Millennials

How Fintech is Digitally Disrupting the Financial World

Published

7 years ago

August 3, 2016

Jeff Desjardins

The market for fintech, or financial technology software, was one of the hottest sectors in 2015.

The time is ripe for financial innovation: new technologies are helping end users skip past gatekeepers and intermediaries to customize their use of financial products. Meanwhile, many of the same technologies are also erasing the inefficiencies of banks and other financial institutions to cut costs in ways the industry never deemed possible. Lastly, innovations such as the blockchain are changing the way banks approach their most basic mechanisms – as a result, even the most fundamental practices in banking are evolving.

Payments, personal finance, P2P lending, insurance, digital banking, equity crowdfunding, smart contracts, and digital currencies are just some of the areas that are of interest in the fintech landscape.

Financial Innovation via Technology

There’s heavy competition in the fintech space and no shortage of moving parts. However, this infographic from DealSunny helps to put most things in perspective.

(Note: we did notice a lack of information on blockchain tech here, but otherwise it is a good introduction.)

How Financial Innovation through fintech is changing the banking sector

How will incumbents in the financial realm react to the fintech revolution? That is one of the more interesting questions that is arising now.

Close to a year ago, it was clear that many financial executives were unaware of key fintech startups. However, this appears to be changing fast as fintech companies pose more of a threat.

Incumbents have two options: (1) they can compete by developing proprietary technology or working closely with fintech startups that know what they are doing, and (2) they can buy the fintech companies that are leading the race to scale.

We are already seeing companies like Visa and Mastercard diving head first into the P2P payments business. The infrastructure they are using is clearXchange, a network jointly developed by Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, US Bank, and Wells Fargo. As another example, the big banks are also trying to fight robo-advisors by boosting their online wealth management offerings.

However, if fintech companies end up eating the lunch of staid financial institutions – these incumbents will be forced to pay a heavy price. A robo-advisor like Wealthfront already has $2 billion of assets under management, and it won’t be long before the acquisition cost of such a company could literally break the bank.

Related Topics:fintech financial innovation wealth management lending p2p personal finance banks

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Countries

Visualized: The Head of State of Each Country, by Age and Generation

This graphic visualizes the ages of every country’s head of state, and compares them with the median population of their respective states.

Creator Program

Published

2 months ago

March 24, 2023

Freny Fernandes

This graphic shows each nation's head of state, their age and generation, and how they relate to their country's population

The Head of State of Each Country By Age and Generation

How many world leaders are in each generation?

This visualization by Edit Gyenge visualizes the ages of every nation’s head of state as of March 22, 2023, comparing them with the median population of the respective country. It uses data from the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Editor’s note: This visualization looks specifically at heads of state. It should be mentioned that depending on the system of government in a country, heads of state shown here may or may not have actual political power. In some countries, the head of state may be a ceremonial position that does not impact day-to-day governance.

The Oldest and Youngest Heads of State

Here is the full list of heads of state, from oldest to youngest:

Country	Head of State	Gender	Age	Generation
Cameroon	Paul Biya	Male	90	Silent Generation
Palestine	Mahmoud Abbas	Male	88	Silent Generation
Saudi Arabia	Salman	Male	88	Silent Generation
Norway	Harald V	Male	86	Silent Generation
Kuwait	Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	Male	86	Silent Generation
Iran	Ali Khamenei	Male	84	Silent Generation
Denmark	Margrethe II	Female	83	Silent Generation
Ireland	Michael D. Higgins	Male	82	Silent Generation
Italy	Sergio Mattarella	Male	82	Silent Generation
Namibia	Hage Geingob	Male	82	Silent Generation
Cote d'Ivoire	Alassane Ouattara	Male	81	Silent Generation
Malta	George Vella	Male	81	Silent Generation
Equatorial Guinea	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	Male	81	Silent Generation
Zimbabwe	Emmerson Mnangagwa	Male	81	Silent Generation
United States	Joe Biden	Male	81	Silent Generation
Nigeria	Muhammadu Buhari	Male	81	Silent Generation
Dominica	Charles Savarin	Male	80	Silent Generation
Congo, Republic of the	Denis Sassou Nguesso	Male	80	Silent Generation
Bangladesh	Abdul Hamid	Male	79	Silent Generation
Austria	Alexander Van der Bellen	Male	79	Silent Generation
Ghana	Nana Akufo-Addo	Male	79	Silent Generation
Iraq	Abdul Latif Rashid	Male	79	Silent Generation
Uganda	Yoweri Museveni	Male	79	Silent Generation
Nepal	Ram Chandra Paudel	Male	79	Silent Generation
Liechtenstein	Hans-Adam II	Male	78	Silent Generation
Brazil	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	Male	78	Silent Generation
Laos	Thongloun Sisoulith	Male	78	Silent Generation
Nicaragua	Daniel Ortega	Male	78	Silent Generation
Algeria	Abdelmadjid Tebboune	Male	78	Silent Generation
Eritrea	Isaias Afwerki	Male	77	Baby Boomers
Sweden	Carl XVI Gustaf	Male	77	Baby Boomers
Brunei	Hassanal Bolkiah	Male	77	Baby Boomers
Samoa	Afioga Tuimaleali'ifano Va'aleto'a Sualauvi II	Male	76	Baby Boomers
Djibouti	Ismaïl Omar Guelleh	Male	76	Baby Boomers
Finland	Sauli Niinistö	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Antigua and Barbuda	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Australia	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Bahamas	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Belize	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Canada	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Grenada	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Jamaica	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
New Zealand	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Papua New Guinea	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Saint Lucia	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Solomon Islands	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Tuvalu	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
United Kingdom	Charles III	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Portugal	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa	Male	75	Baby Boomers
Barbados	Dame Sandra Mason	Female	74	Baby Boomers
Sri Lanka	Ranil Wickremesinghe	Male	74	Baby Boomers
Pakistan	Arif Alvi	Male	74	Baby Boomers
Haiti	Ariel Henry	Male	74	Baby Boomers
East Timor	José Ramos-Horta	Male	74	Baby Boomers
Bahrain	Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa	Male	73	Baby Boomers
Ethiopia	Sahle-Work Zewde	Female	73	Baby Boomers
Myanmar	Myint Swe	Male	72	Baby Boomers
Marshall Islands	David Kabua	Male	72	Baby Boomers
South Sudan	Salva Kiir Mayardit	Male	72	Baby Boomers
Georgia	Salome Zourabichvili	Female	71	Baby Boomers
Thailand	Maha Vajiralongkorn	Male	71	Baby Boomers
Tajikistan	Emomali Rahmon	Male	71	Baby Boomers
Russia	Vladimir Putin	Male	71	Baby Boomers
South Africa	Cyril Ramaphhosa	Male	71	Baby Boomers
Panama	Laurentino Cortizo	Male	70	Baby Boomers
Cambodia	Norodom Sihamoni	Male	70	Baby Boomers
Kazakhstan	Kassym-Jomart Tokayev	Male	70	Baby Boomers
China	Xi Jinping	Male	70	Baby Boomers
Mexico	Andrés Manuel López Obrador	Male	70	Baby Boomers
Yemen	Rashad al-Alimi	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Turkey	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Angola	João Lourenço	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Singapore	Halimah Yacob	Female	69	Baby Boomers
Belarus	Alexander Lukashenko	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Oman	Haitham bin Tariq	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Egypt	Abdel Fattah el-Sisi	Male	69	Baby Boomers
Malawi	Lazarus Chakwera	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Luxembourg	Henri	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Latvia	Egils Levits	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Ecuador	Guillermo Lasso	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Lebanon	Najib Mikati	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Somalia	Hassan Sheikh Mohamud	Male	68	Baby Boomers
Germany	Frank-Walter Steinmeier	Male	67	Baby Boomers
Guatemala	Alejandro Giammattei	Male	67	Baby Boomers
Greece	Katerina Sakellaropoulou	Female	67	Baby Boomers
Mauritania	Mohamed Ould Ghazouani	Male	67	Baby Boomers
Central African Republic	Faustin-Archange Touadéra	Male	66	Baby Boomers
Uzbekistan	Shavkat Mirziyoyev	Male	66	Baby Boomers
Philippines	Bongbong Marcos	Male	66	Baby Boomers
Rwanda	Paul Kagame	Male	66	Baby Boomers
Tunisia	Kaïs Saïed	Male	65	Baby Boomers
Monaco	Albert II	Male	65	Baby Boomers
Estonia	Alar Karis	Male	65	Baby Boomers
Benin	Patrice Talon	Male	65	Baby Boomers
India	Droupadi Murmu	Female	65	Baby Boomers
Trinidad and Tobago	Paula-Mae Weekes	Female	65	Baby Boomers
Comoros	Azali Assoumani	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Suriname	Chan Santokhi	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Gabon	Ali Bongo Ondimba	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Mozambique	Filipe Nyusi	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Seychelles	Wavel Ramkalawan	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Argentina	Alberto Fernández	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Armenia	Vahagn Khachaturyan	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Mauritius	Prithvirajsing Roopun	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Romania	Klaus Iohannis	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Tonga	Tupou VI	Male	64	Baby Boomers
São Tomé and Príncipe	Carlos Vila Nova	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Malaysia	Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah	Male	64	Baby Boomers
Honduras	Xiomara Castro	Female	64	Baby Boomers
Niger	Mohamed Bazoum	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Tanzania	Samia Suluhu Hassan	Female	63	Baby Boomers
Japan	Naruhito	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Cabo Verde	José Maria Neves	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Belgium	Philippe	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Colombia	Gustavo Petro	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Cuba	Miguel Díaz-Canel	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Sudan	Abdel Fattah al-Burhan	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Kiribati	Taneti Maamau	Male	63	Baby Boomers
Israel	Isaac Herzog	Male	63	Baby Boomers
South Korea	Yoon Suk-yeol	Male	63	Baby Boomers
United Arab Emirates	Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Afghanistan	Hibatullah Akhundzada	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Costa Rica	Rodrigo Chaves Robles	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Indonesia	Joko Widodo	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Botswana	Mokgweetsi Masisi	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Czechia	Petr Pavel	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Senegal	Macky Sall	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Azerbaijan	Ilham Aliyev	Male	62	Baby Boomers
Jordan	Abdullah II	Male	61	Baby Boomers
Montenegro	Milo Ðukanovic	Male	61	Baby Boomers
Maldives	Ibrahim Mohamed Solih	Male	61	Baby Boomers
Peru	Dina Boluarte	Female	61	Baby Boomers
Zambia	Hakainde Hichilema	Male	61	Baby Boomers
Venezuela	Nicolás Maduro	Male	61	Baby Boomers
North Macedonia	Stevo Pendarovski	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	Félix Tshisekedi	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Bulgaria	Rumen Radev	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Lesotho	Letsie III	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Morocco	Mohammed VI	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Bolivia	Luis Arce	Male	60	Baby Boomers
Micronesia	David W. Panuelo	Male	59	Baby Boomers
Fiji	Ratu Wiliame Katonivere	Male	59	Baby Boomers
Sierra Leone	Julius Maada Bio	Male	59	Baby Boomers
Vanuatu	Nikenike Vurobaravu	Male	59	Baby Boomers
Lithuania	Gitanas Nauseda	Male	59	Baby Boomers
The Gambia	Adama Barrow	Male	58	Generation X
Syria	Bashar al-Assad	Male	58	Generation X
Togo	Faure Gnassingbé	Male	57	Generation X
Liberia	George Weah	Male	57	Generation X
Croatia	Zoran Milanovic	Male	57	Generation X
Kenya	William Ruto	Male	57	Generation X
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Željka Cvijanovic	Female	56	Generation X
Albania	Bajram Begaj	Male	56	Generation X
Netherlands	Willem-Alexander	Male	56	Generation X
Dominican Republic	Luis Abinader	Male	56	Generation X
Spain	Felipe VI	Male	55	Generation X
Eswatini	Mswati III	Male	55	Generation X
Slovenia	Nataša Pirc Musar	Female	55	Generation X
Mongolia	Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh	Male	55	Generation X
Burundi	Évariste Ndayishimiye	Male	55	Generation X
Iceland	Guðni Th. Jóhannesson	Male	55	Generation X
Palau	Surangel Whipps Jr.	Male	55	Generation X
Kyrgyzstan	Sadyr Japarov	Male	55	Generation X
Serbia	Aleksandar Vucic	Male	53	Generation X
Vietnam	Võ Văn Thưởng	Male	53	Generation X
Paraguay	Mario Abdo Benítez	Male	52	Generation X
Switzerland	Alain Berset	Male	51	Generation X
Poland	Andrzej Duda	Male	51	Generation X
Moldova	Maia Sandu	Female	51	Generation X
Guinea-Bissau	Umaro Sissoco Embaló	Male	51	Generation X
Slovakia	Zuzana Caputová	Female	50	Generation X
Uruguay	Luis Lacalle Pou	Male	50	Generation X
Cyprus	Nikos Christodoulides	Male	50	Generation X
Madagascar	Andry Rajoelina	Male	49	Generation X
Nauru	Russ Kun	Male	48	Generation X
Libya	Mohamed al-Menfi	Male	47	Generation X
Hungary	Katalin Novák	Female	46	Generation X
France	Emmanuel Macron	Male	46	Generation X
Ukraine	Volodymyr Zelenskyy	Male	45	Generation X
Bhutan	Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	Male	43	Generation X
Guinea	Mamady Doumbouya	Male	43	Generation X
Guyana	Irfaan Ali	Male	43	Generation X
Qatar	Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani	Male	43	Generation X
El Salvador	Nayib Bukele	Male	42	Millennials
Turkmenistan	Serdar Berdimuhamedow	Male	42	Millennials
North Korea	Kim Jong-un	Male	41	Millennials
Mali	Assimi Goïta	Male	40	Millennials
Chad	Mahamat Déby	Male	39	Millennials
Chile	Gabriel Boric	Male	37	Millennials
Burkina Faso	Ibrahim Traoré	Male	35	Millennials

Though ages vary across countries and regions, Africa has both the oldest and youngest heads of state in the world today.

Last month, Cameroon’s president Paul Biya celebrated his 90th birthday, making him the oldest head of state in the world in a country that has a median population age of just 18.5 years. The African continent is home to about one-third of the world’s silent generation heads of states.

At the other age extreme, 35-year-old Ibrahim Traoré became the youngest head of state in Burkina Faso after a coup d’etat in September 2022.

Traoré is not the only millennial head of state out there. He is joined by others including Chile’s Gabriel Boric, and North Korea’s well-known Kim Jong-un.

Baby Boomers Lead the Way

Born between 1946 and 1964, the baby boomer generation dominates the world’s state leadership roles today.

Over 58% of the world’s heads of state are in this generation, including the UK’s King Charles III who is the head of state of 15 total nations.

Boomers also make up the largest share of women leaders in the top state positions today. While only around 10% of the world’s nations have women head of states, 65% of them are in this generation.

Included in this subset are heads of state such as Peru’s president Dina Boluarte, Honduras’ president Xiomara Castro, and India’s president Droupadi Murmu.

Where Gen X Takes the Lead

According to historical trends, one might expect to see an American president from Generation X in office sometime soon, but that has not yet materialized for various reasons.

However, this generation has made their mark in other parts of the world as heads of state, especially in Europe.

The presidents of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelenskyy), France (Emmanuel Macron), and Hungary (Katalin Novák) are in Gen X, and are also Europe’s youngest heads of state.