The political leaders of the US, UK and Russia are 78, 62 and 72 years old respectively, but these men are bucking the global trend of younger politicians taking office.
“Across continents,” said Times of India, “a fresh wave” of youthful leadership is “surging” and “defying stereotypes”, while “injecting new energy” into the political scene. Here are five who are leading the way.
Kristrún Frostadóttir, 36
When she was voted in last year at the age of 36, Frostadóttir became Iceland’s youngest ever leader and the world’s youngest serving head of government. Her election also meant the country had a female prime minister and a female president – Halla Tómasdóttir – at the same time.
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Frostadóttir, a “relative newcomer” to politics, was previously an economist and a journalist, said The Observer. When she became PM, she said she wanted to take a different approach to dealing with opponents: rather than “telling them off” she wanted to focus on listening.
Ibrahim Traoré, 36
Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso in the September 2022 coup d’état that ousted his fellow military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and has been the interim leader since then. “I know I’m younger than most of you here,” he told government officials as he took office, said the BBC.
His support base is dominated by young people, which “raises significant questions about the sentiments of the youth”, said Patrick K. Adu on a West Africa Civil Society Institute blog. Is it “praise” for the “undemocratic regime” he heads, or does it reflect a “quest for more young leaders”?
Daniel Noboa, 37
When he took office at the age of 35, Noboa became the second-youngest president in Ecuador’s history and the youngest to be elected. A 25-year-old supporter told Al Jazeera Noboa’s election was a “triumph for the youngest”.
The heir to one of Ecuador’s richest families, which made its fortune in banana exports, Noboa is another newcomer to national politics. He has only been a member of the National Assembly since 2021.
Milojko Spajić, 37
The Montenegrin prime minister took office in October 2023, having entered politics after the 2020 election when he was appointed minister of finance. The focus of his campaign to become PM was a promise to raise the minimum wage and increase minimum pensions.
The “Europhile who was a political outsider until three years ago” wants his country to join the EU, said Politico. He has described Montenegro as “low-hanging fruit” for an EU “eager to show enlargement isn’t just an empty slogan”.
Gabriel Boric, 39
A former student protest leader, Boric became Chile’s youngest-ever president at the age of 35 when he defeated a far-right candidate in December 2021. He was seen as a youthful moderniser, winning “on a promise to turn Chile into a greener, more egalitarian ‘welfare state'”, said Agence France-Presse.
However, his “attempts to replace the country’s dictatorship-era constitution with a more progressive text”, allowing abortions and strengthening Indigenous rights, were rejected in a referendum.
Who are the youngest leaders ever?
Jean-Claude Duvalier was just 19 when he became president of Haiti in 1971. The youngest president in US history is Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who was thrust into the hot seat in 1909 at the comparatively ancient age of 42. As for the UK, in 1783 William Pitt the Younger became the world’s youngest ever prime minister at the age of 24.
