Angela Merkel tops 2019 Forbes’ List of World’s most-powerful women

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has topped the Forbes’ 2019 edition of 100 World’s Most Powerful Women for the ninth consecutive year. She was joined in top spots by fellow prominent female political leaders. The 65-year-old German leader has made 14 appearances in list’s 16-year history of Forbes magazine which releases a wide-ranging list intended to celebrate 100 most influential females. She was praised for standing up to US President Donald Trump and for allowing over a million Syrian refugees into Germany.

Other Winners:

Every year Forbes’ magazine annually compiles a list of influential women leaders from around the world in politics, business and entertainment.

Top 5: In this year’s list, Angela Merkel was followed by Christine Lagarde, president of European Central Bank (ECB) and has earlier served as MD of International Monetary Fund (IMF). Christine rose to the second spot in the list after standing at number 22 last year on same list. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives, stood at number 3 as the highest-ranking and most powerful female elected official in American political history. Ursula Von Der Leyen, President of European Commission stood at number No. 4 and Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors stood at number 5.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, too, found a spot on 2019 Forbes’ list. She was ranked 34, ahead of Queen Elizabeth II, who is at number 40, and Ivanka Trump, who stood at number 42.

Swedish teen environmentalist Greta Thunberg, who was recently named Time’s Person of the Year, stood at 100th spot on 2019 Forbes’ list.