The heads of China, Russia and the United States firmly established themselves among the top three most influential figures in the world. The rating is compiled by Forbes magazine. It is noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin went down one line, having passed on the first place the chairman of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping. Despite this, the publication calls "unprecedented" the fact that the Russian leader is in the ranking on the leading positions in the last four years - from 2013 to 2016. In Forbes consider Putin's Putin in the presidential election of 2018 "the most significant victory for a candidate for an elected post for all time since the collapse of the USSR". The phenomenon of the leader of China is explained by the fact that he was able to consolidate the power more than others. In the middle of March, recallers of the list remind, deputies of the National People's Congress not only re-elected Jinping to the post of chairman of the PRC, but also removed from the Constitution a limit on the maximum number of terms. Now the Chinese leader will be able to remain at the head of the Celestial Empire and after 2023. As for the American president Donald Trump, he fell to the third place in the new rating from the second place. "Trump was accompanied only by limited success in promoting his program through Congress, where the majority belongs to his party," Forbes points out.. He is the head of "the country with the most powerful economy and armed forces," even in spite of scandals related to his personal life, as well as the investigation of his alleged ties with Moscow, writes the publication. In addition to this trio, the top ten included the following worthy personalities:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Pope Francis, creator of Microsoft Bill Gates, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed ibn Salman Al Saud, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, co-founder of Google Larry Page. In the list of the most influential figures of 75 names, the last line is the head of FIFA Gianni Infantino.

The previous rating was published by the magazine in December 2016. The first three included Putin, Trump and Merkel, while the leader of China took the fourth place. In 2017 Forbes did not make a list.