Forbes considers Putin the most influential person in the world

Forbes magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin the most influential person in the world.

“Putin continues to argue that he is one of the few people in the world who has enough influence to do whatever he wants and avoid responsibility,” the editorial board explained his choice.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ranked second, moving US President Barack Obama to third. For the first time in the seven-year history of Forbes rankings, the American president was not among the first two leaders on the list consisting of 73 names.

Pope Francis is named the fourth most influential person in the world, just like last year, while Chinese President Xi Jinping dropped to two positions, taking fifth place this year.

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe became the champion in the growth of the rating, rising to a place 22 with 49-th.

Participants in the American presidential race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, also made the rating, taking the 58 and 72 places, respectively.

The highest rating for a newcomer was the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Al Saud, who took the 14 place.

Forbes said that the selection of the most influential people of the planet took into account a number of factors, including "the amount of money they control, the number of people affected, their spheres of influence, and how actively they use their power."

Forum previously wrote about other published Forbes ratings. For example, Forbes recently compiled a rating the highest paid rappers of the world, where 20 musicians got. The leader of the list was Diddy, also known as Puff Daddy or P. Diddy. Between June 2014 and June 2015, the musician earned sixty million dollars.

Recently a rating has been made the most expensive actresses. The most highly paid movie star of the world has become the star of the Hunger Games 25-year-old Jennifer Lawrence. For the year, according to estimates of the publication, she earned 52 million dollars. The top three included Scarlett Johansson from The Avengers and Melissa McCarthy from the movie "The Spy."