With the way she handled the Greek debt crisis and the strong performance of the German economy amid the euro crisis, it is not surprising that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the world's most powerful woman. Forbes magazine confirmed that by placing Ms Merkel no 1 on its annual list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

Other heads of state and prominent political and business figures are on the list including U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, South Korean President Geun-hye Park and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard who is 28th on the list.

Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person and once the world's richest woman, is considered even more powerful than Ms Gillard since the mining magnate is 16th on the list. On the day that Forbes released the list, BRW Magazine also came out with its billionaire list that established Ms Rinehart's hold on wealth and power in Australia.

That makes Ms Rinehart the seventh most powerful women in business since she is preceded by six other, many of whom are executives of tech firms such as Melinda Gates of Microsoft, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, IBM CEO Virginia Rometty and Hewlett-Packarf CEO Meg Whitman.

On the political side, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is 2nd on the list, followed by Ms Obama (4), Ms Clinton (5), International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde (7), U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (8) and Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi (9).

Other prominent politicians and their rankings are: Former New Zealand Prime Minister and UN Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark (21), U.S. House of Representative Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (22), U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (25), Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (26), Burma National League for Democracy Chair Aung San Suu Kyi (29), Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (31) and British monarch Queen Elizabeth (40).

Others on the list are celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Beyonce and journalists.

Ms Gillard's prominent position in the list could probably enrage rival and Opposition leader Tony Abbott whom she accused or being a misogynist and has a reputation for disliking strong and powerful women.

Forbes, in drawing the list, said it went beyond the traditional measure of focusing on the political powerful and economic elite, but also used dollars, media momentum and impact as other criteria in determining who makes it to the list.

The nine heads of state run nations with a combined GDP of $11.8 trillion while the 24 corporate executive have control over $839 billion.

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