Justin Trudeau – $13 million (£11.3m)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was born into a wealthy political family, with his own father Pierre having served in the top job between from 1968 to 1979 and again between 1980 and 1984.In addition to his annual salary of CA$365,200 ($267k/£233k), Trudeau also has an inheritance from his father, which in 2013 was estimated to be about $1.2 million (£920k) in cash and investments. Before his time in public office, Trudeau also made $450,000 (£392.6k) a year from his public speaking business. His overall net worth has been estimated at $13 million (£11.3m).
Volodymyr Zelensky – $20 million (£17.3m)
Although the fortune of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his family was estimated to be $1.5 million (£1.2m) when he was inaugurated in May 2019, more recent reporting from Forbes suggests he's worth around $20 million (£17.3m).Prior to serving as the country's sixth president, Mr Zelensky was a noted actor, comedian, and producer. Indeed, he was best known for starring in a satirical TV series Servant of the People, in which he played a history teacher who accidentally becomes the Ukrainian president. Zelensky also has an estimated 25% stake in the broadcasting group Kvartal.
Back in October 2021, the Pandora Papers leaks revealed that Zelensky founded a network of offshore companies back in 2012, two of which were used to buy expensive properties in London. One of the president's advisers defended this, claiming the offshore companies were created to "protect" Zelensky's funds from then-president Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown during the Ukrainian Revolution in 2014.
Emmanuel Macron – $31.5 million (£27.5m)
After a stint in a media role, French president Emmanuel Macron became an investment banker for Rothschild & Cie Banque in 2008. Two years later he entered politics, working on the staff of President François Hollande. He then leaned heavily on his banking money when he took the decision to set up his own political party to run for the role of president. It paid off, and he was elected in 2017.
Macron now earns $220,500 (£192.5k) a year as president. Reports vary as to his net worth, but Spear's Magazine estimates it at $31.5 million (£27.5m).
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – $50 million (£43.6m)
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan served as mayor of Istanbul and Turkey's prime minister before being elected as the country's president in 2014. Supporters say he has improved the Turkish economy, while others accuse him of corruption and autocratic tendencies.
In 2018, Erdoğan's net worth was reported to be $58 million (£50.6m), but more recent estimates place it at $50 million (£43.6m). He was mentioned indirectly in the Pandora Papers, which revealed that the construction company that built a controversial 1,150-room presidential palace in 2014 has been using offshore companies to avoid tax.
Lee Hsien Loong – $51 million (£44.4m)
Singapore's head of government Lee Hsien Loong earns an annual salary of $1.6 million (£1.4m), making him the highest-paid world leader. In fact, his salary is so high that it's over 20 times the country's GDP per capita, according to data from Macrotrends.
Lee is also chair of sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited, which has estimated assets under management of about $488 billion (£425.6bn). His net worth is estimated at $51 million ($44.4m).
William Ruto – $338 million (£295m)
William Ruto became the president of Kenya last September, succeeding Uhuru Kenyatta. Although he's not quite as rich as his predecessor, who reportedly has a net worth of $500 million (£437m), Ruto is still one of the richest worth leaders with an estimated $338 million (£295m) to his name. Some sources claim his fortune is even larger, at $450 million (£392.3m).
Ruto was deputy president from 2013 to 2022. He seems to have amassed the majority of his wealth through real estate. He reportedly owns the Weston Hotel in Nairobi, as well as hotels worth over $24 million (£21m) in Mombasa and Mara. He's also a shareholder in the Africa Merchant Assurance Company (AMACO). As the president, Ruto's net worth is now bolstered by a monthly salary of around $11,500 (£10k), which works out to $138,000 (£120.5k) a year.
Cyril Ramaphosa – at least $450 million (£392.3m)
Cyril Ramaphosa has an annual salary of around $212,000 (£185k) for his role as South African president, after a 3% pay rise was introduced for elected officials last year. This means his salary is more than 22 times higher than the $9,338 (£8.1k) average household income of his people.
Ramaphosa stepped down as chairman of the investment group Shanduka Group in 2015 to avoid a conflict of interest and completed the sale of his stake a year later. In 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $450 million (£392.3m). It's unclear how his net worth has changed since, but he's currently under investigation after around $4 million (£3.5m) in cash was found stashed in his house during a supposed burglary at one of his farms.
Paul Kagame – $500 million (£437m)
Paul Kagame has been president of Rwanda since 2000, after he led rebel forces to end the Rwandan genocide that saw more than a million people murdered. Kagame has been key to the African country's economic rehabilitation, which earned it the moniker of being the "Singapore of Africa", although this has been matched by an intolerance for dissent.
In 2012 it was reported that Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front are controlling the country’s economy through a holding company called Crystal Ventures, a group that has assets of $500 million (£437m) across everything from private jets to the country’s biggest milk processor. It has been estimated that Kagame, who is the chairman of Crystal Ventures, is also worth $500 million (£437m).
Ilham Aliyev – $500 million (£437m)
Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev's official annual salary is reportedly along the lines of $230,000 (£200.8k), but his family are known to have large property assets abroad and his net worth is said to be around $500 million (£437m). In 2010, his then-12-year-old son Heydar was reported to have purchased nine waterfront mansions in Dubai worth some $44 million (£34m), a figure which the average Azerbaijan citizen would have to work 10,000 years to accrue.
The Aliyevs hit the headlines again when the Pandora Papers revealed that the British royal family's Crown Estate bought a £67 million ($91m) London property from them. The Aliyev government has been accused of corruption.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – $600 million (£524m)
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea since 1979, when he ousted his uncle Francisco Macías Nguema in a military coup. Forbes has estimated his wealth at $600 million (£524m), and he is said to have several homes in South Africa as well as an estate in Malibu, California.
A taste for luxury seems to run in the family. In 2016 his son Teodoro 'Teodorín' Nguema Obiang (and the country's vice president) saw his fleet of 26 luxury cars including seven Ferraris, five Bentleys, three Lamborghinis, a Maserati, a McLaren and a Bugatti Veyron seized by Swiss authorities as part of a corruption probe. The fleet was sold at a charity auction in 2019 for $27 million (£20.7m).
Rishi Sunak: $843 million (£730m)
Rishi Sunak became the third British prime minister of 2022 when he took the reins from Liz Truss last October. He also became one of the world's richest world leaders: Sunak and his wife have a joint estimated net worth of $843 million (£730m), according to the most recent Sunday Times Rich List.
As a Member of Parliament, Sunak was earning a base salary of £84,144 ($97.2k). However, the majority of his money has come from a successful business career – he co-founded the investment firm Theleme Partners in 2010 – and from his marriage to Akshata Murty, a fashion entrepreneur who owns around $497 million (£430m)-worth of shares in her father's tech firm Infosys. Murty also owns a venture capital company and is a director or direct shareholder in five other UK-based firms, according to British newspaper The Sun.
Now that he's prime minister, Sunak will see his salary grow to £164,080 ($188.8k) a year.
Ali Bongo Ondimba – $1 billion (£873.5m)
Gabon's president Ali Bongo Ondimba is said to be worth a cool $1 billion (£873.5m), despite him reportedly only making $65,000 (£56.8k) a year. Rights groups in the country have long accused Ondimba of looting the country of its oil and natural resources to create his fortune. In 2009, Transparency International filed a case against his family and the ensuing corruption inquiry discovered assets including 39 properties in France and nine luxury cars, but the case was dropped in 2017.
A year later, it was reported that Ondimba had spent $111 million (£85m) on a 14-bedroom mansion in Paris. The president has suffered health issues in recent years, and in January 2019 it was reported that a group of five soldiers tried to overthrow him in a bid to "restore democracy". They were unsuccessful.
Bashar al-Assad – $1.5 billion (£1.3bn)
In 2012, Syria's leader Bashar al-Assad was estimated to have amassed a fortune of around $1.5 billion (£1.3bn), despite moves to freeze his assets in the UK, the US, and Switzerland.
Prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the Assads and their friends are said to have owned between 60% and 70% of the country's assets, including land, energy plants, and factories. Some estimates suggest he could potentially be worth as much as $5 billion (£4.4bn) today.Ondimba hit the headlines again in October 2021 as the Pandora Papers exposed that the president used to run two shell companies in the British Virgin Islands.
Xi Jinping – $1.5 billion (£1.3bn)
Xi Jinping may hold the distinguished titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, but he has a very modest salary at just $22,000 (£19.2k) per year.
However, it was revealed in 2012 that Jinping and his family have hidden investments in multiple holding companies, including a $244 million (£188m) share of property investment firm Shenzhen Yuanwei. Xi has a net worth of $1.5 billion (£1.3bn), according to Spear's.
Kim Jong-un – $5 billion (£4.4bn)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is thought to have amassed a net worth of $5 billion (£4.4bn) since 2013. Around then, US and South Korean officials discovered the assets and bank accounts controlled by the supreme leader and his family, finding that much of his wealth is stashed away in over 200 bank accounts held in China and other countries including Austria, Luxembourg, Russia, and Switzerland.
Vladimir Putin – $200 billion (£175bn)
All eyes have been on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine last February, yet the finances of Russian president Vladimir Putin are shrouded in mystery. An estimate by former Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder, given under oath to the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017, put the former KGB officer's net worth at a huge $200 billion (£175bn). That would make him the second-richest person in the world today. However, in 2018 the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation said that Putin had officially only earned $673,000 (£518k) between 2011 and 2016. It also revealed that he had an apartment in St Petersburg and 230 shares in Bank St Petersburg.
A video created by opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is currently imprisoned in Russia, in January 2021 features an opulent palace by the Black Sea that was allegedly financed by billionaires close to the President as a "bribe". Navalny also alleges that Putin is obsessed with money and plotted to steal the nation's wealth.
Putin denied that the palace belonged to him and described the video as a "compilation and montage". The Pandora Papers have linked the financial affairs of his inner circle to secretive business operations in Monaco, which has reportedly become "Moscow-on-sea" for wealthy Russians keen to avoid tax. These include Svetlana Krivonogikh, Putin's alleged mistress, who has apparently amassed a secret $100 million (£87.4m) fortune. Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the claims in the Pandora Papers were "unsubstantiated".
