Updated January 28, 2019
Hillary Clinton is one step closer to becoming the first woman to lead the United States. But there are 59 other countries that beat America to that milestone.*
Sirimavo Bandaranaike, 1960
Indira Gandhi, 1966
Golda Meir, 1969
Isabel Perón, 1974
Elisabeth Domitien, 1975
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, 1979
Margaret Thatcher, 1979
Eugenia Charles, 1980
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, 1980
Gro Harlem Brundtland, 1981
Agatha Barbara, 1982
Corazon Aquino, 1986
Benazir Bhutto, 1988
Mary Robinson, 1990
Kazimira Danutė Prunskienė, 1990
Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro, 1990
Khaleda Zia, 1991
Édith Cresson, 1991
Hanna Suchocka, 1992
Sylvie Kinigi, 1993
Kim Campbell, 1993
Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 1993
Tansu Çiller, 1993
Claudette Werleigh, 1995
Janet Rosenberg, 1997
Jenny Shipley, 1997
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, 1999
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez, 1999
Ruth Dreifuss, 1999
Tarja Halonen, 2001
Megawati Sukarnoputri, 2001
Mame Madior Boye, 2001
Maria das Neves, 2002
Beatriz Merino, 2003
Radmila Šekerinska, 2004
Luísa Diogo, 2004
Angela Merkel, 2005
Yulia Tymoshenko, 2005
Michelle Bachelet, 2006
Portia Simpson-Miller, 2006
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 2006
Han Myung-sook, 2006
Zinaida Greceanîi, 2008
Jadranka Kosor, 2009
Julia Gillard, 2010
Laura Chinchilla, 2010
Roza Otunbayeva, 2010
Iveta Radičová, 2010
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, 2010
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 2011
Atifete Jahjaga, 2011
Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, 2011
Yingluck Shinawatra, 2011
Joyce Banda, 2012
Alenka Bratušek, 2013
Dilma Rousseff, 2014
Ameenah Firdaus Gurib-Fakim, 2015
Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, 2015
*This list is sorted by the date each country elected or appointed its first female president or prime minister. It does not include acting or interim leaders who were not later elected or confirmed.
Editor's Note: This interactive originally included The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. CNN has removed it from the list as it is a self-declared state and is not officially recognized by the United Nations.