Who rules the world: Interesting numbers reveal portraits of global elites

Today, the elite (the "elite") has always been the central theme of the press. But who they are and what we know about them remains unanswered. A new study, "Who rules the world? Portrait of global leaders," solved the mystery. The key to the research lies in extracting information from the new data system of the global leaders project.

The system comprises 145 countries and biographical information of 38,085 leaders, totaling up to 1.1 million data points. John Gerring, Erzen Oncel, Kevin Morrison and Daniel Pemstein – scholars at some of the leading institutions, then explored this data to paint a full picture of the modern elite.

Who is considered a global elite?

Usually, these are the country's top political leaders, political executives, cabinet ministers, executive officers, party leaders, council leaders, supreme court judges and members of parliament. This class also includes non-electoral leaders such as kings, religious leaders, military commanders, CEOs of large companies and heads of non-governmental organizations.

So what are the characteristics of the elite?

81% of the elite are male, 91% are married and have an average age of 55. They are fluent in approximately two languages, with more than one-third speaking English. They usually have completed tertiary education, with nearly half following the western education system. Their most common qualifications are in economics / business / management or law. Most had been office workers or politicians before entering the leadership. Typically, they earn 13 times the national average income.

What about the characteristics of political elites?

Political elites tend to be older (average 61 years), and most are men (92%) and fluent in English (59%). They tend to be educated abroad, rather than domestically. In addition, they are more likely to study economics / business / management (35%) than any other field. Most also belong to the intellectual or political class.

Differences by region

Differences in gender, marital status and age are relatively small between regions. In Europe, the differences tend to be more balanced than in the Middle East and North Africa. The elite in the Americas and MENA (Middle East / Southwest Asia) are the least fluent in languages. While MENA elites are mostly knowledge-savvy, in Africa it is a minority. The number of intellectual leaders is at least in Africa, while the most in America. In terms of income, elites in developed countries are only three times the national average, and in developing countries, the difference is 17 times. Africa is the region where elites hold the highest income, at 35 times the national average.

Some other observations

French, Spanish and Arabic languages ​​are widely used right after English. In addition, the majority of the elite have more experience working in education than media or the military. The most common political activity among elites is in political parties. Only 7% have no political involvement.

Epilogue

This data and research system has contributed significantly to a brief overview of the global elite. Thereby, showing the dominance of middle-aged men in economic terms. The question is whether the exclusion of populist events of recent years from the data system will change this picture. Only time will tell us.

Refer to Business Insider