20 Highest Paid World Leaders

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark has an annual salary of the equivalent of nearly $13.5 million. She is not, however, an elected official — Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen is. Rasmussen makes a comparatively modest $249,774 a year.

With an annual pay of $254,660, Prime Minister Adrian Hasler is a former banker who worked for VP Bank AG, where the salary of the average employee is $128,648. Hasler was a division head there.

Prime Minister Charles Michel earns more than five times the average wage of a Belgian citizens. Belgium levies one of the highest income taxes for individuals in the world.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau earns the equivalent of nearly $270,000 U.S. dollars per year. In Canada, the prime minister’s compensation includes the Member of the House of Commons Basic Sessional Indemnity, the prime minister salary, and the prime minister car allowance.

The average household income in South Africa is $10,872 a year, nearly a third of the average across OECD nations. The President of South Africa, Cryil Ramaphosa, earns more than 25 times the average wage in South Africa. South Africa has been struggling with stagnant GDP growth, high unemployment, and social unrest. As a result, Ramaphosa’s administration declared salary cuts for Members of Parliament and the executive branch. The National Treasury, however, has shown in its 2019 budget statements that Ramaphosa actually received a salary increase for the current fiscal year.