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People Politicians and leaders Post-1945 Asia

Asia

Southeastern Asia

Central Asia, Iran, Caucasus

A. K. Fazlul Huq

Bengali statesman and jurist (1873–1962)

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

President of India from 2002 to 2007

Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi

President of Yemen from 2012 to 2022

Abdul Ghani Baradar

Co-founder and political leader of the Afghan Taliban

Abdul Halim of Kedah

Sultan of Kedah

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani

Bangladeshi Political leader (1880-1976)

Abdul Majeed Didi

Lord of Twelve Thousand Isles,

Abdul Salam Arif

20th-century Iraqi politician

Abdul-Karim Qasim

Prime Minister of Iraq from 1958 to 1963

Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah

11h Ruler of Kuwait and 1st Emir of the State of Kuwait

Abdullah al-Sallal

First president of North Yemen

Turkish politician

Abdullah I of Jordan

Ruler of Transjordan and Jordan from 1921 to 1951

Abdullah II of Jordan

King of Jordan since 1999

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia (2005-2015)

Abdurrahman Wahid

President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001

Abolhassan Banisadr

1st President of Iran from 1980 to 1981

Turkish politician

Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani

Ahmad bin Yahya

King and Imam of Yemen from 1948 to 1962

Ahmad Shah of Pahang

Yang di-Pertuan Agong from 1979 to 1984

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

4th president of Iraq

Ahmet Necdet Sezer

10th President of Turkey

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

President of Iran from 1989 to 1997

2nd leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Emperor of Japan from 1989 to 2019

Ali Abdullah Saleh

President of Yemen, 1978 to 2012

Supreme Leader of Iran since 1989

Syrian politician and army general (1921–2009)

Prime Minister of Malaysia since 2022

Prime Minister of Israel and Israeli general

President of Afghanistan

Kyrgyz politician

First Lady of Syria (born 1975)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

10th Prime Minister of India (1996, 1998–2004)

Ayaz Mutallibov

President of Azerbaijan from 1990 to 1992

President of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969

Former President of Burma

Afghanistan politician of Tajik ethnicity communist politician (1929–1996)

Lebanese politician and a resistance commander and President of Lebanon (1947-1982)

South Korean politician and diplomat

Emperor of Vietnam from 1926 to 1945

Bashar al-Assad

President of Syria since 2000

Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988–1990; 1993–1996)

Benigno Aquino III

15th President of the Philippines

Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister of Israel (1996–1999; 2009–2021; since 2022)

Bhumibol Adulyadej

King of Thailand

Bidya Devi Bhandari

Current president of Nepal

Birendra of Nepal

Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022

Turkish politician; President of Turkey (1950-1960)

Israeli politician

Chandra Shekhar

Prime Minister of India from 1990 to 1991

Chandrika Kumaratunga

20th century President of Sri Lanka

South Korean politician (1899–1966)

Prime Minister of India from 1979 to 1980

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum

Cambodian politician

Taiwanese former politician

Chiang Ching-kuo

Former president of Taiwan

British politician (born 1944)

Leader of South Korea from 1979 to 1988

President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992

D. S. Senanayake

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

David Ben-Gurion

Israeli politician, Zionist leader, prime minister of Israel

Chinese politician and paramount leader

Diosdado Macapagal

9th President of the Philippines

Dipendra of Nepal

Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012

Former acting President of the People's Republic of China (1886–1975)

Chinese politician

Eduard Shevardnadze

Georgian politician and diplomat (1928–2014)

Prime Minister of Israel from 1999 to 2001

61st, 62nd and 63rd Prime Minister of Japan (1901–1975)

Elpidio Quirino

President of the Philippines from 1948 to 1953

Hong Kong politician and social activist (1913-2015)

President of Tajikistan (1992–present)

Fahd of Saudi Arabia

Saudi king from 1982 to 2005

3rd king of Hashemite Iraq

Faisal of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975

Ferdinand Marcos

President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986

Chief Executive of Macau (2009-2019)

President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998

Third president of Lebanon (1902-1973)

Francisco Xavier do Amaral

Timorese (1937-2012)

George Vassiliou

3rd President of the Republic of Cyprus (1988-1993)

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010

2nd Prime Minister of Singapore

Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974

Gulzarilal Nanda

Two-time Acting Prime Minister of India

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow

President of Turkmenistan

Gyanendra of Nepal

Former King of Nepal

H. D. Deve Gowda

Prime Minister of India from 1996 to 1997

Former President of Syria

Hafizullah Amin

Afghan communist politician (1929–1979)

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

Emir/King of Bahrain since 1999

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013

President of Afghanistan

President of Iran since 2013

Hassanal Bolkiah

Sultan of Brunei

Prime Minister of Japan from 1960 to 1964

Soviet-Azerbaijani politician; President of Azerbaijan (1993-2003)

Hibatullah Akhundzada

Supreme leader of Afghanistan since 2021

Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989

Leader of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 2002 to 2012

Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

Leader of China from 1976 to 1978

Prime Minister of Cambodia (1985–1993, 1998–2023)

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy

Bengali politician,lawyer and Prime Minister of Pakistan

Hussain Muhammad Ershad

Former President of Bangladesh

Hussein of Jordan

King of Jordan (r. 1952–1999)

Former president of Bangladesh (1931-2012)

Maldivian politician, 2nd president of the Maldives (1922-2008)

President of Azerbaijan since 2003

10th First Lady of the Philippines

Inder Kumar Gujral

12th Prime Minister of India

Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and 1980 to 1984

Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa

Emir of Bahrain from 1961 to 1999

President of Uzbekistan from 1991 to 2016

İsmet İnönü

Turkish politician (1884–1973)

J. R. Jayewardene

President of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989

Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah

Emir of Kuwait from 1977 to 2006

6th president of Iraq

Jang Song-thaek

North Korean government official (1946–2013)

Jawaharlal Nehru

First Prime Minister of India

Chinese Political Figure

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2002

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

Jigme Singye Wangchuck

King Father of Bhutan

President of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024

José Ramos-Horta

4th President of East Timor (2007-2012)

Junichiro Koizumi

Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006

K. R. Narayanan

The 10th President of India

Bangladeshi politician

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

President of Kazakhstan since 2019

Kaysone Phomvihane

First General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (r. 1955-1992)

Former prime minister of Bangladesh, chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP

Khalid of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia (1975—1982)

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan

2nd Ra'is of the United Arab Emirates

Khawaja Nazimuddin

Bengali politician and Prime Minister of Pakistan (1894-1964)

8th President of South Korea (1998-2003)

Founder and first leader of North Korea

Second supreme leader of North Korea

Leader of North Korea since 2011

Brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

South Korean educator, activist, journalist, entrepreneur and politician (1891-1955)

North Korean politician (born 1987)

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly

President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998

Thai politician (1911-1995)

Kurmanbek Bakiyev

20th and 21st-century Kyrgyzstani politician

Lal Bahadur Shastri

2nd prime minister of India

Lê Đức Thọ

Vietnamese diplomat (1911–1990)

Lee Hsien Loong

3rd Prime Minister of Singapore

Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990

17th President of South Korea

President of Taiwan from 1988 to 2000

Leslie Goonewardene

Sri Lankan politician

Leung Chun-ying

Chinese politician

Levon Ter-Petrosyan

Armenian politician

Former Premier of the People's Republic of China (1928–2019)

Former President of the People's Republic of China

Liaquat Ali Khan

First Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

2nd President of the People's Republic of China (1898–1969)

Lu Wei (politician)

Chinese politician

Lyudvig Chibirov

South Ossetian politician; former President of South Ossetia (born 1938)

President of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016

Mahathir Mohamad

Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981–2003, 2018–2020)

Mahendra of Nepal

King of Nepal from 1955 to 1972

President of Palestine since 2005

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President of Iran from 2005 to 2013

Archbishop of Cyprus from 1950 to 1977 and 1st President of Cyprus

Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014

First President of the Philippines

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Matsutarō Shōriki

Japanese journalist and media mogul

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

3rd President of the Maldives from 1978 to 2008

Megawati Sukarnoputri

President of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004

6th Prime Minister of Israel (1977-83)

Mikheil Saakashvili

Georgian-Ukrainian politician, former President of Georgia and former Governor of Odessa

Mohamed Amin Didi

1st president of the Maldives (1910–1954)

Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

Mohammad Ali Bogra

Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1953 to 1955

Mohammad Daoud Khan

Afghan military officer and politician

Mohammad Khatami

President of Iran from 1997 to 2005

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Prime Minister of Iran in the 1950s

Mohammad Najibullah

Leader of Afghanistan from 1986 to 1992

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979

Mohammad Zahir Shah

King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973

Mohammad-Ali Rajai

President of Iran in 1981

Mohammad-Javad Bahonar

Iranian politician (1933-1981)

Mohammed bin Salman

Saudi crown prince and minister of defence

President of South Korea from 2017 to 2022

Prime Minister of India from 1977 to 1979

Israeli politician

2nd Prime Minister of Israel from 1954 to 1955

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Founder and 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (1876–1948)

Muhammad Fareed Didi

Sultan of Maldives

Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i

1st president of Iraq

Afghan militant leader (1960–2013)

Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch

British politician

Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018

Prime Minister of India since 2014

Emperor of Japan since 2019

Prime Minister of Pakistan (1990–1993; 1997–1999; 2013–2017)

20th-century Burmese politician and general

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

President of India from 1978 to 1982

20th-century President of the Republic of Vietnam

Nguyễn Khánh

20th-century South Vietnamese military officer

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

President of South Vietnam from 1965–75

Nicolau dos Reis Lobato

Prime Minister of East Timor

Filipino Senator and a former Governor of Tarlac

56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan (1896-1987)

Norodom Sihamoni

King of Cambodia since 2004

Norodom Sihanouk

King of Cambodia (1941–1955; 1993–2004)

Nouri al-Maliki

Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014

Nur Muhammad Taraki

Former president of Afghanistan

Nursultan Nazarbayev

Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan

Omar Ali Saifuddien III

Sultan of Brunei from 1950 to 1967

P. V. Narasimha Rao

Prime Minister of India from 1991 to 1996

Leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979

Eighteenth President of South Korea

South Korean politician (1955–2020)

Pervez Musharraf

Army general who became 10th President of Pakistan after a military coup d'etat

20th-century Cambodian Communist revolutionary and politician

Pranab Mukherjee

13th President of India (1935–2020)

12th President of India

Prayut Chan-o-cha

Thai politician, current Prime Minister of Thailand

Prem Tinsulanonda

Prime Minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1988

Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat

1st President of Mongolia (1990-97)

Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Nepalese politician and former prime minister

Qaboos bin Said

Sultan of Oman from 1970 to 2020

Qahhor Mahkamov

Soviet politician, then president of Tajikistan (1990–1991)

Queen Rania of Jordan

Queen consort of Jordan

Former Prime Minister of Lebanon

Rajendra Prasad

President of India from 1950 to 1962

Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989

Ram Baran Yadav

First President of Nepal

Ramon Magsaysay

7th President of the Philippines

Lebanese politician

Founding President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

President of Turkey since 2014

Lebanese politician (1894–1951)

Robert Kocharyan

Armenian politician

Rodrigo Duterte

President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022

President of South Korea from 2003 to 2008

Ruhollah Khomeini

Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989

Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah

Emir of Kuwait in 2006

Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah

12th Ruler of Kuwait and 2nd Emir of the State of Kuwait

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003

Said bin Taimur

Salah al-Din al-Bitar

Syrian politician (1912-1980)

Salman of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia since 2015

First President of Burma and Last Saopha of Yawnghwe

Saparmurat Niyazov

Turkmen politician

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

President of India from 1962 to 1967

Saud of Saudi Arabia

King of Saudi Arabia between 1953 and 1964

Serdar Berdimuhamedow

3rd President of Turkmenistan since 2022

3rd President of Armenia

Shavkat Mirziyoyev

President of Uzbekistan since 2016

Current Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Bangladeshi politician and revolutionary (1920–1975)

Sher Bahadur Deuba

Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal

Shigeru Yoshida

Prime minister of Japan (1878–1967)

Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister and then President of Israel (1923-2016)

Shintaro Ishihara

Japanese politician and author, Governor of Tokyo

Prime Minister of Japan (2006–2007, 2012–2020)

Shukri al-Quwatli

President of Syria (1891–1967)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Sri Lankan politician

Sisavang Vatthana

Last monarch of the Kingdom of Laos (reigned 1959-75)

Indian politician

Soong Ching-ling

Chinese political figure

Laotian politician

Spyros Kyprianou

2nd President of the Republic of Cyprus (1932–2002)

President of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998

President of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967

Süleyman Demirel

President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000

Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi

Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

President of Indonesia from 2004 to 2014

President of South Korea from 1948 to 1960

Bangladeshi politician and First Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1925-1975)

Talal of Jordan

Turkish politician, who has been the first female prime minister of the country

Japanese politician

Thaksin Shinawatra

Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006

Burmese senior general, commander in chief of all armed forces and Prime Minister

Thein Sein, the 8th President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016

Tôn Đức Thắng

President of North Vietnam (1888-1980)

Taiwanese politician; 18th President of Taiwan

Politician and businessman from Hong Kong

Tunku Abdul Rahman

Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970

8th president of Turkey

Third Secretary-General of the United Nations

Founder Janata Dal

King of Thailand

Vallabhbhai Patel

Indian independence activist (1875–1950)

Vladislav Ardzinba

Soviet-Abkhaz politician; President of Abkhazia (1945-2010)

Premier of China from 2003 to 2013

William Gopallawa

Sri Lankan President (1897-1981)

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971

Former President of the People's Republic of China

President of Palestine from 1989 to 2004

Yasuhiro Nakasone

Japanese politician

Former Head of State of the People's Republic of China (1897-1986)

Yingluck Shinawatra

Prime Minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014

Prime Minister of Israel (1974–1977; 1992–1995)

Israeli politician; Prime Minister of Israel (1983-1984, 1986-1992)

99th Prime Minister of Japan

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal

Prime Minister of Mongolia from 26 January 1952 to 11 June 1974 and President of Mongolia from 11 June 1974 to 8 August 1984

President of South Korea from 1960 to 1962

President of India from 1967 to 1969

Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

Sheikh of Abu Dhabi

Former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

Chinese politician (1898–1976)

Retired Chinese politician

Sixth President of Pakistan from 1978 to 1988 (1924–1988)

Former President of Bangladesh

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan (1928–1979)