Angela Merkel ranked most powerful woman in the world and Nicola Sturgeon makes list for the first time

The German Chancellor tops the list for the sixth year running

Nicola Sturgeon (Getty)

Nicola Sturgeon has officially been named one of the most powerful women in the world.

Scotland’s First Minister was ranked 50th in the annual list compiled by Forbes which pointed to her increasing popularity demonstrated by a 2015 poll which found her the most popular person by voting Scots.

The ranking of Sturgeon in the list determines her as the second most powerful women in the UK, one place behind Queen Elizabeth II who was listed at number 29.

The most powerful woman in the world was deemed to be Angela Merkel, who last year was also named the TIME person of the year, for the sixth year running. In second place is US Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton, third is the Chair of the Washington Federal Reserve Janet Yellen, Melinda Gates is ranked fourth and the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, makes up the top five.

Giants from the tech world including Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, Youtube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki and Hewlett-Packard’s CEO Meg Whitman are also included in the top 10.

The magazine credits the women on the list as being “the smartest and toughest female business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, philanthropists and CEOs making their mark in the world today”. Forbes takes into account the individuals’ net worth, media presence, spheres of influence and impact in the women’s respective field.

Last year’s list saw appearances from high-profile entertainers like Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie and Ellen DeGeneres, however, this year the ‘celebrity’ category was removed from the overall list to “make more room for the women breaking into politics”, according to Forbes.

Other British women who make the list include the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Nemat Shafik (59), the Chair of Universal Pictures, Donna Langley (67), the editor of the Guardian, Katharine Viner at 68, editor-in-chief of The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes at number 78 and the Chair of the Wellcome Trust, Eliza Manningham-Buller(88).

Notable women from last year’s list who were not ranked this year include the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, who is currently facing an impeachment trial and the CEO of Theranos Elizabeth Holmes who Forbes recently valued the former billionaire’s net worth to be zero.