Forbes has released its annual list of the 71 most powerful people on the world.

The list is heavy on political leaders, who took out the top three spots (Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and then Vladimir Putin) and plenty more besides. Bill Gates came in fourth.

The next most highly ranked businesspeople were Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett at 15^th, Walmart chief Michael Duke at 17^th, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

There are six women on the list, and of the men, half went to just 11 universities. Harvard boasts 12 power-player graduates, MIT has four, Stanford has six while Oxford has five.

There are no Australians on the list.