(Globes).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ranked 46th on the "Forbes" Most Powerful People in the World rankings for 2009, published today. US President Barack Obama topped the list, followed by China's Premier Hu Jintao in second place, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in third. The list includes 67 people.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is ranked 43rd, just three slots above Netanyahu.
Criteria to make the list are the number of people influenced by the powerful person's decisions, the financial resources controlled by them, if they are powerful in multiple spheres, and the degree to which they actually wield their power.
In compiling the inaugural ranking, Forbes said it had narrowed the list to 67 people, "a number based on the conceit that one can reduce the world's 6.7 billion people to the one in every 100 million that matter."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is ranked 43rd, just three slots above Netanyahu.
Criteria to make the list are the number of people influenced by the powerful person's decisions, the financial resources controlled by them, if they are powerful in multiple spheres, and the degree to which they actually wield their power.
In compiling the inaugural ranking, Forbes said it had narrowed the list to 67 people, "a number based on the conceit that one can reduce the world's 6.7 billion people to the one in every 100 million that matter."
"The goal in compiling this list is to expose power and not glorify it, and over time reveal how influence is as easily lost as it is hard to gain," the magazine said.