Forbes named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the world's most powerful woman six years in a row. Merkel was also named Time Person of the Year in 2015.
Merkel joined U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who finished second, on Forbes' annual list of the most powerful women in the world. The annual list comprises of the top 25 "smartest and toughest female" professionals from various fields and disciplines.
"If there is a single leader able to defy existential economic and political challenges to the European Union, from edges and core, it has been German Chancellor Angela Merkel," wrote Forbes.
In the past years, Merkel opened the German borders to more than 1 million Syrian immigrants and people from other Muslim nations who were victims of war. The absolute humanism she displayed catapulted her latest act into what could be the deemed as her boldest one to date.
Here are the other women who made the top 5 cut:
2nd place: Hillary Clinton (Presidential candidate, United States)
Hillary's career has many firsts. She's the first woman from New York to be elected as senator and the first and only U.S. first lady to run for public office. In fact, she is also the first woman in the U.S. to reach this far in the presidential race.
3rd place: Janet Yellen (Chair, Federal Reserve, Washington, United States)
Throughout 2015, Yellen indicated that she would raise interest rates, and she delivered that promise last December, when the numbers surged a first since June 2006. Yellen is the top market mover in the world and is known for her steadiness.
4th place: Melinda Gates (Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
Since its foundation in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations has given over $36.7 billion in grant payments. In 2015 alone, the foundation gave $4.2 billion. Gates' work has not only revolutionized effective philanthropy, but it has also inspired other major funders.
5th place: Mary Barra (CEO, General Motors)
Last January, Barra celebrated her 2nd year as a chief executive with a new promotion: General Motors chairman. In 2015, the American automaker earned record profits, and its first-quarter earnings also surged. Just two years ago, GM was struggling with a massive recall as a result of defective ignition switches.
Here are the other women who made Forbes annual list this year:
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• 6th place: Christine Lagarde (Managing director, International Monetary Fund)
• 7th place: Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook)
• 8th place: Susan Wojcicki (CEO, YouTube and Google)
• 9th place: Meg Whitman (CEO, Hewlett-Packard)
• 10th place: Ana Patricia Botín (Chair, Santander Group, Banco Santander)
• 11th place: Ginni Rometty (CEO, IBM)
• 12th place: Park Geun-hye (President, South Korea)
• 13th place: Michelle Obama (First lady, United States)
• 14th place: Indra Nooyi (CEO, PepsiCo)
• 15th place: Angela Ahrendts (SVP, Retail, Apple)
• 16th place: Abigail Johnson (President-CEO, Fidelity Investments)
• 17th place: Tsai Ing-wen (President, Taiwan)
• 18th place: Michelle Bachelet (President, Chile)
• 19th place: Federica Mogherini (High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union)
• 20th place: Safra Catz (Co-CEO, Oracle)
• 21st place: Oprah Winfrey (Actress, director/producer, entrepreneur, philanthropist)
• 22nd place: Helen Clark (Administrator, UN Development Programme)
• 23rd place: Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor (U.S. Supreme Court justices)
• 24th place: Marillyn Hewson (CEO, Lockheed Martin)
• 25th place: Arundhati Bhattacharya (Chair-managing director, State Bank of India, India)
Photo: European People's Party | Flickr
