World leaders in 1981

Everyone who held a state’s top posts at some point in 1981, in the order they held them. Names are from Wikipedia’s list of state leaders and appear only where the person’s Wikidata record agrees on the post and the years. What happened in 1981 →

Major powers in 1981

United StatesUnited States history

President: Jimmy Carter, then Ronald Reagan

United KingdomUnited Kingdom history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Margaret Thatcher

Soviet UnionRussia history

General Secretary: Leonid Brezhnev
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet: Leonid Brezhnev
Chairman of the Council of Ministers: Nikolai Tikhonov

People's Republic of ChinaChina history

Chairman: Hua Guofeng, then Hu Yaobang
Paramount Leader: Deng Xiaoping
NPC Standing Committee Chairman: Ye Jianying

FranceFrance history

President: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then François Mitterrand
Prime minister: Raymond Barre, then Pierre Mauroy

East GermanyGermany history

Chairmen of the State Council: Erich Honecker
Chairman: Willi Stoph

West GermanyGermany history

President: Karl Carstens
Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt

JapanJapan history

Emperor: Hirohito
Prime minister: Zenko Suzuki

Republic of IndiaIndia history

President: Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Prime minister: Indira Gandhi

Africa

Arab Republic of EgyptEgypt history

President: Anwar Sadat, then Hosni Mubarak
Interim President: Sufi Abu Taleb
Prime minister: Anwar Sadat, then Hosni Mubarak

Central African Republic

President: David Dacko, then André Kolingba
Prime minister: Jean-Pierre Lebouder, then Simon Narcisse Bozanga

CiskeiSouth Africa history

President: Lennox Sebe

Democratic Republic of MadagascarMadagascar history

President of Supreme Revolutionary Council: Didier Ratsiraka

Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe

President: Manuel Pinto da Costa

Democratic Republic of the SudanSudan history

President: Gaafar Nimeiry
Prime minister: Gaafar Nimeiry

Derg: Provisional Military Government of Socialist EthiopiaEthiopia history

Chairmen: Mengistu Haile Mariam

Equatorial Guinea

President: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

President: Ahmed Abdallah
Prime minister: Salim Ben Ali

Federal Republic of Nigeria: Fourth RepublicNigeria history

President of the Second Republic: Shehu Shagari

French Upper Volta/ Republic of Upper VoltaBurkina Faso history

President: Saye Zerbo
Prime minister: Saye Zerbo

GabonGabon history

President: Omar Bongo
Prime minister: Léon Mébiame

Guinea-Bissau

President: João Bernardo Vieira

Islamic Republic of MauritaniaMauritania history

Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation: Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla
Prime minister: Sid Ahmed Ould Bneijara, then Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya

KenyaKenya history

President: Daniel arap Moi

Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland)

King: Sobhuza II
Prime minister: Mabandla Dlamini

Kingdom of LesothoLesotho history

King: Moshoeshoe II

Libyan Arab Republic / Socialist People's Libyan Arab JamahiriyaLibya history

Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution: Muammar Gaddafi
Secretary-General: Abdul Ati al-Obeidi
Prime minister: Jadallah Azzuz at-Talhi

Mauritius (Commonwealth realm)Mauritius history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Seewoosagur Ramgoolam

People's Democratic Republic of AlgeriaAlgeria history

President: Chadli Bendjedid
Prime minister: Mohamed Ben Ahmed Abdelghani

People's Republic of AngolaAngola history

President: José Eduardo dos Santos

People's Republic of BeninBenin history

President: Mathieu Kérékou

People's Republic of MozambiqueMozambique history

President: Samora Machel

Republic of BotswanaBotswana history

President: Quett Masire

Republic of BurundiBurundi history

President: Jean-Baptiste Bagaza

Republic of CameroonCameroon history

President: Ahmadou Ahidjo
Prime minister: Paul Biya

Republic of Cape VerdeCape Verde history

President: Aristides Pereira
Prime minister: Pedro Pires

Republic of ChadChad history

President: Goukouni Oueddei

Republic of DjiboutiDjibouti history

President: Hassan Gouled Aptidon
Prime minister: Barkat Gourad Hamadou

Republic of GhanaGhana history

President of the Third Republic: Hilla Limann
Military Head of State: Jerry Rawlings

Republic of GuineaGuinea history

President: Ahmed Sékou Touré
Prime minister: Louis Lansana Beavogui

Republic of Ivory CoastIvory Coast history

President: Félix Houphouët-Boigny

Republic of MalawiMalawi history

President: Hastings Banda

Republic of MaliMali history

President: Moussa Traoré

Republic of RwandaRwanda history

President: Juvénal Habyarimana

Republic of SenegalSenegal history

President: Abdou Diouf
Prime minister: Habib Thiam

Republic of Seychelles

President: France-Albert René

Republic of Sierra LeoneSierra Leone history

President: Siaka Stevens

Republic of South AfricaSouth Africa history

State President: Marais Viljoen
Prime minister: Pieter Willem Botha

Republic of the GambiaGambia history

President: Dawda Jawara

Republic of TunisiaTunisia history

President: Habib Bourguiba
Prime minister: Mohammed Mzali

Republic of Uganda

President: Milton Obote

Republic of ZambiaZambia history

President: Kenneth Kaunda
Prime minister: Daniel Lisulo, then Nalumino Mundia

Republic of Zimbabwe

President: Canaan Banana
Prime minister: Robert Mugabe

Somali Democratic RepublicSomalia history

President: Siad Barre

Sultanate/ Kingdom of MoroccoMorocco history

King: Hassan II
Prime minister: Maati Bouabid

Togolese RepublicTogo history

President: Gnassingbé Eyadéma

United Republic of TanzaniaTanzania history

President: Julius Nyerere
Prime minister: Cleopa Msuya

Zaire

President: Mobutu Sese Seko
First state commissioner: Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond, then N'Singa Udjuu

Americas

Antigua and Barbuda

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Vere Bird

ArgentinaArgentina history

President of the Military Junta: Jorge Rafael Videla, then Roberto Eduardo Viola
de facto Acting President: Horacio Tomás Liendo
de facto Interim President: Carlos Alberto Lacoste
de facto President of the Military Junta: Leopoldo Galtieri

BarbadosBarbados history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Tom Adams

BelizeBelize history

Queen: Elizabeth II

BoliviaBolivia history

President: Luis García Meza Tejada, then Celso Torrelio

Brazilian Military regimeBrazil history

President: João Figueiredo

CanadaCanada history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Pierre Trudeau

Civic-Military Dictatorship of UruguayUruguay history

Acting President: Aparicio Méndez, then Gregorio Conrado Álvarez

Co-operative Republic of GuyanaGuyana history

President: Forbes Burnham

ColombiaColombia history

President: Julio César Turbay Ayala

Dominica

Prime minister: Eugenia Charles

Duvalier dynasty, HaitiHaiti history

President for Life: Jean-Claude Duvalier

EcuadorEcuador history

President: Jaime Roldós Aguilera, then Osvaldo Hurtado

El Stronato: ParaguayParaguay history

President: Alfredo Stroessner

Fourth Dominican RepublicDominican Republic history

President: Antonio Guzmán Fernández

Grenada

Queen: Elizabeth II
de facto Prime minister: Maurice Bishop

HondurasHonduras history

Provisional President: Policarpo Paz García

JamaicaJamaica history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Edward Seaga

MexicoMexico history

President: José López Portillo

Military Dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)Chile history

President: Augusto Pinochet

PanamaPanama history

President: Arístides Royo
Military Leader: Omar Torrijos

Republic of Costa RicaCosta Rica history

President: Rodrigo Carazo Odio

Republic of CubaCuba history

President of the Council of State: Fidel Castro
President of the Council of Ministers: Fidel Castro

Republic of PeruPeru history

Constitutional President: Fernando Belaúnde Terry
Prime Minister: Manuel Ulloa Elías

Republic of SurinameSuriname history

President: Henk Chin A Sen
Prime minister: Henk Chin A Sen

Republic of Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago history

President: Ellis Clarke
Prime minister: Eric Williams

Republic of VenezuelaVenezuela history

President: Luis Herrera Campins

Saint Lucia

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Allan Louisy, then Winston Cenac

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Milton Cato

The Bahamas

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Lynden Pindling

United StatesUnited States history

President: Jimmy Carter, then Ronald Reagan

Asia

Ba'athist IraqIraq history

President: Saddam Hussein
Prime minister: Saddam Hussein

BangladeshBangladesh history

President: Ziaur Rahman, then Abdus Sattar
Prime minister: Shah Azizur Rahman

BhutanBhutan history

Druk Gyalpo: Jigme Singye Wangchuck

Democratic KampucheaCambodia history

General Secretary: Pol Pot

Democratic Republic of AfghanistanAfghanistan history

General Secretary: Babrak Karmal
Chairman: Babrak Karmal
Prime minister: Babrak Karmal

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri LankaSri Lanka history

President: Junius Richard Jayewardene
Prime minister: Ranasinghe Premadasa

Emirate of AjmanUnited Arab Emirates history

ruler: Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi III

Emirate of Ras Al KhaimahUnited Arab Emirates history

ruler: Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi

Hakims of Bahrain/ State of BahrainBahrain history

Emir: Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Prime minister: Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa

Islamic Republic of IranIran history

Supreme Leader: Ruhollah Khomeini
President: Abolhassan Banisadr, then Mohammad-Ali Rajai, then Ali Khamenei
Prime minister: Mohammad-Ali Rajai, then Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, then Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Acting Prime minister: Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani

Islamic Republic of PakistanPakistan history

President: Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq

IsraelIsrael history

President: Yitzhak Navon
Prime minister: Menachem Begin

JapanJapan history

Emperor: Hirohito
Prime minister: Zenko Suzuki

Kingdom of JordanJordan history

King: Hussein
Prime minister: Mudar Badran

Kingdom of NepalNepal history

King: Birendra

Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia history

King: Khalid

Lao People's Democratic RepublicLaos history

General Secretary: Kaysone Phomvihane
President: Souphanouvong
Prime minister: Kaysone Phomvihane

LebanonLebanon history

President: Elias Sarkis
Prime minister: Shafik Wazzan

MalaysiaMalaysia history

Yang di-Pertuan Agong: Ahmad Shah of Pahang
Prime minister: Hussein Onn, then Mahathir Mohamad

Mongolian People's Republic

Chairman: Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal

New Order, IndonesiaIndonesia history

President: Suharto

North KoreaNorth Korea history

General Secretary: Kim Il Sung
President: Kim Il Sung

North Yemen: Yemen Arab RepublicYemen history

President: Ali Abdullah Saleh

People's Republic of ChinaChina history

Chairman: Hua Guofeng, then Hu Yaobang
Paramount Leader: Deng Xiaoping
NPC Standing Committee Chairman: Ye Jianying

People's Republic of KampucheaCambodia history

Prime minister: Pen Sovan

PhilippinesPhilippines history

President: Ferdinand Marcos
Prime minister: Ferdinand Marcos, then Cesar Virata

Protectorate of Brunei / Nation of BruneiBrunei history

Sultan: Hassanal Bolkiah

QatarQatar history

Emir: Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani
Prime minister: Khalifa bin Hamad

Republic of China: TaiwanTaiwan history

President: Chiang Ching-kuo
Premier: Sun Yun-suan

Republic of CyprusCyprus history

President: Spyros Kyprianou

Republic of IndiaIndia history

President: Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Prime minister: Indira Gandhi

Republic of TurkeyTurkey history

Chairman: Kenan Evren
Prime minister: Bülent Ulusu

Second Republic of Maldives

President: Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

SingaporeSingapore history

President: Benjamin Sheares, then Devan Nair
Prime minister: Lee Kuan Yew

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

Chairman: Ne Win
President: Ne Win, then San Yu

Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–present)Vietnam history

General Secretary: Lê Duẩn
Acting President: Nguyễn Hữu Thọ
Chairmen of the Council of State: Trường Chinh
Prime minister; Chairmen of the Council of ministers: Phạm Văn Đồng

South KoreaSouth Korea history

President: Chun Doo-hwan

South Yemen: People's Democratic Republic of YemenYemen history

President: Ali Nasir Muhammad
Chairmen: Ali Nasir Muhammad
Prime minister: Ali Nasir Muhammad

State of KuwaitKuwait history

Emir: Jaber III
Prime minister: Saad Al-Abdullah

Sultanate of Oman: Al Busaidi dynastyOman history

Sultan: Qaboos bin Said

Syrian Arab RepublicSyria history

President: Hafez al-Assad
Prime minister: Abdul Rauf al-Kasm

ThailandThailand history

King: Bhumibol Adulyadej
Prime minister: Prem Tinsulanonda

Umm Al QuwainUnited Arab Emirates history

ruler: Ahmad bin Rashid Al Mualla

United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates history

President: Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Prime minister: Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum

Europe

Andorra

Episcopal Co-Prince: Joan Martí i Alanis
French Co-Prince: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then François Mitterrand

AustriaAustria history

President: Rudolf Kirchschläger
Chancellor: Bruno Kreisky

BelgiumBelgium history

King: Baudouin
Prime minister: Wilfried Martens, then Mark Eyskens

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

General Secretary: Gustáv Husák
President: Gustáv Husák
Prime minister: Lubomír Štrougal

DenmarkDenmark history

Queen: Margrethe II
Prime minister: Anker Jørgensen

East GermanyGermany history

Chairmen of the State Council: Erich Honecker
Chairman: Willi Stoph

FinlandFinland history

President: Urho Kekkonen
Prime minister: Mauno Koivisto

France: Fifth RepublicFrance history

President: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then François Mitterrand
Prime minister: Raymond Barre, then Pierre Mauroy

Greece: Third RepublicGreece history

President: Konstantinos Karamanlis
Prime minister: Georgios Rallis, then Andreas Papandreou

Hungarian People's RepublicHungary history

Chairman: Pál Losonczi
Prime minister: György Lázár

IcelandIceland history

President: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Prime minister: Gunnar Thoroddsen

ItalyItaly history

President: Sandro Pertini
Prime minister: Arnaldo Forlani, then Giovanni Spadolini

Kingdom of SpainSpain history

King: Juan Carlos I
Prime minister: Adolfo Suárez, then Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo

Kingdom of the NetherlandsNetherlands history

Queen: Beatrix
Prime minister: Dries van Agt

Liechtenstein

Prince: Franz Josef II
Prime minister: Hans Brunhart

LuxembourgLuxembourg history

Grand Duke: Jean
Prime minister: Pierre Werner

Monaco

Prince: Rainier III
Minister of state: André Saint-Mleux, then Jean Herly

NorwayNorway history

King: Olav V
Prime minister: Odvar Nordli, then Gro Harlem Brundtland, then Kåre Willoch

People's Republic of BulgariaBulgaria history

General Secretary: Todor Zhivkov
Chairman of the State Council: Todor Zhivkov
Prime minister: Stanko Todorov, then Grisha Filipov

People's Socialist Republic of AlbaniaAlbania history

First Secretary: Enver Hoxha
Chairman: Haxhi Lleshi
Prime minister: Mehmet Shehu, then Adil Çarçani

Polish People's RepublicPoland history

First Secretary: Stanisław Kania, then Wojciech Jaruzelski
Prime minister: Wojciech Jaruzelski

Republic of IrelandIreland history

President: Patrick Hillery
Taoiseach: Charles Haughey, then Garret FitzGerald

Republic of MaltaMalta history

President: Anton Buttigieg
Prime minister: Dom Mintoff

San Marino

Captains Regent: Maria Lea Pedini-Angelini, then Ubaldo Biordi

Socialist Republic of RomaniaRomania history

General Secretary: Nicolae Ceaușescu
President: Nicolae Ceaușescu
Prime minister: Ilie Verdeț

Soviet UnionRussia history

General Secretary: Leonid Brezhnev
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet: Leonid Brezhnev
Chairman of the Council of Ministers: Nikolai Tikhonov

SwedenSweden history

King: Carl XVI Gustaf
Prime minister: Thorbjörn Fälldin

SwitzerlandSwitzerland history

President of the Confederation: Kurt Furgler

Third Republic of PortugalPortugal history

President: António Ramalho Eanes
Acting Head of government: Diogo de Freitas do Amaral
Prime minister: Francisco Pinto Balsemão

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandUnited Kingdom history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Margaret Thatcher

Vatican City

Sovereign: John Paul II

West GermanyGermany history

President: Karl Carstens
Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt

Yugoslavia: Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

President of the Presidency: Cvijetin Mijatović, then Sergej Kraigher

Oceania

AustraliaAustralia history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Malcolm Fraser

Dominion of FijiFiji history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Kamisese Mara

Federated States of Micronesia

President: Tosiwo Nakayama

Kiribati

President: Ieremia Tabai

Marshall Islands

President: Amata Kabua

Nauru

President: Hammer DeRoburt

New ZealandNew Zealand history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Robert Muldoon

Palau

President: Haruo Remeliik

Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Julius Chan

Solomon IslandsSolomon Islands history

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Peter Kenilorea, then Solomon Mamaloni

TongaTonga history

King: Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
Prime minister: Fatafehi Tu'ipelehake

Trust Territory of the Pacific IslandsUnited States history

High Commissioner: Adrian P. Winkel, then Janet J. McCoy

Tuvalu

Queen: Elizabeth II
Prime minister: Toaripi Lauti, then Tomasi Puapua

VanuatuVanuatu history

Prime minister: Walter Lini

Wallis and Futuna

King: Tomasi Kulimoetoke II

Western Samoa/ Independent State of Samoa

O le Ao o le Malo: Malietoa Tanumafili II
Prime minister: Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi