Obamas top poll for most admired man and woman in the world

Survey conducted with more than 45,000 people in 42 countries

Former US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama participate in the unveiling of their official portraits (Getty Images)

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have topped the list of most admired man and woman in the world, a new poll has shown.

In YouGov’s annual poll released on Tuesday, the couple both secured the top spots in the list of world’s most admired person for the men and women’s polls respectively. 

Mr Obama pushed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates from first place for the time since YouGov started carrying out the survey since 2014, according to the organisation. Mr Gates ranked second and  Chinese president Xi came in third.

Ms Obama however, retained her title as the most admired woman for the second year in a row, with Angelina Jolie taking second place, rising one place since 2019. Queen Elizabeth II ranked in third.

The former president is admired in more admired than current president Donald Trump in every country, except one: Russia, where he comes four places in front of Obama at 11th versus 15th. 

Mr Trump also fell into second place behind Mr Obama on the US most admired man list and slipped one spot to 15th place globally.

This years poll was said to be the largest ever in its history, conducted  with more than 45,000 people in 42 countries and territories being interviewed to compile the list.

“The results are calculated from the combination of responses to two questions – whether a respondent admires the figure at all and then whether they are the figure the respondent admires the most,”  YouGov said.

Elsewhere on the list, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk saw the greatest increase since last years poll, climbing four places from 13th to ninth.  Human rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai fell the farthest, moving from 6th place to 14th.

New additions to the top twenties this year include: Greta Thunberg, Beyoncé, Keanu Reeves, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Jordan and Indonesian president Joko Widodo.