US President Tops Forbes' Most Powerful List for 2011

US President Barack Obama has topped Forbes magazine's 2011 list of the world's most influential people. Photo by BGNES

U.S. President Barack Obama tops Forbes magazine's 2011 annual ranking of the world's most powerful people.

The U.S head of state takes over the top spot from last year's winner, Chinese President Hu Jintao, who drops to third place, VOA News reported, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running again for president, ranks second.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains the world's most powerful woman for 2011 with her fourth place in the list.

Other influential women included in Forbes' 2011 ranking are International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who occupies place 39, and the new managing editor of New York Times, Jill Abramson at slot 64.

The youngest participant in this year's list is 27-year old founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, who climbs to 9th place from place No. 40 in last year's vote.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates emerges 5th on Forbes's list of the world's most powerful people.

Forbes dropped 10 people from its list, including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, U.S. television star Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was accused of raping a hotel maid, Apple computer co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in October, and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. commando raid in May.

Forbes' list of criteria for compiling the annual top 70 list include the number of people under a person's power; the financial resources they control; the breadth of their influence over more than one area; and how actively the person wields their power.

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