Protocol holds that a head of state takes precedence over all other officials,
and that heads of state rank in the order that they took office. The following list contains the heads of state for all United Nations member states and non-member observer states.
Commonwealth realms, other than the United Kingdom, each have a local governor-general appointed to represent the monarch in the realm's government. Governors-general are frequently accorded the status and privileges of a head of state at diplomatic events when considered as representing their absentee monarch, but not as heads of state themselves. The co-princes of Andorra each have a representative as well. Hereditary Prince Alois is permanent representative for exercising the sovereign powers due to Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II. They are included in the list and are highlighted in blue.
However, in many cases it is not this neutral principle but national rules of protocol that are acted upon, usually by an international event's host nation, as in many bilateral and even certain multilateral occasions. Various international organisations have a system for internal use. Even in the presence of one or more heads of state, certain occasions are governed by specific protocol, e.g. military. Thus in many cases precedence is given to monarchs over republican heads of state, mostly in monarchies; in some nations, the Pope (himself a monarchical head of state) ranks above secular heads of state, especially in Roman Catholic countries.
States recognised by the United Nations
Current
{| class="wikitable sortable" border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-bgcolor="#cccccc"
!Title
!Name
!Assumed office
!Country
|-
||King||Carl XVI Gustaf||15 September 1973||
|-
||President||Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo||3 August 1979||
|-
||President||Paul Biya||6 November 1982||
|-
||Sultan||Hassanal Bolkiah||1 January 1984||
|-
||President||Yoweri Museveni||26 January 1986||
|-
||King||Mswati III||25 April 1986||rowspan="2"|
|-
|Queen Mother
|Ntfombi
|10 August 1983
|-
||Reigning Prince||Hans-Adam II||13 November 1989||
|-
||King||Harald V||17 January 1991||
|-
||President||Emomali Rahmon||20 November 1992||
|-
||President||Isaias Afwerki||24 May 1993||
|-
||President||Alexander Lukashenko||20 July 1994||
|-
||King||Letsie III||7 February 1996||
|-
||President||Denis Sassou Nguesso||25 October 1997||
|-
||King||Abdullah II||7 February 1999||
|-
||King||Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa||6 March 1999||
|-
||President||Ismaïl Omar Guelleh||8 May 1999||
|-
||King||Mohammed VI||23 July 1999||
|-
||President||Paul Kagame||24 March 2000||
|-
||President||Ilham Aliyev||31 October 2003||
|-
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||6 April 2005||
|-
||King||Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck||9 December 2006||
|-
||Co-President||Daniel Ortega||10 January 2007||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Alassane Ouattara||4 December 2010||
|-
||President||Salva Kiir Mayardit||9 July 2011||
|-
||King||Tupou VI||18 March 2012||
|-
||President||Vladimir Putin||7 May 2012||
|-
||De jure President||Nicolás Maduro||5 March 2013||'
|-
||President||Xi Jinping||14 March 2013||
|-
||King||Willem-Alexander||30 April 2013||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||Emir||Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani||25 June 2013||
|-
||King||Philippe||21 July 2013||
|-
||President||Abdel Fattah el-Sisi||8 June 2014||
|-
||King||Felipe VI||19 June 2014||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Recep Tayyip Erdoğan||28 August 2014||
|-
||King||Salman||23 January 2015||
|-
||President||Sergio Mattarella||3 February 2015||
|-
||Federal Councillor||Guy Parmelin||1 January 2016||
|-
||President||Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa||9 March 2016||
|-
||President||Taneti Maamau||11 March 2016||
|-
||President||Faustin-Archange Touadéra||30 March 2016||
|-
||President||Patrice Talon||6 April 2016||
|-
||President||Azali Assoumani||26 May 2016||
|-
||President||Shavkat Mirziyoyev||8 September 2016||
|-
||King||Maha Vajiralongkorn||13 October 2016||
|-
||President||Adama Barrow||19 January 2017||
|-
|Federal President||Alexander Van der Bellen||26 January 2017||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||Federal President||Frank-Walter Steinmeier||19 March 2017||
|-
||President||rowspan="2"|Emmanuel Macron||rowspan="2"|14 May 2017||
|-
||Co-Prince||
|-
||President||Aleksandar Vučić||31 May 2017||
|-
||O le Ao o le Malo||Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II||21 July 2017||
|-
||President||João Lourenço||26 September 2017||
|-
||Federal Councillor||Ignazio Cassis||1 November 2017||
|-
||President||Emmerson Mnangagwa||24 November 2017||
|-
||President||Cyril Ramaphosa||15 February 2018||
|-
|President||Julius Maada Bio||4 April 2018||
|-
|President of the Council of State||Miguel Díaz-Canel||19 April 2018||
|-
|Presidency Member||Željko Komšić||20 November 2018||
|-
||President||Salome Zourabichvili||16 December 2018||
|-
||Federal Councillor||Karin Keller-Sutter||1 January 2019||
|-
||President||Félix Tshisekedi||24 January 2019||
|-
||President||Kassym-Jomart Tokayev||20 March 2019||
|-
|President of the State Affairs Commission||Kim Jong-un||11 April 2019||
|-
||Emperor||Naruhito||1 May 2019||
|-
||President||Volodymyr Zelenskyy||20 May 2019||
|-
||President||Nayib Bukele||1 June 2019||
|-
|President||Gitanas Nausėda||12 July 2019||
|-
|President||Mohamed Ould Ghazouani||1 August 2019||
|-
|President||Kaïs Saïed||23 October 2019||
|-
||President||Abdelmadjid Tebboune||19 December 2019||
|-
||Sultan||Haitham bin Tariq||11 January 2020||
|-
|President||Zoran Milanović||18 February 2020||
|-
||President||Évariste Ndayishimiye||18 June 2020||
|-
|President||Irfaan Ali||2 August 2020||
|-
|President||Luis Abinader||16 August 2020||
|-
||President||Maia Sandu||24 December 2020||
|-
|President||Surangel Whipps Jr.||21 January 2021||
|-
|President||Sadyr Japarov||28 January 2021||
|-
|Chairman of the Presidential Council||Mohamed al-Menfi||15 March 2021||
|-
||President||Samia Suluhu||17 March 2021||
|-
||President||Thongloun Sisoulith||22 March 2021||
|-
||President||Mahamat Déby Itno||20 April 2021||
|-
|<br /><br />President: 8 July 2025present||Assimi Goïta||24 May 2021||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh||25 June 2021||
|-
|President||Isaac Herzog||7 July 2021||
|------bgcolor=#f0f0f8
|||||26 July 2021||
|-
||Supreme Leader (unrecognized)||Hibatullah Akhundzada||15 August 2021||
|-
||President||Hakainde Hichilema||24 August 2021||
|-
||President||Mamady Doumbouya||5 September 2021||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Carlos Vila Nova||2 October 2021||
|-
||President||Alar Karis||11 October 2021||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||José Maria Neves ||9 November 2021||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
|Presidency||Transitional Sovereignty Council||11 November 2021||
|-
||President||Gabriel Boric||11 March 2022||
|-
||President||Vahagn Khachaturyan||13 March 2022||
|-
||President||Serdar Berdimuhamedow||19 March 2022||
|-
||Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council||Rashad al-Alimi||7 April 2022||
|-
||President||Rodrigo Chaves Robles||8 May 2022||
|-
||President||Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan||14 May 2022||
|-
||President||José Ramos-Horta||20 May 2022||
|-
||President||Hassan Sheikh Mohamud||23 May 2022||
|-
||President||Bongbong Marcos||30 June 2022||
|-
||President||Nikenike Vurobaravu||23 July 2022||
|-
||President||Bajram Begaj||24 July 2022||
|-
||President||Droupadi Murmu||25 July 2022||
|-
||President||Gustavo Petro||7 August 2022||
|-
||King||rowspan="15"|Charles III|| rowspan="15" |8 September 2022||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||King||
|-
||President||William Ruto||13 September 2022||
|-
||Interim President||Ibrahim Traoré||30 September 2022||
|-
|Presidency||||16 November 2022||
|-
||President||Nataša Pirc Musar||23 December 2022||
|-
||President||Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva||1 January 2023||
|-
||Federal Councillor||||1 January 2023||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Nikos Christodoulides||28 February 2023||
|-
||President||Petr Pavel||9 March 2023||
|-
||President||Ram Chandra Poudel||13 March 2023||
|-
||President||Christine Kangaloo||20 March 2023||
|-
||President||Mohammed Shahabuddin||24 April 2023||
|-
||President||Wesley Simina||11 May 2023||
|-
||President||Jakov Milatović||20 May 2023||
|-
||President||Bola Tinubu||29 May 2023||
|-
|President||Edgars Rinkēvičs||8 July 2023||
|-
||Transitional President||Abdourahamane Tchiani||26 July 2023||
|-
||President||Santiago Peña||15 August 2023||
|-
||President||Brice Oligui Nguema||30 August 2023||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
|||||1 September 2023||
|-
||President||Tharman Shanmugaratnam||14 September 2023||
|-
|President||Sylvanie Burton||2 October 2023||
|-
|President||David Adeang||30 October 2023||
|-
||President||Mohamed Muizzu||17 November 2023||
|-
||President||Daniel Noboa||23 November 2023||
|-
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Javier Milei||10 December 2023||
|-
||Emir||Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah||16 December 2023||
|-
||Federal Councillor||Beat Jans||1 January 2024||
|-
||President||Hilda Heine ||3 January 2024||
|-
||King||Frederik X||14 January 2024||
|-
|President||Bernardo Arévalo||15 January 2024||
|-
||President||Joseph Boakai||22 January 2024||
|-
||King||Ibrahim Iskandar||31 January 2024||
|-
||President||Alexander Stubb||1 March 2024||
|-
||President||Tamás Sulyok||5 March 2024||
|-
|President
|Asif Ali Zardari|| 10 March 2024||
|-
|President||Bassirou Diomaye Faye||2 April 2024||
|-
||President||Myriam Spiteri Debono||4 April 2024||
|-
||President||Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova||12 May 2024||
|-
||President||Peter Pellegrini ||15 June 2024||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||José Raúl Mulino||1 July 2024||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
|Acting President||Min Aung Hlaing||22 July 2024||
|-
||President||Masoud Pezeshkian||28 July 2024||
|-
||President||Halla Tómasdóttir||1 August 2024||
|-
||President||Anura Kumara Dissanayake||23 September 2024||
|-
||President||Claudia Sheinbaum||1 October 2024||
|-
||President||Taye Atske Selassie||7 October 2024||
|-
||President||Prabowo Subianto||20 October 2024||
|-
||President||Lương Cường||21 October 2024||
|-
|President||Duma Boko||1 November 2024||
|-
||President||Naiqama Lalabalavu||12 November 2024||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||President||Dharam Gokhool||6 December 2024||
|-
|President||Ahmed al-Sharaa||8 December 2024||
|-
||President||Mikheil Kavelashvili||29 December 2024||
|-
||President||John Mahama||7 January 2025||
|-
||President||Joseph Aoun||9 January 2025||
|-
||President||Daniel Chapo||15 January 2025||
|-
|President|||Donald Trump||20 January 2025|||
|-
||Co-President||Rosario Murillo||18 February 2025||
|-
|President||Yamandú Orsi||1 March 2025||
|-
||President||Konstantinos Tasoulas||13 March 2025||
|-
||President||Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah||21 March 2025||
|-
||Federal Councillor||Martin Pfister||1 April 2025||
|-
||President||Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové||3 May 2025||
|-
||Pope||Leo XIV||8 May 2025||
|-
||President||Nicușor Dan||26 May 2025||
|-
||Co-Prince||Bishop Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat||31 May 2025||
|-
||President||Lee Jae-myung||4 June 2025||
|-
|President||Jennifer Geerlings-Simons||16 July 2025||
|-
||President||Karol Nawrocki||6 August 2025||
|-
||Grand Duke||Guillaume V||3 October 2025||
|-
|President||Peter Mutharika||4 October 2025||
|-
||President||Michael Randrianirina||17 October 2025||
|-
||President||Patrick Herminie||26 October 2025||
|-
|President||Rodrigo Paz Pereira||8 November 2025||
|-
||President||Catherine Connolly||11 November 2025||
|-
|Transitional President||Horta Inta-A Na Man||27 November 2025||
|-
||President||Jeffrey Bostic||30 November 2025||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
||||||||
|-
||Acting President||Delcy Rodríguez||3 January 2026||
|-----bgcolor=#f0f0f8
|||||||
|-
|President||Iliana Iotova||23 January 2026||
|-
||President||Nasry Asfura||27 January 2026||
|-
||Acting President||Alix Didier Fils-Aimé||7 February 2026||
|-
|President||José María Balcázar||18 February 2026||
|----- bgcolor="#f0f0f8"
||||||||
|-
|rowspan=2|Captains Regent
|Alice Mina
|rowspan=2|1 April 2026
|rowspan=2|
|-
|Vladimiro Selva
|-
||President||Nizar Amidi||11 April 2026||
|}
States with limited recognition
Current
{| class="wikitable sortable" border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-bgcolor="#cccccc"
!Title
!Name
!Assumed office
!Country
|-
||President||Brahim Ghali||12 July 2016||
|-
||President||Vadim Krasnoselsky||16 December 2016||
|-
||President||Alan Gagloyev||24 May 2022||
|-
||President||Lai Ching-te||20 May 2024|| (Taiwan)
|-
||President||Badra Gunba||19 November 2024||
|-
||President||Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi||12 December 2024||
|-
||President||Tufan Erhürman||24 October 2025||
|-
||Acting President||Albulena Haxhiu||4 April 2026||
|}
<!-- ===Incoming===
{| class="wikitable sortable" border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-bgcolor="#cccccc"
!Title
!Name
!Takes office
!Country
|-
|} -->
Disputed governments
The following heads of state represent governments that are recognized as legitimate by at least one UN member state.
Current
{| class="wikitable sortable" border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-bgcolor="#cccccc"
!Title
!Name
!Assumed office
!Country
|-
||Chairman of the Supreme Political Council||Mahdi al-Mashat||25 April 2018||
|-
||President of the Coordination Council||Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya||14 August 2020||
|-
||President of the National Assembly||Dinorah Figuera||5 January 2023||
|}
See also
- List of current heads of state and government
- List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office
- Order of precedence