The Salaries of Top World leaders

You'll be surprised at the amount some world leaders make yearly.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking a pay cut of 10% as his country's economy sinks into a deep depression. But how does his salary compare to those of other world leaders?

Here is how the pay of prime ministers and presidents of the big developed and emerging economies stack up, according to the most recent official data and converted into U.S. dollars at the current rate.

President Obama leads the pack with $400,000 a year. The presidential salary doubled when George W. Bush became president in 2001.

In addition, Obama gets a tax-free expense account worth $50,000.

Other world leaders after the cut.

Merkel's salary as German chancellor is set at 216,000 euros a year ($234,383). The chancellor and her ministers got a 2.2% pay rise at the beginning of March, according to government documents.

The British prime minister earns £142,500 ($214,782) a year. That includes his salary as a member of parliament, which is £67,060.

The French president would have ranked much higher on this list, had he not taken a 30% pay cut the moment he took office in 2012.

Without the haircut, Hollande would have earned 255,600 euros a year ($274,522), second only to Obama. Now he makes $194,251.

 

In the face of his country's worst economic crisis in years, Putin said last week he was cutting his salary by 10%. He now earns roughly 8.2 million rubles per year ($136,000) as Russian president.

The Indian prime minister's salary is just 1,900,000 rupees a year, which comes to little over $30,000. That's according to an official response to a freedom of information request submitted by local media.

He might be in charge of the world's second largest economy, but Chinese President Xi Jinping's salary is just $22,000. And that's after a 60% pay rise at the start of this year.



Credit:CNN