been 192-day-old Fuad II, King of Egypt (left), while the oldest has been 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom (right).

This article contains various lists of state leaders organized by age, defined as heads of state and/or heads of government.

10 oldest serving state leaders

People currently serving as head of state and/or head of government, a party leader of a one-party state, or a representative of a head of state.

Rank	Name	Position	Assumed office	Born	Age
1	Paul Biya	President of Cameroon	1982^[1]	(1933-02-13)13 February 1933	92 years, 35 days
2	Mahmoud Abbas	President of the Palestinian National Authority, President of the State of Palestine	2005	(1935-11-15)15 November 1935	89 years, 125 days
3	Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud	King of Saudi Arabia	2015^[2]	(1935-12-31)31 December 1935	89 years, 79 days
4	Francis	Pope of the Holy See, Sovereign of the Vatican City State	2013	(1936-12-17)17 December 1936	88 years, 93 days
5	Harald V	King of Norway^[3]	1991	(1937-02-21)21 February 1937	88 years, 27 days
6	Ali Khamenei	Supreme Leader of Iran	1989^[4]	(1939-04-19)19 April 1939	85 years, 335 days
7	Muhammad Yunus	Chief Adviser of Bangladesh	2024	(1940-06-28)28 June 1940	84 years, 265 days
8	Mishal I	Emir of Kuwait	2023	(1940-09-27)27 September 1940	84 years, 174 days
9	Michael D. Higgins	President of Ireland	2011	(1941-04-18)18 April 1941	83 years, 336 days
10	Sergio Mattarella	President of Italy	2015	(1941-07-23)23 July 1941	83 years, 240 days

10 oldest serving state leaders of all time

Rank	Name	Position	Last year in office (reason term ended)	Age at end
1	Giovanni Paolo Lascaris	Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller	1657 (death)	97 years, 47 days
2	Elizabeth II	Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms^[5]	2022 (death)	96 years, 140 days
3	Prem Tinsulanonda	Regent of Thailand	2016 (term ended)	96 years, 97 days
4	George Tupou I	King of Tonga	1893 (death)	95 years, 76 days
5	Mahathir Mohamad	Prime Minister of Malaysia	2020 (resigned)	94 years, 235 days
6	Nicolò da Ponte	Doge of Venice	1585 (death)	94 years, 196 days
7	Malietoa Tanumafili II	O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa	2007 (death)	94 years, 127 days
8	Robert Mugabe	President of Zimbabwe	2017 (resigned)	93 years, 273 days
7	Leo XIII	Pope of the Holy See	1903 (death)	93 years, 140 days
10	Beji Caid Essebsi	President of Tunisia	2019 (death)	92 years, 198 days

Longest-lived state leaders

The following lists are the top ten all-time state leaders and the top ten living.

Top ten since 1800

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum (1905–2009, died ages 103 years, 143 days), the longest-lived state leader

Rank	Name	Position	Birth	Death	Age
1	Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum	Acting Prime Minister of Cambodia (1962)	1905	2009	103 years, 143 days
2	Celâl Bayar	Prime Minister of Turkey (1937–1939)	1883	1986	103 years, 98 days
2	Celâl Bayar	President of Turkey (1950–1960)	1883	1986	103 years, 98 days
3	Antoine Pinay	Prime Minister of France (1952–1953)	1891	1994	102 years, 348 days
4	André Prunet-Foch	French Viguier in Andorra (1977–1980)	1914	2017	102 years, 211 days
5	Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni	Prime Minister of Japan (1945)	1887	1990	102 years, 48 days
6	Babiker Awadalla	Prime Minister of Sudan (1969)	1917	2019	101 years, 321 days
7	Willem Drees	Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958)	1886	1988	101 years, 314 days
8	Đỗ Mười	Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam (1988–1991)	1917	2018	101 years, 241 days
8	Đỗ Mười	General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1991–1997)	1917	2018	101 years, 241 days
9	Zhang Qun	Premier of the Republic of China (1947–1948)	1889	1990	101 years, 219 days
10	Yasuhiro Nakasone	Prime Minister of Japan (1982–1987)	1919	2020	101 years, 186 days

Top ten living

Rank	Name	Position	Birth	Age
1	Guillermo Rodríguez	President of Ecuador (1972–1976)	4 Nov 1923	101 years, 136 days
2	Khamtai Siphandone	Prime Minister of Laos (1991–1998) Chairman of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (1992–2006) President of Laos (1998–2006)	8 Feb 1924	101 years, 40 days
3	Tomiichi Murayama	Prime Minister of Japan (1994–1996)	3 Mar 1924	101 years, 17 days
4	Mahathir Mohamad	Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981–2003, 2018–2020)	10 Jul 1925	99 years, 253 days
5	Mohammad Hasan Sharq	Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1989–1991)	17 Jul 1925	99 years, 246 days
6	Abdoulaye Wade	President of Senegal (2000–2012)	29 May 1926	98 years, 295 days
7	Valdas Adamkus	President of Lithuania (1998–2003; 2004–2009)	3 Nov 1926	98 years, 137 days
8	Raif Dizdarević	President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1988–1989)	9 Dec 1926	98 years, 101 days
8	Kim Yong-nam	Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea (1998–2019)	4 Feb 1928	97 years, 44 days
10	Arthur Foulkes	Governor-General of the Bahamas (2010–2014)	11 May 1928	96 years, 313 days

20 youngest serving state leaders

Rank	Name	Position	Birth	Age
1	Ibrahim Traore	President of Burkina Faso (since 2022)	14 March 1988	37 years, 6 days
2	Kristrún Frostadóttir	Prime Minister of Iceland (since 2024)	12 May, 1988	36 years, 312 days
3	Daniel Noboa	President of Ecuador (since 2023)	30 November 1987	37 years, 110 days
4	Milokjo Spajic	Prime Minister of Montenegro (since 2023)	24 September 1987	37 years, 177 days
5	Simon Harris	Taoiseach (since 2024)	17 October 1986	38 years, 154 days
6	Paetongtarn Shinawatra	Prime Minister of Thailand (since 2024)	21 August 1986	38 years, 211 days
7	Gabriel Boric	President of Chile (since 2022)	11 February 1986	39 years, 37 days
8	Mohammed bin Salman	Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (since 2022)	31 August 1985	39 years, 201 days
9	Mahamat Déby	Chairman of the Transitional Military Council of Chad (since 2021)	1 January 1984	41 years, 78 days
10	Kim Jong-un	Supreme Leader of North Korea^[6] (since 2011)	8 January 1983^[7]	42 years, 71 days^[7]
11	Assimi Goïta	Interim President of Mali (since 2021)^[8]	1983	41 years, 79 days to 42 years, 78 days
12	Vjosa Osmani	President of Kosovo (since 2021)	17 May 1982	42 years, 307 days
13	Serdar Berdimuhamedow	President of Turkmenistan (since 2022)	22 September 1981	43 years, 179 days
14	Nayib Bukele	President of El Salvador (since 2019)	24 July 1981	43 years, 239 days
15	Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani	Prime Minister of Qatar (since 2023)	1 November 1980	44 years, 139 days
16	Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene	Prime Minister of Mongolia (since 2021)	29 June 1980	44 years, 264 days
17	Tamim Al Thani	Emir of Qatar (since 2013)	3 June 1980	44 years, 290 days
18	Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	King of Bhutan (since 2006)	21 February 1980	45 years, 27 days
19	Xavier Espot Zamora	Prime Minister of Andorra (since 2019)	30 October 1979	45 years, 141 days

10 youngest state leaders (since 1942)

Leaders still serving are highlighted in italicized bold.

Rank	Name	Position	Age (when they took office)
1	Fuad II	King of Egypt	192 days
2	Gyanendra	King of Nepal	3 years, 123 days
3	Faisal II	King of Iraq	3 years, 337 days
4	Simeon II	Tsar of Bulgaria	6 years, 73 days
5	Hussein	King of Jordan	16 years, 271 days
6	Jigme Singye Wangchuck	King of Bhutan	16 years, 256 days
7	Mswati III ^[9]	King of Eswatini ^[10]	18 years, 6 days
8	Bhumibol Adulyadej	King of Thailand	18 years, 186 days
9	Ntare V	King of Burundi	18 years, 218 days
10	Jean-Claude Duvalier	President of Haiti	19 years, 293 days

Notes

↑ Previously served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975–1982.
↑ Served concurrently as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015–2022.
↑ The Kingdom of Norway includes the dependent territory of Svalbard.
↑ Previously served as President of Iran from 1981–1989.
↑ In 1952, Princess Elizabeth acceded as the monarch of seven Commonwealth realms. She currently reigns as Queen of 16 sovereign states including the United Kingdom. From 1957–1983, most of her British colonies attained independence, and some joined the other realms in different years; most states ceased to be a realm upon becoming republics.
↑ The term Supreme Leader is used as a description, for the sake of brevity, rather than being an official title of a single office. The actual offices held by Kim Jong-un are: General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, President of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the DPRK.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 Kim's year of birth has been the subject of dispute. North Korean authorities and state-run media have stated Kim's birth date is 8 January 1982, but South Korean intelligence officials believe the actual date is a year later. Until 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department had claimed that his year of birth is 1984.
↑ Previously Chairman of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People of Mali in 2020 and 2021.
↑ Began personal reign after a 3-year regency
↑ The country was called the Kingdom of Swaziland until 19 April 2018.

Notes

[1] Previously served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975–1982.

[2] Served concurrently as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2015–2022.

[3] The Kingdom of Norway includes the dependent territory of Svalbard.

[4] Previously served as President of Iran from 1981–1989.

[EIIR-5] In 1952, Princess Elizabeth acceded as the monarch of seven Commonwealth realms. She currently reigns as Queen of 16 sovereign states including the United Kingdom. From 1957–1983, most of her British colonies attained independence, and some joined the other realms in different years; most states ceased to be a realm upon becoming republics.

[6] The term Supreme Leader is used as a description, for the sake of brevity, rather than being an official title of a single office. The actual offices held by Kim Jong-un are: General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, President of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the DPRK.

[KJU-birth-7] 7.0 ^7.1 Kim's year of birth has been the subject of dispute. North Korean authorities and state-run media have stated Kim's birth date is 8 January 1982, but South Korean intelligence officials believe the actual date is a year later. Until 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department had claimed that his year of birth is 1984.

[8] Previously Chairman of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People of Mali in 2020 and 2021.

[9] Began personal reign after a 3-year regency

[10] The country was called the Kingdom of Swaziland until 19 April 2018.

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