List of longest-ruling non-royal national leaders since 1900

This list details national leaders since 1900 who ruled for 20 years or more, and were not self-described members of a royal family. It also combines all national leader level offices held concurrently or consecutively by each individual.


Rank	Name	Country	Title	Term began	Term ended	Term length
1	Fidel Castro	Cuba	El Comandante First Secretary Prime Minister President	8 January 1959 ^[1]	19 April 2011 ^[1]	7004190940000000000♠52 years, 101 days
2	Kim Il-sung	North Korea	Chairman of the North Korea Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea Chairman of the Provisional People's Committee General Secretary Premier President ^{[Note 1]} Generalissimo	17 December 1945	8 July 1994	7004177350000000000♠48 years, 203 days
3	Chiang Kai-shek	Republic of China (1931–1949) Republic of China on Taiwan (1949–1975)	Chairman of the National Government Premier Director-General of the Kuomintang Generalissimo President	9 July 1926 (1st time) 3 January 1928 (2nd time) 6 March 1932 (3rd time)	14 August 1927 (1st time) 15 December 1931 (2nd time) 5 April 1975 (3rd time)	48 years, 46 days (22 years, 265 days in Mainland China) (7003924700000000000♠25 years, 116 days on Taiwan)^{[Note 2]}
4	Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal	Mongolian People's Republic	General Secretary Prime Minister President	8 April 1940	23 August 1984	7004162080000000000♠44 years, 137 days
5	Paul Biya	Cameroon	Prime Minister President	30 June 1975	present	7004158180000000000♠43 years, 112 days
6	Omar Bongo	Gabon	Acting President President	12 November 1966	6 May 2009	7004155160000000000♠42 years, 175 days
7	Muammar Gaddafi	Libyan Arab Republic Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council Secretary General of the General People's Congress Prime Minister	1 September 1969	20 October 2011^{[Note 3]}	7004153890000000000♠42 years, 49 days
8	Enver Hoxha	Democratic Government of Albania People's Republic of Albania People's Socialist Republic of Albania	Prime Minister First Secretary	22 October 1944	11 April 1985	7004147790000000000♠40 years, 169 days
9	Mohamed Abdelaziz	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	General Secretary President	30 August 1976	31 May 2016	7004145190000000000♠39 years, 275 days
10	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	Equatorial Guinea	Chairman of the Supreme Military Council President	3 August 1979	present	7004143230000000000♠39 years, 78 days
11	Francisco Franco	Spanish State	Generalísimo Head of State Caudillo Prime Minister	1 October 1936	20 November 1975	7004142940000000000♠39 years, 50 days
12	Éamon de Valera	Irish Republic Irish Free State Ireland	President of Dáil Éireann President of the Republic President of the Executive Council Taoiseach President	1 April 1919 (1st time) 25 October 1922 (2nd time) 9 March 1932 (3rd time) 13 June 1951 (4th time) 20 March 1957 (5th time) 25 June 1959 (6th time)	9 January 1922 (1st time) 30 May 1923 (2nd time) 18 February 1948 (3rd time) 2 June 1954 (4th time) 23 June 1959 (5th time) 24 June 1973 (6th time)	38 years, 199 days
13	Gnassingbé Eyadéma	Togo	Chairman of military junta President	14 January 1967	5 February 2005	7004139020000000000♠38 years, 22 days
14	José Eduardo dos Santos	People's Republic of Angola Angola	President and Chairman of the MPLA State President	10 September 1979	26 September 2017^{[Note 4]}	7004138960000000000♠38 years, 16 days
15	Robert Mugabe	Zimbabwe	Prime Minister Party President and First Secretary State President	18 April 1980	21 November 2017	7004137310000000000♠37 years, 217 days
16	Ali Khamenei	Iran	President Supreme Leader	13 October 1981	present	7004135210000000000♠37 years, 7 days
17	Josip Broz Tito	Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	General Secretary/President of the Presidency of the Central Committee Prime Minister President Marshal	29 November 1943	4 May 1980	7004133060000000000♠36 years, 157 days
18	António de Oliveira Salazar	Second Portuguese Republic	Prime Minister	5 July 1932	25 September 1968	7004132310000000000♠36 years, 82 days
19	Todor Zhivkov	People's Republic of Bulgaria	General Secretary Prime Minister Chairman of the State Council	4 March 1954	17 November 1989	7004130420000000000♠35 years, 258 days
20	Alfredo Stroessner	Paraguay	Commander in Chief President	5 May 1954	3 February 1989	7004126930000000000♠34 years, 274 days
21	Félix Houphouët-Boigny	Côte d'Ivoire	Prime Minister President	1 May 1959	7 December 1993	7004126390000000000♠34 years, 220 days
22	Denis Sassou Nguesso	People's Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo	President of the Central Committee State President	8 February 1979 (1st time) 25 October 1997 (2nd time)	31 August 1992 (1st time) present (2nd time)	7004126180000000000♠34 years, 200 days
	Sonam Topgay Dorji	Bhutan	Chief Ministers (Gongzim)	1917	1952	34 years, 1 day to 35 years, 364 days
23	Hun Sen	People's Republic of Kampuchea State of Cambodia Cambodia	Prime Minister	31 December 1984	present	7004123460000000000♠33 years, 293 days
24	Ali Abdullah Saleh	North Yemen Yemen	President of North Yemen President	24 June 1978	25 February 2012	7004122750000000000♠33 years, 222 days^{[Note 5]} (7003794900000000000♠21 years, 279 days after unification)
25	Yoweri Museveni	Uganda	President	26 January 1986	present	7004119550000000000♠32 years, 267 days
26	Dawda Jawara	The Gambia	Prime Minister President	12 June 1962	22 July 1994	7004117280000000000♠32 years, 40 days
27	Phạm Văn Đồng	North Vietnam Vietnam	Prime Minister	20 September 1955	18 June 1987	7004115940000000000♠31 years, 271 days
28	János Kádár	Hungarian People's Republic	General Secretary Prime Minister	25 October 1956	27 May 1988	7004115370000000000♠31 years, 215 days
29	Habib Bourguiba	Tunisia	Prime Minister President	11 April 1956	7 November 1987	7004115320000000000♠31 years, 210 days
30	Lee Kuan Yew	Singapore	Prime Minister	5 June 1959	28 November 1990	7004114990000000000♠31 years, 176 days^{[Note 6]}
31	Mobutu Sese Seko	Democratic Republic of the Congo Zaire	President	24 November 1965	16 May 1997	7004114960000000000♠31 years, 173 days
32	Hastings Kamuzu Banda	Malaŵi	Prime Minister President	1 February 1963	21 May 1994	7004114320000000000♠31 years, 109 days
33	Rafael Trujillo	Dominican Republic	President Generalísimo	3 March 1930	30 May 1961	7004114110000000000♠31 years, 88 days
34	Suharto	Indonesia	President	12 March 1967	21 May 1998	7004113930000000000♠31 years, 70 days
35	Urho Kekkonen	Finland	Prime Minister President	17 March 1950 (1st time) 20 October 1954 (2nd time)	17 November 1953 (1st time) 27 January 1982 (2nd time)	30 years, 342 days
36	Joseph Stalin	Soviet Union	General Secretary Premier Marshal	3 April 1922	5 March 1953	7004112940000000000♠30 years, 336 days
37	Porfirio Díaz	Mexico	President	28 November 1876 (1st time) 17 February 1877 (2nd time) 1 December 1884 (3rd time)	6 December 1876 (1st time) 1 December 1880 (2nd time) 25 May 1911 (3rd time)	30 years, 106 days
38	Abdou Diouf	Senegal	Prime Minister President	26 February 1970	1 April 2000	7004109920000000000♠30 years, 35 days
39	Maumoon Abdul Gayoom	Maldives	President	11 November 1978	11 November 2008	7004109580000000000♠30 years, 0 days
40	Hafez al-Assad	Syria	Prime Minister President	21 November 1970	10 June 2000	7004107940000000000♠29 years, 202 days
41	Hosni Mubarak	Egypt	Prime Minister President	7 October 1981	11 February 2011	7004107190000000000♠29 years, 127 days
42	Haxhi Lleshi	People's Republic of Albania People's Socialist Republic of Albania	Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly	1 August 1953	21 November 1982	7004107040000000000♠29 years, 112 days
43	Omar al-Bashir	Sudan	President of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation President	30 June 1989	present	7004107040000000000♠29 years, 112 days
44	İsmet İnönü	Turkey	Prime Minister President	1 November 1923 (1st time) 4 March 1925 (2nd time) 11 November 1938 (3rd time) 20 November 1961 (4th time)	22 November 1924 (1st time) 25 October 1937 (2nd time) 27 May 1950 (3rd time) 20 February 1965 (4th time)	28 years, 180 days
45	Mathieu Kérékou	Dahomey People's Republic of Benin Benin	President	26 October 1972 (1st time) 4 April 1996 (2nd time)	4 April 1991 (1st time) 6 April 2006 (2nd time)	28 years, 162 days
46	France-Albert René	Seychelles	Prime Minister President	29 June 1976	14 July 2004	7004102420000000000♠28 years, 15 days
47	Idriss Déby	Chad	President of the Patriotic Salvation Movement President of the Council of State President	2 December 1990	present	7004101840000000000♠27 years, 322 days
48	William Tubman	Liberia	President	3 January 1944	23 July 1971	7004100630000000000♠27 years, 201 days
49	Kamisese Mara	Fiji	Prime Minister President	10 October 1970 (1st time) 5 December 1987 (2nd time) 16 December 1993 (3rd time)	13 April 1987 (1st time) 2 June 1992 (2nd time) 29 May 2000 (3rd time)	27 years, 165 days
50	Mehmet Shehu	People's Republic of Albania People's Socialist Republic of Albania	Prime Minister	20 July 1954	18 December 1981	7004100130000000000♠27 years, 151 days
51	Sir Anerood Jugnauth	Mauritius	Prime Minister President	16 June 1982 (1st time) 17 September 2000 (2nd time) 7 October 2003 (3rd time) 17 December 2014 (4th time)	22 December 1995 (1st time) 30 September 2003 (2nd time) 31 March 2012 (3rd time) 23 January 2017 (4th time)	27 years, 50 days
52	Paul Eyschen	Luxembourg	Prime Minister	22 September 1888	11 October 1915	7003987900000000000♠27 years, 19 days
53	Blaise Compaoré	Burkina Faso	President	15 October 1987	31 October 2014	7003987800000000000♠27 years, 16 days
54	Kenneth Kaunda	Zambia	President	24 October 1964	2 November 1991	7003987000000000000♠27 years, 9 days
55	Mao Zedong	People's Republic of China	Chairman of the Central Committee Chairman of the People's Republic of China	1 October 1949	9 September 1976	7003984000000000000♠26 years, 344 days
56	Nursultan Nazarbayev	Kazakhstan	President	16 December 1991	present	7003980500000000000♠26 years, 308 days
57	John Paul II	Vatican	Pope Sovereign of the Holy See	16 October 1978	2 April 2005	7003966500000000000♠26 years, 168 days
58	Zhou Enlai	People's Republic of China	Premier	1 October 1949	8 January 1976	7003959500000000000♠26 years, 99 days
59	Pedro Pires	Cape Verde Cabo Verde	Prime Minister President	8 July 1975 (1st time) 22 March 2001 (2nd time)	4 April 1991 (1st time) 9 September 2011 (2nd time)	26 years, 76 days
60	Emomali Rahmon	Tajikistan	Acting Chairman of the Supreme Council Chairman of the Supreme Council President	19 November 1992	present	7003946600000000000♠25 years, 335 days
61	Lê Duẩn	North Vietnam Vietnam	General Secretary	10 September 1960	10 July 1986	7003943400000000000♠25 years, 303 days
62	Ahmed Sékou Touré	Guinea	President	2 October 1958	26 March 1984	7003930700000000000♠25 years, 176 days
63	Leo XIII	Vatican	Pope Sovereign of the Holy See	20 February 1878	20 July 1903	7003928000000000000♠25 years, 150 days
64	Isaias Afwerki	Eritrea	President ^{[Note 7]}	23 May 1993	present	7003928100000000000♠25 years, 150 days
65	Islam Karimov	Uzbekistan	President	1 September 1991	2 September 2016	7003913300000000000♠25 years, 1 day
66	Sir Colville Young	Belize	Governor-General	17 November 1993	present	7003910300000000000♠24 years, 337 days
67	Óscar Carmona	Ditadura Nacional Second Portuguese Republic	Prime Minister President	9 July 1926	18 April 1951	7003904900000000000♠24 years, 283 days
68	Nicolae Ceaușescu	Socialist Republic of Romania	General Secretary President	22 March 1965	22 December 1989	7003904100000000000♠24 years, 275 days
69	Lansana Conté	Guinea	President	5 April 1984	22 December 2008	7003902700000000000♠24 years, 261 days
70	Daniel arap Moi	Kenya	Acting President President	22 August 1978	30 December 2002	7003889600000000000♠24 years, 130 days
71	Alexander Lukashenko	Belarus	President	20 July 1994	present	7003885800000000000♠24 years, 92 days
72	João Bernardo Vieira	Guinea-Bissau	Prime Minister President	22 September 1978 (1st time) 16 May 1984 (2nd time) 1 October 2005 (3rd time)	14 May 1984 (1st time) 7 May 1999 (2nd time) 2 March 2009 (3rd time)	24 years, 13 days
73	Ho Chi Minh	North Vietnam	President General Secretary	2 September 1945	2 September 1969	7003876600000000000♠24 years, 0 days
74	Saddam Hussein	Iraq	Prime Minister President	16 July 1979	9 April 2003	7003866800000000000♠23 years, 267 days
75	Zine El Abidine Ben Ali	Tunisia	Prime Minister President	2 October 1987	14 January 2011	7003850500000000000♠23 years, 104 days
76	Walter Ulbricht	German Democratic Republic	First Secretary Chairman of the State Council	25 July 1950	1 August 1973	7003840800000000000♠23 years, 7 days
77	Tage Erlander	Sweden	Prime Minister	11 October 1946	14 October 1969	7003840400000000000♠23 years, 3 days
78	Ahmadou Ahidjo	Cameroun Cameroon	Prime Minister President	1 January 1960	6 November 1982	7003834500000000000♠22 years, 309 days
79	Joaquín Balaguer	Dominican Republic	President President of the Council of State junta^{[Note 8]}	30 May 1961 (1st time) 1 July 1966 (2nd time) 16 August 1986 (3rd time)	16 January 1962 (1st time) 16 August 1978 (2nd time) 16 August 1996 (3rd time)	22 years, 277 days
80	Mahathir Mohamad	Malaysia	Prime Minister	16 July 1981 (1st time) 10 May 2018 (2nd time)	31 October 2003 (1st time) present (2nd time)	7003830600000000000♠22 years, 270 days
81	Yahya Jammeh	The Gambia	Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council President	22 July 1994	21 January 2017	7003821900000000000♠22 years, 183 days
82	Benito Mussolini	Italy Italian Social Republic	Prime Minister Duce	31 October 1922 (1st time) 23 September 1943 (2nd time)	25 July 1943 (1st time) 25 April 1945 (2nd time)	22 years, 116 days
83	Sam Hinds	Guyana	Prime Minister President	9 October 1992 (1st time) 22 December 1997 (2nd time) 9 August 1999 (3rd time) 11 August 1999 (4th time)	17 March 1997 (1st time) 9 August 1999 (2nd time) 11 August 1999 (3rd time) 20 May 2015 (4th time)	21 years, 308 days
84	Hassan Gouled Aptidon	Djibouti	Prime Minister President	27 June 1977	8 May 1999	7003795500000000000♠21 years, 285 days
85	Sukarno	Indonesia	President	18 August 1945	12 March 1967	7003787600000000000♠21 years, 206 days
86	Artur Rasizade	Azerbaijan	Prime Minister	20 July 1996 (1st time) 4 November 2003 (2nd time)	4 August 2003 (1st time) 21 April 2018 (2nd time)	21 years, 183 days
87	William Lyon Mackenzie King	Canada	Prime Minister	29 December 1921 (1st time) 25 September 1926 (2nd time) 23 October 1935 (3rd time)	28 June 1926 (1st time) 7 August 1930 (2nd time) 15 November 1948 (3rd time)	21 years, 154 days
88	Siad Barre	Somali Democratic Republic	President of the Supreme Revolutionary Council President	21 October 1969	26 January 1991	7003776700000000000♠21 years, 97 days
89	Daniel Ortega	Nicaragua	Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction ^{[Note 9]} President	4 March 1981 (1st time) 10 January 2007 (2nd time)	25 April 1990 (1st time) present (2nd time)	7003764000000000000♠20 years, 335 days
90	Juvénal Habyarimana	Rwanda	President	5 July 1973	6 April 1994	7003758000000000000♠20 years, 275 days
91	Leabua Jonathan	Lesotho	Prime Minister	7 July 1965	20 January 1986	7003750200000000000♠20 years, 197 days
92	Léopold Sédar Senghor	Senegal	President	6 September 1960	31 December 1980	7003742100000000000♠20 years, 116 days
93	Dame Pearlette Louisy	Saint Lucia	Governor-General	19 September 1997	31 December 2017	7003740800000000000♠20 years, 103 days
94	Ferdinand Marcos	Philippines	President	30 December 1965	25 February 1986	7003736200000000000♠20 years, 57 days
95	Kim Yong-nam	North Korea	President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly ^{[Note 10]}	5 September 1998	present	7003735000000000000♠20 years, 45 days
96	Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	Iceland	President	1 August 1996	1 August 2016	7003730500000000000♠20 years, 0 days
97	William Tolbert	Liberia	Vice President President	1 January 1952 (first time) 23 July 1971 (second time)	23 July 1971 (first time) 12 April 1980 (second time)

Notes

↑ The late Kim Il-sung has been designated "Eternal President of the Republic" and the post of President has formally not been filled since his death on 8 July 1994. However, effectively his son Kim Jong-il and grandson Kim Jong-un have succeeded him as dictators.
↑ After the first time Chiang Kai-shek stepped down in December 1931, his power was shared by Hu Hanmin, Wang Jingwei, and Lin Sen among others. After the second time he left his state position in January 1949, Chiang was succeed by then Vice President Li Zongren. However, Chiang was still the de facto leader of Mainland China until he and the Kuomintang moved to Taiwan in December 1949.
↑
For purposes of this article, 20 October 2011 is considered to be the date that Gaddafi left office. Other dates might have been chosen.
- On 15 July 2011, at a meeting in Istanbul, more than 30 governments, including the United States, withdrew recognition from Gaddafi's government and recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate government of Libya.
- On 23 August 2011, during the Battle of Tripoli, Gaddafi lost effective political and military control of Tripoli after his compound was captured by rebel forces.
- On 25 August 2011, the Arab League proclaimed the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council to be "the legitimate representative of the Libyan state".
- On 20 October 2011, Gaddafi was captured and killed near his hometown of Sirte.
- In a ceremony on 23 October 2011, officials of the interim National Transitional Council declared, "We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hill-tops, mountains, deserts and skies."
↑ Dos Santos was President of the ruling MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) from 20 September 1979 – 7 September 2018.
↑ Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi served as Acting President from 4 June 2011 – 23 September 2011 and again from 23 November 2011 – 27 February 2012.
↑ After leaving office as Prime Minister, Lee was given the emeritus positions of Senior Minister (1990–2004) and Minister Mentor (2004–2011). Lee still had effective influence in the Cabinet until 2011.
↑ The country gained independence from Ethiopia on 23 May 1993. Afwerki was Secretary-General of the Provisional Government from 27 April 1991 – 23 May 1993.
↑ The Council of State junta led by Balaguer existed from 1 January 1962 – 16 January 1962, when it was replaced by the 1962 Civic-Military Junta led by Huberto Bogaert.
↑ Ortega was the Coordinator of the Nicaraguan Junta of National Reconstruction (effectively the head of state) from 4 March 1981 to 10 January 1985; he was then President from 10 January 1985 – 25 April 1990 and 10 January 2007 – present.
↑ The late Kim Il-sung has been designated "Eternal President of North Korea" and the post of President has not been filled since his death on 8 July 1994.

References

1 2 Depalma, Anthony (2011-08-03). "Fidel Castro News". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

External links

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[2] The late Kim Il-sung has been designated "Eternal President of the Republic" and the post of President has formally not been filled since his death on 8 July 1994. However, effectively his son Kim Jong-il and grandson Kim Jong-un have succeeded him as dictators.

[3] After the first time Chiang Kai-shek stepped down in December 1931, his power was shared by Hu Hanmin, Wang Jingwei, and Lin Sen among others. After the second time he left his state position in January 1949, Chiang was succeed by then Vice President Li Zongren. However, Chiang was still the de facto leader of Mainland China until he and the Kuomintang moved to Taiwan in December 1949.

[4] For purposes of this article, 20 October 2011 is considered to be the date that Gaddafi left office. Other dates might have been chosen.
On 15 July 2011, at a meeting in Istanbul, more than 30 governments, including the United States, withdrew recognition from Gaddafi's government and recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate government of Libya.

On 23 August 2011, during the Battle of Tripoli, Gaddafi lost effective political and military control of Tripoli after his compound was captured by rebel forces.

On 25 August 2011, the Arab League proclaimed the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council to be "the legitimate representative of the Libyan state".

On 20 October 2011, Gaddafi was captured and killed near his hometown of Sirte.

In a ceremony on 23 October 2011, officials of the interim National Transitional Council declared, "We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hill-tops, mountains, deserts and skies."

[mwCb0] On 15 July 2011, at a meeting in Istanbul, more than 30 governments, including the United States, withdrew recognition from Gaddafi's government and recognised the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate government of Libya.

[mwCb4] On 23 August 2011, during the Battle of Tripoli, Gaddafi lost effective political and military control of Tripoli after his compound was captured by rebel forces.

[mwCcA] On 25 August 2011, the Arab League proclaimed the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council to be "the legitimate representative of the Libyan state".

[mwCcI] On 20 October 2011, Gaddafi was captured and killed near his hometown of Sirte.

[mwCcM] In a ceremony on 23 October 2011, officials of the interim National Transitional Council declared, "We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hill-tops, mountains, deserts and skies."

[5] Dos Santos was President of the ruling MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) from 20 September 1979 – 7 September 2018.

[6] Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi served as Acting President from 4 June 2011 – 23 September 2011 and again from 23 November 2011 – 27 February 2012.

[7] After leaving office as Prime Minister, Lee was given the emeritus positions of Senior Minister (1990–2004) and Minister Mentor (2004–2011). Lee still had effective influence in the Cabinet until 2011.

[8] The country gained independence from Ethiopia on 23 May 1993. Afwerki was Secretary-General of the Provisional Government from 27 April 1991 – 23 May 1993.

[9] The Council of State junta led by Balaguer existed from 1 January 1962 – 16 January 1962, when it was replaced by the 1962 Civic-Military Junta led by Huberto Bogaert.

[10] Ortega was the Coordinator of the Nicaraguan Junta of National Reconstruction (effectively the head of state) from 4 March 1981 to 10 January 1985; he was then President from 10 January 1985 – 25 April 1990 and 10 January 2007 – present.

[11] The late Kim Il-sung has been designated "Eternal President of North Korea" and the post of President has not been filled since his death on 8 July 1994.

[Castro-1] 1 2 Depalma, Anthony (2011-08-03). "Fidel Castro News". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

List of longest-ruling non-royal national leaders since 1900

See also

Notes

References

External links