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    Top 10 Highest Paid Government Leaders

    By Brent Radcliffe | Investopedia – Tue, 18 Oct, 2011

    You may think that those wishing to suffer extreme public scrutiny while making decisions that affect millions of citizens would demand the big bucks, but when it comes to pay, many world leaders look like chumps compared to the CEOs of many corporations. While most salaries pale in comparison to the likes of Warren Buffett's, some are downright huge when compared to the people a leader may govern.

    Top 10 Political Leader's Salary by Country (2010):
    1. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): $2,183,516
    2. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): $513,245
    3. Raila Odinga (Kenya): $427,886
    4. Barack Obama (United States): $400,000
    5. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): $302,435
    6. Stephen Harper (Canada): $296,400
    7. Mary McAleese (Ireland): $287,900
    8. Julia Gillard (Australia): $286,752
    9. Angela Merkel (Germany): $283,608
    10. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): $273,676

    Salary Compared to GDP
    What makes a world leader's pay reasonable or outlandish? One way of making this call is by looking at pay compared to a country's GDP per person at purchasing power parity (PPP). Using PPP helps make a better estimate of just how far money goes in a country, since the cost of living will vary from country to country. Comparing each leader's salary (in international dollars) to the IMF's 2010 PPP figures shows how much more a world leader makes compared to an average joe at home.

    1. Raila Odinga (Kenya): 255.30
    2. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): 38.51
    3. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): 11.17
    4. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): 8.92
    5. Barack Obama (United States): 8.54
    6. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): 8.08
    7. Angela Merkel (Germany): 7.86
    8. Stephen Harper (Canada): 7.57
    9. Mary McAleese (Ireland): 7.29
    10. Julia Gillard (Australia): 7.21

    What do these numbers mean? Looking at GDP per person doesn't show how a country stacks up in terms of income inequality, a statistic that can measured using the Gini coefficient. Ranking the leaders by their country's income inequality can really show how far out of touch a leader is with those governed. The Gini coefficient changes things up (zero means perfect equality and one perfect inequality).

    1. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): 0.434
    2. Raila Odinga (Kenya): 0.425
    3. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): 0.425
    4. Barack Obama (United States): 0.408
    5. Julia Gillard (Australia): 0.352
    6. Mary McAleese (Ireland): 0.343
    7. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): 0.327
    8. Stephen Harper (Canada): 0.326
    9. Angela Merkel (Germany): 0.283
    10. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): 0.249

    Base Salary Vs. Perks
    When it comes to what a leader is really paid, a distinction must be made between base salary and additional stipends. Leaders may receive free residences or residential stipends, free healthcare, free travel and other perks. They may be permitted expenses that most people would have to pay for out of pocket. Those figures are more difficult to come by, especially in the murky world of political influence.

    Less scrupulous world leaders may pad their own bank accounts with their own country's money through corruption. "Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)," first released in 1995, tracks corruption trends in 178 countries. It assigns a rank of 10 to countries deemed clean, and zero to countries considered highly corrupt. Ranking the leaders by how corrupt their countries are, the ranking shifts to the following:

    1. Raila Odinga (Kenya): 2.1
    2. Nicolas Sarkozy (France): 6.8
    3. Barack Obama (United States): 7.1
    4. Yoshihiko Noda (Japan): 7.8
    5. Angela Merkel (Germany): 7.9
    6. Mary McAleese (Ireland): 8
    7. Donald Tsang (Hong Kong): 8.4
    8. Julia Gillard (Australia): 8.7
    9. Stephen Harper (Canada): 8.9
    10. Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore): 9.3

    Of these countries, only three would not be considered "full democracies" by the "Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index:" Kenya, Hong Kong and Singapore.

    The Bottom Line
    What do all of these numbers tell us? Leaders of advanced economies earn very similar salaries to each other, and those countries tend to be less corrupt and more democratic. While Lee Hsien Loong may earn 38 times the average resident of Singapore, his country is considered a good place to do business even if it is not fully democratic. On the other end of the spectrum, Raila Odinga earns an incredible amount more than the people he governs, and presides over a country that Transparency International would consider one of the most corrupt around (ranked 154 out of 178 countries).



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    4 comments

    • como
      como  •  7 months ago
      You forgot native american salaries,especialy in Nova Scotia
      • Franz-Paul
        Franz-Paul 7 months ago
        Whatever we pay them its not a lot, AFTER ALL WE STOLE THE COUNTRY FROM THEM. France or Brittain had not right to this Land, they just came here and bluntly stole it from the Natives , so whatever we pay them is B.S.
        They should go back to the borders before coming here the very first time.
    • Mike
      Mike  •  7 months ago
      The article didn't do simple fact-checking. For instance, Raila Odinga is not the head of state in Kenya, it is Mwai Kibaki who is the head of state and earns more that what Raila Odinga (the Prime Minister) makes.
    • Palace
      Palace  •  7 months ago
      You certainly didn't do your research did you? The prime minister of the Great Britain makes over $300,000 a year, so who else did you miss?
    • Franz-Paul
      Franz-Paul  •  7 months ago
      While it is utter shame that Kenya, a country striken with poverty, pay out such a colossal salary for a nobody, it is certainly that the President of the Untied States of America pay out such a small salary for being the leader of such a big Nation. What to say about Harper, that may explain somewhat why he is getting fatter , looks well fed while more then 1,000.000 of our children go hungre everyday in this country. Comparing his salary to the USA President is a joke when we know that we are 10% of the American population. Always said that we are spending as much as the Americans to maintain their Governments , that is our taxes are the highest in North America. Yet Harper spends left and right our money as if it is, as a dictator would od. He got a bigger Government upon his reelection , appointed three more leeches blood sucking parasite as senators. Those three compadres LOST their election but he Harper God almighty brought them back through the front door while spitting in our faces. After all that Canadians had clearly indicated thet they didnt want those three people in the Government means nothing to this dictator. Missuse of our Public property for personnal usage costing us additional security costs, as allowing army seniors and who knows who else to miss use our public property for personal usage...This calls for a public inquiery stat, ASAP. What are the NDP and the Liberals doing nothing, just for this they should have joined so can put through a non confidence vote to this governmen, enough is enoug, oust Harper and Flahertty smiling face, who could care any less then Harper about the poor, the children and our Seniors. Out with them once and for all. Flahertty condones what harper does therefore he should be fired just as well.
      I am going to start a petition for a public inquiery, fed up and didgusted with these people who think they can do only what they want.
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