The salary figures in this article only cover the basic salaries of Asian leaders. Various perks and monthly/yearly benefits are not included. The currency used is roughly converted to US dollars from the monetary values of the respective countries.
15. Tshering Tobgay – Bhutan
Tshering has been the Prime Minister of Bhutan since 2013. In 2014, he received a salary hike between the amount of $33,968 to $37,365 per year. It was reported that he rejected the salary hike and instead would donate the added $9,435 to charity. Thus, the basic salary he receives is $27,930 (1,255,328 Php) per year.
14. Pranab Mukherjee – India
Pranab Kumar Mukherjee is the 13th President of India and took the office on July 2012. As such, he is the head of the executive, legislature and judiciary of India and also the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces. He held several positions in the Indian national government before becoming a president. He earns $28,800 (1,294,430 Php) per year.
13. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III – Philippines
Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III is a fourth-generation politician in his family. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1988 as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province and held the position until 2004. In 2007, he was elected as Senator of the Philippines. On June 30, 2010, Aquino was sworn into office as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines. Aquino earns a basic salary of $32,513.88 per year (1,461,353 Php).
12. Prayut Chan-o-cha – Thailand
Prayut Chan-o-cha is the Prime Minister of Thailand. He is the former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, the post he held from October 2010 to October 2014. He receives $49,728 (2,235,020 Php) per year as basic salary for that position.
11. Najib Razak – Malaysia
Najib Razak is the sixth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia since 3rd of April 2009 to succeed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He has been into serving his country in various capacities at the age of 23 when he replaced his deceased father in the Pahang-based seat of Pekan. He receives a basic salary of $75,775.2 (3,405,754 Php) per year.
10. Benjamin Netanyahu – Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel and the head of the Israeli government. He has been elected prime minister of Israel four times, the same as David Ben-Gurion’s record, and thus currently the second longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history after David Ben-Gurion. He is the only prime minister in Israel’s history to have been elected three-times in a row. If he completes his current term he will become the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Israel. This government position in Israel receives $120,814 (5,430,046 Php) every year as basic salary.
9. Joko Widodo – Indonesia
Joko Widodo or ‘Jokowi’ has been the President of Indonesia since October 2014. He is Indonesia’s first president who came not from the military nor the political elite. He earns $124,171 (5,580,928 Php) yearly making him the 9th top earner among the presidents in Asia.
8. Tammam Salam – Lebanon
Tammam Saeb Salam has been the Prime Minister of Lebanon since February 2014 and the acting President of Lebanon since May 2014. He earns $150,000 (6,741,825 Php) every year as his basic salary.
7. Ma Ying-jeou – Taiwan
Ma ying-Jeou is the current President of the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Ma first won the presidency by 58.45% of the popular vote in the presidential election of 2008, and was re-elected in 2012 with 51.6% of the vote. He receives $184,000 (8,269,972 Php) annually, which makes him the 7th highest paid Asian president.
6. Park Geun Hye – South Korea
Park Geun Hye is the first woman to be elected as President in South Korea. Her father Park Chung-hee also served as president of South Korea from 1962 to 1979. Forbes magazine included her in their list of the World’s Most Powerful Woman in 2013 and 2014. She earns $187,000 (8,382,555 Php) every year.
5. Shinzo Abe – Japan
Shinzō Abe is the Prime Minister of Japan. Abe is Japan’s youngest post-war prime minister. He was first elected and became Japan’s Prime Minister and served beginning 2006, but resigned in September 2007 for health reasons. He was re-elected to the same position in December 2012. He is the 5th highest paid Asian president with a salary of $202,700 (9,086,331.55 Php) every year.
4. Ilham Aliyev – Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev got the fourth spot as the highest paid political leaders in Asia. He was elected on October 9, 2013 for the third time in a row with 84.54% among the voters. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan takes home $225,000 (10,085,962.50 PHL peso) annually as his basic salary).
3. Leung Chun-ying – Hong Kong
Commonly know as C.Y Leung, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive takes the third spot among highest paid presidents in Asia. His annual income is $530,000 annually (23,758,045 Philippine peso). His basic salary is nearly 27 times the salary of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president. He is the third and incumbent Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He assumed office on July 1 2012.
2. Fuad Masum – Iraq
The Iraqi president is on the second spot. He was elected by the Iraqi parliament representatives as the seventh president and head of state of Iraq in 2014. He won a landslide victory of 211 votes from his closest competitor with 17 votes only. He receives a total of $809,673.6 per year, and that is 36,294,833.63 Philippine peso.
1. Lee Hsien Loong – Singapore
Lee Hsien Loong is Singapore’s Prime Minister and the highest earning leader in Asia. Yearly, he is receiving a whooping $1.7 million (76,205,050 Philippine peso) only from his basic salary, big enough to cover the salaries of the other leaders in the Asian region such as leaders from India, Brazil, Italy, Russia, France, Turkey, Japan, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Germany. He is also the highest paid prime minister in the world.
Sources: listabuzz, Wikipedia