Putin Vs. Obama: Forbes Releases World's Most Powerful People 2014

Once again, Russia's  Vladmir Putin has come out on top, followed by President Barack Obama and People's Republic of China leader Xi Jinping, as Forbes releases their list of the 72 most powerful people in the world, Rounding out the top five were Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Editors at the magazine then rank people based on the factors including the number of followers they have (be it the population of their country, number of people who follow their faith, or their employee base), the financial resources at their disposal, and how they use their power.

This year’s list features 17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of some $48 trillion. The 39 CEOs and chairs here control over $3.6 trillion in annual revenues. Among them are 14 founders, including the newcomer billionaires to the list, Alibaba’s Jack Ma and  Tencent’s Ma Huateng. Speaking of, this year’s class has 29 billionaires with a cumulative personal net worth valued in excess of $790 billion.

Here, a quick peek at the Most Powerful People in the World 2014:
  Rank Name Organization                                    Age
  #1    Vladimir Putin Russia                                     62
#2 Barack Obama United States                             53
#3 Xi Jinping         China                                     61
#4 Pope Francis         Catholic Church                          77
#5 Angela Merkel Germany                                     60
#6 Janet Yellen         Washington, United States     68
#7 Bill Gates          Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 59
#8 Mario Draghi          European Central Bank              67
#9 Sergey Brin          Google                                      41
#9 Larry Page          Google                                      41
#10 David Cameron United Kingdom                      48

View full list on Forbes Here