THE EFFECT OF AGE ON WORLD'S LEADERS: Why Africa May Not Develop.

Introduction:

Despite the stereotype that an older leader is a wiser leader, age and wisdom are not always directly connected. Aging affects leadership in several different ways. Some people become more effective leaders as they get older and some become less effective.

A 2011 thesis presented at the University of Queensland School of Psychology studied the relationship between age and wisdom among older leaders. The study defined wisdom as a combination of relevant knowledge, understanding of context, tolerance for different views and values and the ability to deal with the inevitable uncertainties of life effectively. The study found that leaders who were perceived as having these traits were also seen as being the most effective leaders and that those who were adept at handling uncertainty were considered especially effective. However, despite the correlation between wisdom and effective leadership, the study found no link between age and wisdom or between age and leadership skills. Some older leaders demonstrated higher levels of wisdom and more effective leadership skills while others happened to be abysmal! The Queensland study did not provide support for the idea that leaders become wiser with age.

Here is a compilation of the Names and age of some world leaders cumulated according to their continental position.

Country - Capital - Name of Leader - Age

ASIA

1. Afghanistan  - Kabul - Ashraf Ghani 69
2. Armenia - Yerevan -Armen Sarkissian 65
3. Azerbaijan - Baku - Ilham Aliyev 56
4. Bangladesh - Dhaka - Abdul Hamid 74
5. China - Beijing - Xi Jinping 65
6. Cyprus - Nicosia - Nicos Anastasiades 71
7. Georgia - Tbilisi - Giorgi Margvelashvili 48
8. India - New Delhi - Ram Nath Kovind 72
9. Indonesia - Jakarta - Joko Widodo 57
10. Iran - Tehran - Hassan Rouhani 69
11. Iraq - Baghdad - Fuad Masum 80
12. Israel - Jerusalem - Reuven Rivlin 78
13. Japan - Tokyo - Shinzō Abe 64
14. Lebanon - Beirut - Michel Aoun 81
15. Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur - Mahathir Mohamad 92
16. Nepal - Kathmandu - Bidhya Devi Bhandari 57
17. North Korea - Pyongyang - Kim Jong-un  35
18. Pakistan - Islamabad - Mamnoon Hussain 77
19. Palestine - Jerusalem(East) - Mahmoud Abbas 83
20. Philippines - Manila - Rodrigo Roa Duterte 73
21. Singapore - Singapore - Halimah Yacob 63 (F)
22. South Korea - Seoul - Moon Jae-in 65
23. Sri Lanka - Sri Jayawardenepura - Maithripala Sirisena 66
24. Syria - Damascus - Bashar al-Assad 52
25. Taiwan - Taipei - Tsai Ing-wen 61
26. Thailand - Bangkok - Prayut Chan-o-cha 64
27. United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi - Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan 69
28. Uzbekistan - Tashkent - Shavkat Mirziyoyev 61
29. Vietnam - Hanoi - Trần Đại Quang 61

Average age : 64

EUROPE

1. Albania - Tirana - Ilir Meta 49
2. Armenia - Yerevan - Armen Sarkissian 65
3. Austria - Vienna - Alexander Van der Bellen 74
4. Belarus - Minsk - Alexander Lukashenko 63
5. Belgium - Brussels - Charles Michel 42
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo - Mladen Ivanić 59
7. Bulgaria - Sofia - Rumen Radev 55
8. Croatia - Zagreb - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović 50 (F)
9. Cyprus - Nicosia - Nicos Anastasiades 71
10. Czech - Republic Prague - Miloš Zeman 73
11. Denmark - Copenhagen - Lars Løkke Rasmussen 54
12. Estonia - Tallinn - Kersti Kaljulaid 48
13. Finland - Helsinki - Sauli Niinistö 69
14. France - Paris - Emmanuel Macron 40
15. Georgia - Tbilisi - Giorgi Margvelashvili 48
16. Germany - Berlin - Frank-Walter Steinmeie 62
17. Greece - Athens - Prokopis Pavlopoulos 68
18. Hungary - Budapest - János Áder 59
19. Iceland - Reykjavik - Guðni Th. Jóhannesson 50
20. Ireland - Dublin - Michael D. Higgins 77
21. Italy - Rome - Sergio Mattarella 77
22. Lithuania - Vilnius - Dalia Grybauskaitė 62
23. Macedonia - Skopje - Gjorge Ivanov 58
24. Netherlands - Amsterdam - Mark Rutte 51
25. Poland - Warsaw - Andrzej Duda 46
26. Portugal - Lisbon - Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa 69
27. Romania - Bucharest - Klaus Iohannis 59
28. Russia - Moscow - Vladimir Putin 65
29. Slovakia - Bratislava - Andrej Kiska 65
30. Slovenia - Ljubljana - Borut Pahor 54
31. Spain - Madrid - Pedro Sanchez 46
32. Sweden - Stockholm - Stefan Löfven 61
33. Switzerland - Bern - Alain Berset 45
34. Turkey - Ankara - Tayyip Erdoğan 64
35. Ukraine - Kyiv (AKA: Kiev) - Petro Poroshenko 52
36. United Kingdom - London - Theresa May 61 (F)

Average age : 58

NORTH AMERICA

1. Antigua and Barbuda - Saint John's - Gaston Browne 51
2. Bahamas - Nassau - Hubert Minnis 64
3. Barbados - Bridgetown - Mia Amor Mottley 52
4. Belize - Belmopan - Dean Barrow 67
5. Canada - Ottawa - Justin Pierre James Trudeau 46
6. Costa Rica - San Jose - Carlos Alvarado Quesada 38
7. Cuba - Havana - Miguel Díaz-Canel 58
8. Dominican Republic - Santo Domingo - Danilo Medina 66
9. Grenada - Saint George's - Keith Claudius Mitchell 71
10. Guatemala - Guatemala City - Jimmy Morales 49
11. Haiti - Port-au-Prince - Jovenel Moïse 50
12. Honduras - Tegucigalpa - Juan Orlando Hernández 49
13. Jamaica - Kingston - Andrew Holness 46
14. Mexico - Mexico City - Enrique Peña Nieto 52
15. Panama - Panama City - Juan Carlos Varela 54 
16. Trinidad and Tobago - Port of Spain - Paula-Mae Weekes 59 (F) 
17. United States of America - Washington, DC. - Donald Trump 72

Average age: 55

SOUTH AMERICA

1. Argentina - Buenos Aires - Mauricio Macri 59
2. Bolivia - Sucre - Evo Morales 59
3. Brazil - Brasilia - Michel Temer 78
4. Chile - Santiago - Sebastián Piñera 68
5. Colombia - Bogotá - Iván Duque Márquez 42
6. Ecuador - Quito - Lenín Moreno 65
7. Guyana - Georgetown - David A. Granger 73
8. Paraguay - Asunción - Mario Abdo Benítez 47
9. Peru - Lima - Martín Vizcarra 55
10. Uruguay - Montevideo - Tabaré Vázquez 78
11. Venezuela - Caracas - Nicolás Maduro 56

Average age: 61

AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA 

1. Australia - Canberra - Scott Morrison 50
2. Fiji - Suva - Jioji Konrote 70
3. Kiribati - Tarawa - Taneti Mamau 58
4. Micronesia - Palikir - Peter M. Christian 71
5. New Zealand - Wellington - Jacinda Ardern 38 (F) 
6. Palau - Ngerulmud - Thomas Remengesau Jr. 62
7. Papua New Guinea - Port Moresby - Peter Charles Paire O'Neil 49
8. Samoa - Apia - Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele - 73

Average age: 58

AFRICA

1. Algeria - Algiers - Abdelaziz Bouteflika 81
2. Angola - Luanda - João Lourenço 64
3. Benin - Porto-Novo - Patrice Talon 60
4. Botswana - Gaborone - Mokgweetsi Masisi 57
5. Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou - Roch Kaboré 61
6. Burundi - Bujumbura - Pierre Nkurunziza 54
7. Cape Verde - Praia - Jorge Carlos Fonseca 68
8. Cameroon - Yaounde - Paul Biya 85
9. Central African Republic - Bangui - Faustin-Archange Touadéra 61
10. Chad - N'Djamena - Idriss Déby 66
11. Comoros - Moroni - Azali Assoumani 60
12. Cote d'Ivoire - Yamoussoukro - Alassane Ouattara 76
13. Djibouti - Djibouti (city) - Ismaïl Omar Guelleh 72
14. Egypt - Cairo - Abdel Fattah EL-Ṣíṣí 64
15. Equatorial Guinea - Malabo - Teodoro Mbasogo 76
16. Eritrea - Asmara - Isaias Afwerki 72
17. Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) - Mbabane - Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini 50
18. Ethiopia - Addis Ababa - Mulatu Teshome 63
19. Gabon - Libreville - Ali Bongo Ondimba 59
20. Gambia - Banjul - Adama Barrow 53
21. Ghana - Accra - Nana Akufo-Addo 74
22. Guinea - Conakry - Alpha Condé 80
23. Guinea Bissau - Bissau - José Mário Vaz 60
24. Kenya - Nairobi - Uhuru Kenyatta 57
25. Lesotho - Maseru - Tom Thabane 79
26. Liberia - Monrovia - George Weah 52
27. Libya - Tripoli - Fayez al-Sarraj 58
28. Madagascar - Antananarivo - Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana 54
29. Malawi - Lilongwe - Peter Mutharika 79
30. Mali - Bamako - Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta 73
31. Mauritania - Nouakchott - Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz 61
32. Mauritius - Port Louis - Pravind Jugnauth 56
33. Morocco - Rabat - Saadeddine Othmani 62
34. Mozambique - Maputo - Filipe Nyusi 59
35. Namibia - Windhoek - Hage Geingob 77
36. Niger - Niamey - Mahamadou Issoufou 66
37. Nigeria - FCT Abuja - Muhammadu Buhari 75
38. Rwanda - Kigali - Paul Kagame 61
39. Senegal - Dakar - Macky Sall 56
40. Seychelles - Victoria - Danny Faure 56
41. Sierra Leone - Freetown - Julius Maada Bio 54
42. Somalia - Mogadishu - Mohamed Abdullahi Mohammed 56
43. South Africa - Cape Town - Cyril Ramaphosa 66
44. Sudan - Khartoum - Omar al-Bashir 74
45. Tanzania - Dodoma - John Magufuli 59
46. Togo - Lomé - Faure Gnassingbé 52
47. Tunisia - Tunis - Beji Caid Essebsi 91
48. Uganda - Kampala - Yoweri Museveni 74
49. Zambia - Lusaka - Edgar Lungu 62
50. Zimbabwe - Harare - Emmerson Mnangagwa 76

Average age: 66

According to Business Insider,

The average age of the ten oldest African leaders is 78.5, compared to 52 for the world's ten most-developed economies.

This is paradoxical to the fact that Africa has the youngest population in the world.

This research was conducted this month using the scope of study of active/current leaders around the world. The sampling and population size was of course reduced to 152 countries, 152 leaders rather than the total number of countries in the world, 195. This simply means that, about 43 number of countries was omitted, deliberately. According to world meter, China happen to the country with largest population, Nigeria is the only African country among the top 10, number 7 precisely. Now, the major objective of this research was to ASCERTAIN, THE EFFECT OF AGE OF LEADERS ON CONTINENTAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Many of us have had to deal with African leaders who live like forever been a leader of a country in Africa, and we have the likes of Gaddafi, Mugabe amongst other. This research basically was to consider, if age level of world leaders have an effect on their country's and continent development.

The norm was set at age 60 and below and using simple percentile frequency (Average level) 

Considering this, the result shows that:

Asia is having an average age of 64, after the sampling of 30 countries' leaders

Europe is having an average age of 58, after the sampling of 36 countries' leaders 

North America is having an average age of 55, after the sampling of 36 countries' leaders

South America is having an average age 61, after the sampling of 11 countries' leaders 

Australia and Oceania is having an average age of 58, after the sampling of 8 countries' leaders. 

Africa is having an average age of 66, after the sampling of 50 countries' leaders.

The result of this research also reveals the world leaders who are female. And a total number of 5 leaders in the world are actually females, 1 in Asia, 2 in Europe, 1 in North America, 1 in Australia and Oceania, while South America and Africa have a record of 0.

Also the result of the research shows that, Africa has the highest average age of 66. And Africa is among the underdeveloped continent. 

This research was not conducted for the economical purpose, but the mental state of individuals who are mounting the leadership position in Africa. The norm was set against its counterpart, developed continent as the case maybe, Europe, who is on the average of 58.

Africa has also been recorded to have the highest age range of 70-100 of more than 15 leaders who are on the retirement age. Take for instance, Nigeria, the average age of leaders who has taken power in the past 10years is 60, while they will spend 2 terms on the years of 4 each. Apparently, they will be leaving office at age 68 which is way past the retirement age set at 60. Invariably, to achieve a distinct on leaders productive age is considering age around 52 (at least), getting to office at that age will make them fall in line with the retirement age of 60.

Now the question is, who among the leaders today in Africa, even in Nigeria, the presidential aspirants of today can achieve that for Nigerians? You're laughing I guess. From the research, only 3 African leaders is able to meet up with this benchmark who are, the Eswatini (Swaziland) leader, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini age 50, Liberia leader, George Weah age 52, and the Togo leader, Faure Gnassingbé age 52.

"We See People In Wheelchairs Unable To Raise Hands Standing For Election. This Is A Joke; …The Whole World Already Laughing At Us"...

Mohammed Ibrahim (Founder, Mo Ibrahim Foundation)

Watch the Video Of MO Ibrahim's Anger On Support For Old Men As Leaders In African Countries below:

In conclusion, it's high time we started considering young leaders in this 21st century. Now, the benefits of this young minds pose positivity on the mental/health state towards leadership. We need to unlearn that mentality that experience counts in leadership roles. I'm not saying its not important, but not on a recycled role, power or office.

Please note; the result of this research is not 100% correct due to the sampling size and sampling population used. And it is subjected to criticism and correction.

So aside the results of the research, please see the other side of the article, knowing the countries in the world and their capital (some you might not know of), the names of their current president/leader and of course their individual age as at 2018.

References:
AzCentral
Google Pictures
Worldometer
Wikipedia

Adeshile Bright (c) 2019