List of current longest-ruling non-royal national leaders


This list of current longest ruling non-royal national leaders is a list of the current living longest ruling heads of nation-states or national governments, excluding royalty, who have served ten years or longer, sorted by length of tenure. Heads of generally recognized sovereign states are ranked by number, while heads of sovereign states with limited international recognition are listed in italics and are not given a numbered rank.
The individuals on the list are not always the most powerful figure in their country's national government. Some are or have been at one time the most powerful figures in their country's national government but not necessarily continuously throughout the listed timespan. Some of them have held more than one national leadership-level office: presidency, prime minister-ship, or some other title implying or widely believed to confer national leadership. When more than one such office exists in a country, there may be uncertainty as to which member of the national government actually has the ultimate power. Therefore, this list combines all national level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual leader.
RankImageNameCountryOfficeTenure beganLength of tenure
1.Paul BiyaPrime Minister, then President30 June 1975
2.Teodoro Obiang Nguema MbasogoPresident3 August 1979
3.Ali KhameneiPresident, then
Supreme Leader		13 October 1981
4.Denis Sassou NguessoPresident8 February 1979 – 31 August 1992
25 October 1997 – present
5.Hun SenPrime Minister26 December 1984
6.Yoweri MuseveniPresident26 January 1986
7.Idriss DébyPresident2 December 1990
8.Nursultan NazarbayevChairman of the
Security Council,
formerly President		16 December 1991
9.Emomali RahmonDe facto Head of State, then
President		19 November 1992
10.Isaias AfwerkiPresident24 May 1993
11.Paul KagameActing Head of State, then President19 July 1994
12.Alexander LukashenkoPresident20 July 1994
13.Daniel OrtegaActing Head of State, then
President		4 March 1981 – 25 April 1990
10 January 2007 – present
14.Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele MalielegaoiPrime Minister23 November 1998
15.Ismaïl Omar GuellehPresident8 May 1999
16.Vladimir PutinPrime Minister, then President9 August 1999 – 7 May 2000
8 May 2000 – 7 May 2008
8 May 2008 – 7 May 2012
7 May 2012 – present
17.Keith MitchellPrime Minister22 June 1995 – 9 July 2008
20 February 2013 – present
18.Hage GeingobPrime Minister, then President21 March 1990 – 28 August 2002
4 December 2012 – present
19.Bashar al-AssadPresident17 July 2000
20.Ralph GonsalvesPrime Minister29 March 2001
21.Recep Tayyip ErdoğanPrime Minister, then President14 March 2003
22.Ilham AliyevPrime Minister, then President4 August 2003
23.Shavkat MirziyoyevPrime Minister, then President12 December 2003
24.Sheikh HasinaPrime Minister23 June 1996 – 15 July 2001
6 January 2009 – present
25.Roosevelt SkerritPrime Minister8 January 2004
–Mahmoud Abbas'Prime Minister, then President19 March 2003 – 6 September 2003
15 January 2005 – present
26.Lee Hsien LoongPrime Minister12 August 2004
27.Tommy RemengesauPresident1 January 2001 – 15 January 2009
17 January 2013 – present
28.Faure GnassingbéPresident5 February 2005 – 25 February 2005
4 May 2005 – present
29.Angela MerkelFederal Chancellor22 November 2005
30.Benjamin NetanyahuPrime Minister18 June 1996 – 6 July 1999
31 March 2009 – present
31.Viktor OrbánPrime Minister6 July 1998 – 27 May 2002
29 May 2010 – present
32.Raúl CastroFirst Secretary, formerly
President and
Prime Minister		31 July 2006
33.Frank BainimaramaActing Head of State, then
Prime Minister		29 May 2000 – 13 July 2000
5 December 2006 – present
34.Gurbanguly BerdimuhamedowPresident21 December 2006
35.Ibrahim Boubacar KeïtaPrime Minister, then President4 February 1994 – 15 February 2000
4 September 2013 – present
36.Alassane OuattaraPrime Minister, then President7 November 1990 – 9 December 1993
4 December 2010 – present
37.Dean BarrowPrime Minister8 February 2008
38.Mahinda RajapaksaPrime Minister6 April 2004 – 19 November 2005
19 November 2005 – 9 January 2015
26 October 2018 – 15 December 2018
21 November 2019 – present
39.Ueli MaurerFederal Council Member,
formerly President		1 January 2009
40.Macky SallPrime Minister, then President21 April 2004 – 19 June 2007
2 April 2012 – present
41.Miloš ZemanPrime Minister, then President22 July 1998 – 15 July 2002
8 March 2013 – present
–Hashim Thaçi'Prime Minister, then President17 February 2008 – 9 December 2014
7 April 2016 – present
42.Azali AssoumaniPresident30 April 1999 – 21 January 2002
6 May 2002 – 26 May 2006
26 May 2016 – present
43.Borut PahorPrime Minister, then President21 November 2008 – 10 February 2012
22 December 2012 – present
44.Ali Bongo OndimbaPresident16 October 2009
45.Mahamadou IssoufouPrime Minister, then President17 April 1993 – 28 September 1994
7 April 2011 – present
–Arayik HarutyunyanPrime Minister, then President14 September 2007 – 25 September 2017
21 May 2020 – present

Footnotes