Top powerful people of 2011

Rank 1: Barack Obama

The US president topped the 2011 Forbes magazine's list of powerful people. 'Despite faddish American declinism, the U.S. remains, indisputably, the most powerful nation in the world, with the largest, most innovative economy and the deadliest military,' Forbes said. Obama also successfully killed the US top enemy, Osama bin Laden, in May this year. AP

Rank 2: Vladimir Putin

The autocratic Russian leader is expected to remain in office until 2024. Putin is also attempting for a new economic union of Russia and several former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine, by 2015, the magazine said. AP

Rank 3: Hu Jintao

According to Forbes, although Hu currently holds all 3 top offices in China, he will gradually give up his titles over the next few years, as part of a well-orchestrated succession plan, starting from next year. His presumed successor, Xi ­Jinping, will assume the Chinese presidency a year later. AP

Rank 4: Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the world's most powerful woman, heads Europe's most vibrant economy and is widely viewed as the de facto leader of the EU, Forbes said. A recent poll in France showed that the French have more faith in Germany's leader (46%) than in their own president, Nicolas Sarkozy (33%). She also refused to support NATO air strikes in Libya. AP

Rank 5: Bill Gates

The world's second-richest man, and the chairman of Microsoft, whose focus on creating, promoting and distributing vaccines is having a massive impact on global health. Gates' goal is to eliminate infectious disease as a major cause of death in his lifetime. He may succeed. Malaria vaccine he backed ­recently passed a key clinical trial. The vaccine has the potential to save millions of lives, Forbes said. AP

Rank 6: Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud

According to Forbes, the King Abdullah is one of the world's few remaining absolute monarchs. The Saudi King has continued to pursue an agenda of moderate reform in the desert kingdom that contains 20% of the world's known oil reserves and Islam's 2 holiest sites. Recently granted women the right to vote in local elections and has consistently nudged the nation's educational system out from under clerical control. Yet al Saud is no liberal: He opposed the Arab Spring, spending more than $130 billion on social projects designed to quell any domestic pro-democracy movement. AP

Rank 7: Pope Benedict XVI

The spiritual leader to 1.2 billion people, about a sixth of the world's population, delivers the final word on matters of abortion, gay marriage, female priests and, most recently, Occupy Wall Street, Forbes said. AP

Rank 8: Ben Bernanke

The chief of US Federal Reserve has injected billions of dollar into the U.S. economy to avoid a global recession. All of the Republican party presidential candidates have vowed that they will fire Bernanke if elected, Forbes said. AP

Rank 9: Mark Zuckerberg

The Facebook founder has done what the CIA failed to do. His creation, Facebook, knows what 800 million people, more than 10% of the world's population, think, read and listen to. Internet users spend more time on Facebook than on any other site. The Harvard dropout is now creating his own monetary system, Facebook Credits, to facilitate transactions and profits. He is now America's 14th-richest man, according to Forbes. AP

Rank 10: David Cameron

The British Prime Minister now serves as the U.K.'s punching bag, Forbes said. Cameron faces a splintering coalition and rebellion from within as Conservatives balk at his refusal to withdraw from or renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU, the magazine added. Even there, he has few friends. 'You have lost a good opportunity to shut up,' France's Nicolas Sarkozy recently sneered at Cameron when he insisted on attending a meeting on the euro crisis. 'We are sick of you criticizing us and telling us what to do. You say you hate the euro, and now you want to interfere in our meetings.' AP

Rank 11: Sonia Gandhi

India's most powerful politician has twice ­refused to serve as prime minister, delegating that job to Manmohan Singh, Forbes said. She was out of the country seeking medical attention during the nation-shaking anti-corruption hunger strike by Anna Hazare. Reuters

Rank 19: Manmohan Singh

The incorruptible Cambridge-and Oxford-educated economist is widely respected as the man behind India's economic reforms, which have led to the subcontinent's blistering growth over the last decade. However, spreading the benefits to the poorest ­remains difficult although the Indian GDP grows at 8% this year, according to Forbes. Reuters

Rank 34: Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

Pakistan's de facto leader runs a nuclear-armed country filled with anti-American extremists in a center of geopolitical instability, Forbes said. Osama bin Laden was found in a compound right next door to the Pakistani military establishment. AFP

Rank 35: Mukesh Ambani

The chairman of Reliance Industries signed a $7.2-billion deal with BP, which took 30% in 23 of its oil-and-gas blocks in India. However, subsequent government auditor's report alleging it had breached terms of its contract for developing one of those blocks and possible probe by federal investigating agency cast pall over Reliance's shares, down 11% in past year, according to Forbes. Reliance Industries briefly ceded spot to state-owned coal miner Coal India in August. AP

Rank 47: Lakshmi Mittal

Shares of his ArcelorMittal, world's largest steelmaker, tanked 40% thanks to surging costs, despite an ongoing recovery in steel demand. Company expanded mining interests, buying Canadian miner Baffinland Iron Mines in January. In August it partnered with Peabody Energy to buy Australia's Macarthur Coal for $4.9 billion, according to Forbes. Reuters

Rank 50: Bill Clinton

According to Forbes magazine, the former US president's Clinton Global Initiative tackles everything from clean water to maternal health and has helped 300 million people since 2005. He also started a microlending initiative for small-business owners in Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. AP

Rank 51: Dalai Lama - 51st

The Tibetan spiritual leader remains a potent political thorn in the side of China despite plans to step down as Tibetan head of state in exile, Forbes said. AP

Rank 56: Ahmed Shuja Pasha

As the U.S. hopes for a smooth withdrawal from Afghanistan hinge on Pasha, U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen called the Haqqani network, which attacked the U.S. embassy in Kabul, 'a veritable arm' of Pakistan's intelligence service. AP

Rank 57: Dawood Kaskar

Organized crime figure is suspected of involvement in both the 1993 and 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and remains a major point of contention on the subcontinent. While India insists he resides in Karachi, Pakistan denies any knowledge of him. In September top Pakistani army and intelligence brass were reported attending wedding of Dawood's son Moin Nawaz at a Karachi mansion known as the 'White House', according to Forbes. AP

Rank 61: Azim Premji

His $7 billion (revenues) IT exporter has been underperforming of late. Premji donated $2 billion worth of shares last December to a trust to fund his education charity. AP

Dropped from list: Oprah Winfrey

After three quarters of unexpectedly weak ratings, the queen of talk is fighting to revive her floundering cable network. Her channel, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), has fallen short of expectations and ratings have tanked, according to Forbes.

Dropped from list: Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, or DSK as he is known, was forced to resign from his post in the aftermath of a highly publicized sexual assault case in a French-owned hotel in New York. The criminal case was ultimately dismissed by the city's District Attorney, who argued that Nafissatou Diallo, the Guinean-born Sofitel maid who had made the charges, lacked sufficient credibility. AP

Dropped from list: Osama Bin Laden

World's deadliest terrorist was killed by U.S special forces in May this year. AP

Dropped from list: Steve Jobs

Former Apple CEO, a tech visionary, who revolutionised personal computing, mobile usage and animation, died this year. AP

Dropped from list: Julian Assange

Julian Assange will be extradited from the United Kingdom to Sweden to face questioning over alleged sex crimes. Reuters