The Dictatorship

Blue bars indicate Heads of State still in power. Click on names for individual biographies

Kim Il Sung North Korea 46 Years

Fidel Castro Cuba 44 Years

Enver Hoxha Albania 41 Years

Haile Selassie Ethiopia 39 Years

Francisco Franco Spain 36 Years

Antonio Salazar Portugal 36 Years

Omar Bongo Gabon 36 Years

Etienne Eyadema Togo 36 Years

Todor Zhivkov Bulgaria 35 Years

Josip Broz Yugoslavia 35 Years

Alfredo Stroessner Paraguay 35 Years

Hassan II Morocco 34 Years

Reza Pahlavi Iran 34 Years

Mu'ammar Quathafi Libya 34 Years

János Kádár Hungary 32 Years

Mobuto Sese Seko Zaire 32 Years

Rafael Trujillo Dominican Republic 31 Years

Hafez Al-Assad Syria 30 Years

Hastings Banda Malawi 30 Years

Thojib Suharto Indonesia 30 Years

Juan Vicente Gómez Venezuela 27 Years

Mao Tse Tung China 27 Years

France Albert Rene Seychelles 26 Years

Chaing Kai Shek ** Taiwan 26 Years

Hassan Gouled Aptidon Djibouti 25 Years

Joseph Stalin USSR 25 Years

Nicolae Ceausescu Romania 24 Years

Daniel Arap Moi Kenya 24 Years

Teodoro Obiang Equatorial Guinea 24 Years

Saddam Hussein Iraq 24 Years

Eduardo Dos Santos Angola 24 Years

Heider Aliev ^* Azerbaijan 23 Years

Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe 23 Years

Benito Mussolini Italy 22 Years

Forbes Burnham Guyana 21 Years

Ferdinand Marcos Phillipines 21 Years

Anastasio Somoza García Nicaragua 20 Years

Leonid Brezhnev USSR 18 Years

Erich Honecker East Germany 17 Years

Haile Mariam Menghistu Ethiopia 17 Years

Augusto Pinochet Chile 17 Years

Park Chung-Hee South Korea 16 Years

Hugo Banzer Bolivia 14 Years

Papa Doc Duvalier Haiti 14 Years

Jean-Bédel Bokassa C A R ^! 13 Years

Houari Boumédienne Algeria 13 Years

Slobodan Milosovic Yugoslavia 13 Years

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Nicaragua 13 Years

Islam Karimov Uzbekistan 13 Years

Adolf Hitler Germany 11 Years

Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenistan 11 Years

Samuel Doe Liberia 10 Years

Ruhollah Khomeini Iran 10 Years

Idi Amin Uganda 9 Years

Zia Ul-Haq Pakistan 9 Years

Fulgencio Batista Cuba 9 Years

Kim Jong Il North Korea 9 Years

Alexander Lukashenko Belarus 9 Years

Ibrahim Babangida Nigeria 8 Years

Ngo Dinh Diem Vietnam 8 Years

Wojciech Jaruselzski Poland 8 Years

Hugo Bánzer Bolivia 7 Years

Desi Bouterse Suriname 7 Years

Manuel Noriega Panama 6 Years

Charles Taylor Liberia 6 Years

Sani Abacha Nigeria 5 Years

Jorge Videla Argentina 5 Years

Ion Antonescu Romania 4 Years

Pol Pot Cambodia 4 Years

Hideki Tojo Japan 4 Years

Humberto Branco Brazil 3 Years

Pervez Musharraf Pakistan 3 Years

Vidkun Quisling Norway 3 Years

Chiang Kai Shek. Although Chiang also ruled China from 1928-49 and is therefore the longest serving leader in the chart thedictatorship.com** had to be quite strict in the marking. Between these years China was not entirely under his control, with the Communists strong in the North, the Japanese occupying Manchuria and the Soviets dominating the province of Shiangking. * Heider Aliev ruled in two stretches, as head of Azerbaijan SSR from 1969-1982 and again after independence from 1993-present. ^! Central African Republic, later the Central African Empire following the ceremony whence Bokassa proclaimed himself Emperor Bokassa I.