Modi beats Pope Francis and Dalai Lama in a ranking of the world’s most admired people

In India, politicians are generally perceived to be corrupt and marred in scandals. Yet, prime minister Narendra Modi has managed to break that perception and emerged as one of the most admired people in the world.

Ranked the sixth most admired person on the planet, Modi beat the head of the catholic church Pope Francis, American investor Warren Buffett, and US president Donald Trump.

• It’s harder than ever to hide an oil tanker

Among Indians, Modi is more admired than cricket icons such as MS Dhoni (the second most admired Indian) and Sachin Tendulkar (7), business tycoon Ratan Tata (3), and Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, and Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.

The ranking is based on an online survey by UK-based market research and data firm YouGov, which gathered nominations from panelists across 41 countries.

American tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates held on to his top spot as the most admired man. Meanwhile, former US first lady Michelle Obama replaced Hollywood star Angelina Jolie as the most admired woman.

• Disney’s pick for Mulan is one of China’s worst actresses, according to China’s IMDb

“The US actress, filmmaker and humanitarian has fallen from first place last year to third place this year, with US talk show and philanthropist host Oprah Winfrey coming second in the 2019 list,” YouGov said.

Here are the 20 most admired women and men, globally, according to the survey:

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the world’s most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:

• Why China is angry about Marvel’s first Asian superhero movie

• China’s hottest new boy band is actually made up of five androgynous girls