Photos: World's Most Powerful People 2013

The Most Powerful People in the World list represents the collective wisdom of top FORBES editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers – one for every 100 million people on Earth — based on their scope of influence and their financial resources relative to their peers.

Below is a list of the first ten.

1. Vladimir Puti- The Russian President

2. Barack Obama- The U.S President

3. Xi Jinping- The Political and military leader of China

4. Pope Francis- The first Jesuit and Latin American Vicar of Christ

5. Angela Merkel - The world's most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union

6. Bill Gates- The wealthiest man in the U.S

7. Ben Bernanke- The former Princeton professor’s

8. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud - Saudi Arabia's aging monarch

9. Mario Draghi- The Chief Banker of the world's largest -currency area-the euro zone

10. Michael Duke- The world's No. 1 retailer and biggest private employer-owns Wal-Mart