New Survey: Michelle Obama is the world’s most admired woman

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Michelle Obama is the world’s most admired woman, according to YouGov’s annual study of which public figures the people of our planet look up to. 

OWN Network CEO and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey, came in second on the 2019 list.

This year, the study expanded to cover the views of people in 41 countries – the most ever – with more than 42,000 people being interviewed to compile the list.

Entertainers dominate the female list, with 12 of the most admired women being actresses, singers or TV presenters. By contrast, the list of most admired men contains more people from political, business and sporting background.

Within the United States, both former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are the most admired man and woman.

In December, YouGov gathered open-ended nominations from panelists across 41 countries, asking them simply: “Thinking about people alive in the world today, which [man or woman] do you most admire?”

These nominations were then used to compile a list of the 20 men and 20 women who received the most nominations and were nominated in at least four countries. An additional 10 popular local figures were added to the lists for individual countries.