New research ranks world leaders according to their global popularity. Barack Obama is most popular, with a favourability rating of 59%, followed by Germany’s Angela Merkel (42%) and the UK’s David Cameron (37%). Favourability may just be a synonym for recognition – it is noticeable that the top six are the leaders of the UN security council members, plus economic powerhouse Germany. But forget the methodology: there are so few quizzes around at Christmas, we want to use the poll as a starting point to test your knowledge of global leaders. So geopolitical thinking caps on, and no Googling!
Dilma Rousseff comes eighth in the list. Of which country is she president?
(a) Ecuador (b) Argentina (c) Brazil (d) Colombia
2. The Indian prime minister also scores well. Who is he?
(a) Manmohan Singh (b) Narendra Modi (c) Sachin Tendulkar (d) Atal Bihari Vajpayee
3. Iran’s president makes the top 10. Who is he?
(a) Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei (b) Hassan Rouhani (c) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (d) Mohammad Khatami
4. Who is the Chinese president?
(a) Hu Jintao (b) Jiang Zemin (c) Xi Jinping (d) Li Xiannian
5. Moving beyond the top 10 to the less well-known world leaders, who is the prime minister of Italy?
(a) Silvio Berlusconi (b) Mario Monti (c) Matteo Renzi (d) Romano Prodi
6. Much to my surprise, the prime minister of Latvia has just resigned. Who is the outgoing leader?
(a) Algirdas Butkevičius (b) Taavi Rõivas (c) Laimdota Straujuma (d) Juha Sipilä
7. Nigeria got a new president in 2015. Who is he?
(a) Olusegun Obasanjo (b) Muhammadu Buhari (c) Goodluck Jonathan (d) Badluck Jonathan
8. Of which country is this hunk now prime minister?
(a) Australia (b) Canada (c) Norway (d) San Marino
9. “Abortion is the easy way out. It’s hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations.” This controversialist had a difficult year. Who was he?
(a) Donald Trump (b) Ben Carson (c) Tony Abbott (d) Malcolm Turnbull
10. Who is the prime minister of Belgium?
(b) Michel Louis (a) Louis Michel (c) Michel Charles (d) Charles Michel
