Map Options

Color Scheme:
map placeholder
Head of Government Annual Salary

$0

$200K

$400K

$600K

$800K

$1M

$1.2M

$1.4M

$1.6M

$1.8M

Click on a country for details.

Highest Paid Government Leaders in the World 2023

Country
Head of Government Annual Salary 🔽
Singapore$1.61 Mn
Hong Kong$568,400
Switzerland$495,000
United States$400,000
Australia$392,811
Germany$369,727
Austria$338,094
New Zealand$325,546
Japan$316,521
Canada$279,000

Singapore is the country with the highest-paid government leader in the world, Lee Hsien Loong. The Prime Minister of Singapore is the highest-paid government servant in the world. He receives a salary of approximately US$1.6 million.

The US$1.6 million remuneration for the prime minister was arrived at by the Salary Review Committee of 2011. Lee Hsien Loong selected the committee to assess and adjust the salaries of the political appointment holders, members of parliament, the president, and the prime minister after every five years.

He aimed at achieving a salary that would encourage the government leaders to be more productive while avoiding corruption.

Before the review, the salaries for the ministers were based on their grades (MR4, MR3, MR2 or MR1), in the government, with MR4 being the lowest grade.

The annual remuneration for each minister comprised the fixed and variable components.

The fixed components included

  • A 12 months salary
  • A non-pensionable allowance equivalent to one month's salary
  • A special allowance equal to one month's salary
  • A public leadership allowance, equivalent to two months' salary

The variable components included

  • Performance bonus
  • Gross Domestic Product (GDP) bonus
  • Variable Component of up to one and half month's salary based on singapore economic performance

The GDP bonus was based on the GDP growth while the prime minister determined the performance bonus for each minister. It could go up to 14 months' salary.

With the above components, the grand annual salary paid to the MR4 minister was $1,583,900, while an MR1 minister received $2,368,500. On the other hand, the annual salary for the prime minister was assumed to be a fixed ratio of the MR4 pay, and it stood at $3,072,200 in 2010.

The 2011 salary review report suggested that the MR4 minister's salary be benchmarked with the median income of the top 1000 wage-earning Singaporeans.

The other recommendations of the salary review report included:

  • Abolition of the special allowance and the public service leadership allowance
  • Capping the performance bonuses to six months' salary equivalent
  • Introducing a national bonus to replace the GDP bonus (national bonus was to be based on the growth rate in the real median income, the real GDP growth rate, unemployment rate and the incomes of the lowest 20th percentile earners)

The above propositions were meant to slash the MR4 minister's 2010 annual salary by approximately 31%, leaving him close to $1.1million per annum.

The committee further suggested that the prime minister earn a fixed yearly salary twice as much as the MR4 minister. With the new wage, the prime minister was going to earn 28% less than his 2010 salary, translating to approximately US$ 1.6 million.

The committee report was later approved in parliament and by the prime minister’s office, and it was fully implemented in Singapore. Though the salary review is carried out every five years, the prime minister's annual salary has remained untouched since 2011.

Today, Singapore tops the countries with the highest paid government leaders in the world. The high salary is not only reflected in Lee Hsien Loong but also in its other government leaders. According to sources, the high remuneration incentivises recruitment of talented government leaders to boost their productivity and reduce corruption.

Notes:
- Some countries have a Head of State or a Head of Government, but not both. Other countries combine the two roles into one. Salaries for Head of State are not listed when the Head of State is a monarch, such as in Belgium and Brunei.
- Value for Belgium has been converted from Euros (221000) to USD using the exchange rate of 1.11, the approximate average of the International Monetary Foundation's daily exchange rates for the month of December 2019.

Download Table Data

Enter your email below, and you'll receive this table's data in your inbox momentarily.

Country
Head of Government Annual Salary (USD)
Head of State Annual Salary (USD)
Singapore$1.61 Mn$1.44 Mn
Hong Kong$568,400$568,400
Switzerland$495,000$507,000
United States$400,000$400,000
Australia$392,811$354,000
Germany$369,727$268,448
Austria$338,094$378,666
New Zealand$325,546$260,245
Japan$316,521$3.08 Mn
Canada$279,000$290,000
Luxembourg$278,000$
United Arab Emirates$261,400$4.61 Bn
Liechtenstein$254,660$
Jordan$253,800$
Denmark$249,774$
Sweden$244,615$
Iceland$242,619$317,000
Ireland$237,000$401,000
Belgium$227,690$
South Africa$223,500$223,500
France$220,500$194,300
South Korea$211,320$211,320
Norway$210,714$
Monaco$202,000$
Bahrain$200,000$
Turkey$197,400$197,400
Chile$196,000$196,000
Netherlands$193,844$
Mauritius$187,968$93,783
United Kingdom$185,500$
Israel$184,000$173,000
Guatemala$178,680$178,680
Finland$163,906$141,367
Zimbabwe$146,590$146,590
Lebanon$141,900$150,000
Uruguay$139,608$139,608
Colombia$134,676$134,676
Saudi Arabia$132,400$
Italy$131,608$275,147
Taiwan$121,500$180,000
Czech Republic$120,702$149,516
Dominican Republic$120,000$120,000
Comoros$117,060$117,060
Suriname$116,870$133,560
Hungary$115,206$127,159
Costa Rica$113,520$113,520
Fiji$113,495$62,784
Papua New Guinea$107,532$56,249
Barbados$106,667$116,024
Russia$105,000$136,000
Paraguay$103,044$103,044
Brazil$102,524$102,524
Botswana$99,950$99,950
Guyana$98,300$91,700
Spain$97,926$
Iraq$96,000$809,673
Philippines$95,554$95,554
Georgia$90,890$90,890
Cyprus$90,025$90,025
Liberia$90,000$90,000
Palau$90,000$90,000
Slovenia$87,818$80,142
Bahamas$86,000$37,000
Trinidad and Tobago$85,600$54,600
Panama$84,000$84,000
San Marino$83,682$83,682
Greece$82,405$154,739
Samoa$78,000$82,000
Maldives$77,768$77,768
Namibia$76,339$99,241
Ghana$76,000$76,000
Ecuador$75,132$75,132
Estonia$74,595$74,595
Nauru$74,411$74,411
Malawi$74,300$74,300
Andorra$73,603$
Portugal$72,352$96,469
Slovakia$70,973$129,284
Nigeria$69,000$69,000
Mexico$67,903$67,903
India$66,000$84,500
Gambia$65,000$65,000
Morocco$62,500$
El Salvador$62,172$62,172
Malaysia$61,844$263,500
Romania$61,296$61,296
South Sudan$60,000$60,000
Marshall Islands$60,000$60,000
Latvia$59,644$70,718
Poland$57,772$70,026
Jamaica$57,545$70,400
Malta$56,900$70,955
Antigua and Barbuda$56,000$40,233
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines$55,724$45,042
Argentina$51,840$51,840
Indonesia$51,600$51,600
Eswatini$51,600$
Peru$51,537$56,530
Saint Kitts and Nevis$50,844$51,000
Saint Lucia$50,685$36,111
Lithuania$50,100$86,136
Algeria$50,000$70,000
Bulgaria$50,000$79,000
Venezuela$48,816$48,816
Palestine$48,000$120,000
Burundi$47,300$47,300
Thailand$46,000$
Belize$45,500$26,241
Tanzania$45,000$47,300
Zambia$43,800$63,100
Tonga$41,504$
Bolivia$39,924$39,924
Croatia$39,422$44,375
Nicaragua$38,316$38,316
Bhutan$37,365$
Lesotho$36,650$
Tunisia$33,355$16,700
Myanmar$32,784$40,980
Vanuatu$32,295$32,295
Afghanistan$31,230$36,030
Cambodia$30,000$
Micronesia$30,000$32,000
Grenada$29,859$55,014
Armenia$29,720$32,970
Timor Leste$27,000$30,000
Albania$24,986$28,074
Mali$23,280$68,900
China$22,000$22,000
Seychelles$21,800$23,700
Dominica$21,666$33,671
Angola$21,054$21,054
Syria$18,285$576,000
Solomon Islands$18,181$16,640
Tuvalu$17,660$19,808
Burkina Faso$17,477$33,810
Azerbaijan$16,984$110,000
Chad$16,640$16,640
Bangladesh$16,400$17,100
North Macedonia$15,600$17,250
Montenegro$15,522$33,440
Serbia$13,736$14,950
Pakistan$13,553$65,794
Kyrgyzstan$12,800$18,800
Yemen$12,040$15,300
Mongolia$11,390$11,620
Kiribati$11,158$11,158
Turkmenistan$10,800$10,800
Nepal$9,033$17,584
Vietnam$8,000$8,320
Moldova$6,433$9,264
Eritrea$6,000$6,000
Sri Lanka$5,600$7,380
Ukraine$3,840$11,600
Ethiopia$3,600$45,270
Kazakhstan$2,630$20,400
Sao Tome and Principe$2,100$2,930
Egypt-$70,400
DR Congo-$51,500
Iran-$20,400
Kenya-$192,200
Uganda-$183,216
Sudan-$29,320
Uzbekistan-$15,600
Mozambique-$46,800
Ivory Coast-$100,000
Cameroon-$620,976
Somalia-$120,000
Senegal-$15,210
Guinea-$22,390
Rwanda-$85,000
Benin-$29,810
Haiti-$3,782
Tajikistan-$13,200
Belarus-$33,600
Sierra Leone-$12,220
Laos-$1,630
Republic of the Congo-$108,400
Central African Republic-$42,524
Mauritania-$300,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina-$42,650
Gabon-$65,000
Guinea Bissau-$6,360
Equatorial Guinea-$152,680
Djibouti-$10,000
Cape Verde-$20,380
showing: 185 rows

Who is the highest paid leader in the world?

Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore has the most lucrative compensation package of any national leader, with a salary of $1.6 million (USD) and several bonuses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources