Revealed: The World’s 20 Most Admired People (20 Men and 20 Women), 2018

The Microsoft founder Bill Gates and actor-turned-humanitarian Angelina Jolie are the world’s most admired people, according to a YouGov study. The 2018 list features 20 men and 20 women, all of whom are chosen as a result of online interviews with more than 37,000 people in 35 countries.

Following on from Angelina Jolie in the female list is Michelle Obama, with 8 percent share of admiration, followed by Oprah Winfrey and Queen Elizabeth II.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama, Jackie Chan, and Xi Jinping follow on from Bill Gates in the male list. The majority of women featured hail from the entertainment industry, with Taylor Swift, Madonna, Priyanka Chopra, Liu Yifei and Gal Gadot all making an appearance.

These are the 20 most admired men in the world for 2018

1. Bill Gates
2. Barack Obama
3. Jackie Chan
4. Xi Jinping
5. Jack Ma
6. Vladimir Putin
7. Dalai Lama
8. Narendra Modi
9. Amitabh Bachchan
10. Cristiano Ronaldo
11. Lionel Messi
12. Warren Buffett
13. David Beckham
14. Elon Musk
15. Michael Jordan
16. Pope Francis
17. Donald Trump
18. Andy Lau
19. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
20. Imran Khan

These are the 20 most admired women in the world for 2018

1. Angelina Jolie
2. Michelle Obama
3. Oprah Winfrey
4. Queen Elizabeth II
5. Hillary Clinton
6. Emma Watson
7. Malala Yousafzai
8. Angela Merkel
9. Taylor Swift
10. Madonna
11. Aishwarya Rai
12. Priyanka Chopra
13. Deepika Padukone
14. Gal Gadot
15. Theresa May
16. Liu Yifei
17. Yang Mi
18. Fan Bingbing
19. Zhao Wei
20. Elizabeth Warren

Data has also been split into local categories, allowing users to see which figures proved most popular in their country.

In the US, the most admired man is Barack Obama, with an admiration score of 24 per cent, whereas the most admired woman is Michelle Obama, with a score of 13.20 per cent.

Other notable figures to appear in the US’s most admired list include Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Elon Musk, Hillary Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, and Melania Trump.