Nobel Prize · Curated list
Barack Obama, United Nations, Nelson Mandela and 27 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the laureate's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
President of the United States from 2009 to 2017
Barack Hussein Obama II, a retired American politician who from 2009 to 2017 was the 44th president of the United States. A Democrat, he was the first African American president.
Wikidata · Photo: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain
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2
Global intergovernmental organization
Usually shortened to UN, an international intergovernmental organisation founded when the Charter of the United Nations was signed on 26 June 1945. Its stated purposes are to keep international peace and security, to build friendly relations between states, to promote cooperation among nations, and to be a centre for harmonising what states do to reach those ends.
Wikidata · Photo: U.S. Department of State from United States, Public domain
3
President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, a South African philanthropist, politician and anti-apartheid revolutionary, who led his country as president from 1994 to 1999. No black person had been its head of state before him, and he was the first chosen in an election that was fully representative and democratic.
Wikidata · Photo: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel, CC BY-SA 2.0
Supranational political and economic union
Usually shortened to EU, a union, both political and economic, of 27 member states, most of them in Europe. A supranational union covering 4,233,255 km² (1,634,469 sq mi), with an estimated 452 million people or slightly fewer as of 2026, its members produced around €18.802 trillion of nominal GDP (gross domestic product) in 2025, roughly one sixth of the world's economic output.
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5
American minister and civil rights activist (1929–1968)
An American Baptist minister and civil rights activist, and a prominent leader of the movement for civil rights from 1955 until he was assassinated in 1968. Using civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance against the Jim Crow laws and other legalised discrimination, which fell mostly on African Americans, he advanced the civil rights of people of color in the United States.
Wikidata · Photo: Associated Press, Public domain
6
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, a Soviet and Russian politician who led the Soviet Union from 1985 until it was dissolved in 1991, the last to do so. He was the Communist Party's General Secretary from 1985, and head of state as well from 1988.
Wikidata · Photo: Leo Medvedev/Лев Леонидович Медведев, CC BY-SA 4.0
7
President of the United States from 1977 to 1981
James Earl Carter Jr., an American humanitarian and politician who from 1977 to 1981 was the 39th president of the United States. A Democrat, he had earlier sat in the Georgia State Senate (1963–1967) and been the state's 76th governor (1971–1975).
Wikidata · Photo: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Center, Public domain
8
Albanian-Indian Catholic saint (1910–1997)
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and was made a saint of the Catholic Church. She is known as Mother Teresa, and as Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
9
President of the United States from 1901 to 1909
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the 26th president of the United States, in office from 1901 to 1909. After six months as William McKinley's vice president, he took over the presidency when McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
Wikidata · Photo: Adam Cuerden, Public domain
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10
President of the United States from 1913 to 1921
Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, in office from 1913 to 1921. In the Progressive Era, when Republicans dominated both the legislature and the presidency, he was the one Democrat to hold the office.
Wikidata · Photo: Harris & Ewing, photographer, Public domain
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11
UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006
Kofi Atta Annan, a Ghanaian statesman and diplomat who, from 1997 to 2006, was the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations. He and the UN shared the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001.
Wikidata · Photo: US Mission in Geneva, Public domain
12
President of Poland from 1990 to 1995
A statesman from Poland, a dissident against communism and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who was the country's president from 1990 to 1995. Winning the election of 1990 made him Poland's first democratically elected president since 1922, and the first Polish president ever chosen by popular vote.
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13
Burmese politician (born 1945)
A Burmese author, diplomat and politician who from 2016 to 2021 was both State Counsellor of Myanmar and its Union Minister of Foreign Affairs. Since the National League for Democracy (NLD) was founded in 1988 she has been its general secretary, and she was registered as the party's chairperson during its legal existence from 2011 to 2023.
Wikidata · Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office of the Cabinet Secretariat, CC BY 4.0
14
Spiritual leader of Tibet since 1940
The present holder of the title Dalai Lama, head of Tibetan Buddhism and its highest spiritual leader. Until 1959 he was Tibet's resident spiritual and temporal leader; he then led the Tibetan government in exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, in Dharamshala, India.
Wikidata · Photo: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0
15
Pakistani education activist (born 1997)
A Pakistani activist for the education of girls and women, and a film and television producer. The youngest Nobel laureate ever, she received the Peace Prize in 2014 at 17; she is the second Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize, and the only Pashtun.
Wikidata · Photo: Adam Chitayat, CC BY-SA 4.0
16
President of Palestine from 1989 to 2004
A Palestinian political leader, widely known by his kunya, Abu Ammar. He chaired the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, in 1969–2004; he was also President of Palestine in 1989–2004 and led the Palestinian Authority (PNA) as president in 1994–2004.
Wikidata · Photo: Gideon Markowiz, CC BY 4.0
17
American diplomat and politician (1923–2023)
Henry Alfred Kissinger, an American politician, political scientist and diplomat. A Republican, he was national security advisor, the 7th, from 1969 to 1975, and secretary of state of the United States, the 56th, from 1973 to 1977, under Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.
Wikidata · Photo: U.S. Department of State from United States, Public domain
18
International humanitarian movement
A humanitarian movement with around 16 million staff, members and volunteers around the world. It was created to protect human life and health, to make sure every human being is respected, and to prevent and relieve human suffering.
Wikidata · Photo: Pasante2011, CC BY-SA 3.0
19
Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001
Albert Arnold Gore Jr., an American environmentalist, businessman and former politician who from 1993 to 2001 was vice president of the United States, the 45th, under President Bill Clinton. A Democrat, he had earlier represented Tennessee in both houses of Congress: as a representative in 1977–1985 and as a senator in 1985–1993.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
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20
President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018
Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf, a Liberian politician who led Liberia as its 24th president from 2006 to 2018, the first woman elected head of state anywhere in Africa.
Wikidata · Photo: U.S. Institute of Peace, CC BY 2.0
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21
Israeli politician (1923–2016)
An Israeli statesman and politician, twice Israel's prime minister (1984–1986 and 1995–1996) and its president from 2007 to 2014. In 70 years of political life he sat in twelve cabinets and represented five parties.
Wikidata · Photo: Avi Ohayon, CC BY-SA 3.0
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22
Kenyan environmental activist (1940–2011)
A Kenyan activist for social, environmental and political causes. She founded the Green Belt Movement, an NGO for the environment that works on tree planting, conservation and the rights of women. In 2004 she became the first woman from Africa to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wikidata · Photo: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
23
President of Egypt from 1970 to 1981
Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat, an Egyptian military officer and politician who was Egypt's third president, from 1970 until he was assassinated in 1981. Once a member of the Free Officers movement, he was twice vice president under Gamal Abdel Nasser, and took over the presidency when Nasser died in 1970.
24
UN Secretary-General from 1953 to 1961
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld, a Swedish diplomat and economist who served as the UN's second Secretary-General from April 1953 until he was killed in a plane crash in September 1961. Elected at 47, he was still, as of 2026, the youngest person ever to have held the office.
Wikidata · Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
25
Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974
A German statesman and politician who led the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, from 1964 to 1987, and was at the same time West Germany's chancellor from 1969 to 1974. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for working, through the EEC, to strengthen cooperation within Western Europe, and to reconcile West Germany with the countries of Eastern Europe.
Wikidata · Photo: Engelbert Reineke, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
26
German polymath (1875–1965)
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer, a German polymath from Alsace: physician, philosopher, theologian, musicologist, organist, writer and humanitarian.
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27
Bangladeshi economist and statesman (born 1940)
A Bangladeshi statesman and economist who pioneered the modern idea of microfinance and microcredit, and for it received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Wikidata · Photo: University of Salford Press Office, CC BY 2.0
UN agency providing aid to children
A United Nations agency that gives humanitarian and development aid to children around the world. First named the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, and officially the United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, it works in 192 countries and territories and is among the best-known and most visible social welfare organisations in the world.
29
South African bishop and anti-apartheid activist (1931–2021)
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, a South African theologian and Anglican bishop, known as an activist against apartheid and for human rights. From 1985 to 1986 he was Bishop of Johannesburg, and from 1986 to 1996 Archbishop of Cape Town, the first black African to hold either post.
Wikidata · Photo: Benny Gool, Public domain
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30
Chinese human rights activist (1955–2017)
A Chinese philosopher, literary critic and human rights activist, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who called for political reform and campaigned to end the one-party rule of the Chinese Communist Party. Arrested many times, he was called China's most prominent dissident and its best-known political prisoner.
Wikidata · Photo: Wang Liming ('Rebel Pepper'), Copyrighted free use
Every Wikidata item that has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — people and organisations alike, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 30 are shown.
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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