List of Secretaries-General

№	Portrait	Secretary-General (Born–Died)	Dates in office	Country of origin	UN Regional Group	Reason of withdrawal	Ref.
–		Gladwyn Jebb (1900–1996)	24 October 1945 – 1 February 1946	United Kingdom	Western European & Others	Served as Acting Secretary-General until Lie's election.	[10]
		After World War II, he served as Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations in August 1945, being appointed Acting United Nations Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946 until the appointment of the first Secretary-General, Trygve Lie.
1		Trygve Lie (1896–1968)	2 February 1946 – 10 November 1952	Norway	Western European & Others	Resigned.	[11]
		Lie, a foreign minister and former labour leader, was recommended by the Soviet Union to fill the post. After the UN involvement in the Korean War, the Soviet Union vetoed Lie's reappointment in 1951. The United States circumvented the Soviet Union's veto and recommended reappointment directly to the General Assembly. Lie was reappointed by a vote of 46 to 5, with eight abstentions. The Soviet Union remained hostile to Lie, and he resigned in 1952.[12]
2		Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961)	10 April 1953 – 18 September 1961	Sweden	Western European & Others	Died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo.	[13]
		After a series of candidates were vetoed, Hammarskjöld emerged as an option that was acceptable to the Security Council. He was re-elected unanimously to a second term in 1957. The Soviet Union was angered by Hammarskjöld's leadership of the UN during the Congo Crisis, and suggested that the position of Secretary-General be replaced by a troika, or three-man executive. Facing great opposition from the Western nations, the Soviet Union gave up on its suggestion. Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1961.[12]U.S. President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century".[14]
3		U Thant (1909–1974)	30 November 1961 – 31 December 1971	Burma	Asia-Pacific	Declined to stand for a third election.	[15]
		In the process of replacing Hammarskjöld, the developing world insisted on a non-European and non-American Secretary-General. U Thant was nominated. However, due to opposition from the French (Thant had chaired a committee on Algerian independence) and the Arabs (Burmasupported Israel), Thant was only appointed for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. He was the first Asian Secretary-General. The following year, on 30 November, Thant was unanimously re-elected to a new term ending on 3 November 1966. He was re-elected on 2 December 1966, finally for a full 5-year term, ending on 31 December 1971. Thant did not seek a third election.[12]
4		Kurt Waldheim (1918–2007)	1 January 1972 – 31 December 1981	Austria	Western European & Others	China vetoed his third term.	[16]
		Waldheim launched a discreet but effective campaign to become the Secretary-General. Despite initial vetoes from China and the United Kingdom, in the third round, Waldheim was selected to become the new Secretary-General. In 1976, China initially blocked Waldheim's re-election, but it relented on the second ballot. In 1981, Waldheim's re-election for a third term was blocked by China, which vetoed his selection through 15 rounds. From 1986 to 1992, Waldheim served as President of Austria, making him the first former Secretary-General to rise to the position of head of state.[17] In 1985, it was revealed that a post–World War II UN War Crimes Commission had labeled Waldheim as a suspected war criminal – based on his involvement with the army of Nazi Germany. The files had been stored in the UN archive.[12]
5		Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (born 1920)	1 January 1982 – 31 December 1991	Peru	Latin American & Caribbean	Did not stand for a third term.	[18]
		Pérez de Cuéllar was selected after a five-week deadlock between the re-election of Waldheim and China's candidate, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania. Pérez de Cuéllar, a Peruvian diplomat who a decade earlier had served as President of the UN Security Council during his time as Peruvian Ambassador to the UN, was a compromise candidate, and became the first and thus far only Secretary-General from the Americas. He was re-elected unanimously in 1986.[12]
6		Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922–2016)	1 January 1992 – 31 December 1996	Egypt	African	The United States vetoed his second term.	[19]
		The 102-member Non-Aligned Movement insisted that the next Secretary-General come from Africa. With a majority in the General Assembly and the support of China, the Non-Aligned Movement had the votes necessary to block any unfavourable candidate. The Security Council conducted five anonymous straw polls—a first for the council—and Boutros-Ghali emerged with 11 votes on the fifth round. In 1996, the United States vetoed the re-appointment of Boutros-Ghali, claiming he had failed in implementing necessary reforms to the UN.[12]
7		Kofi Annan (born 1938)	1 January 1997 – 31 December 2006	Ghana	African	Retired after two full terms.	[20]
		On 13 December 1996, the Security Council recommended Annan.[21][22] He was confirmed four days later by the vote of the General Assembly.[23] He started his second term as Secretary-General on 1 January 2002.
8		Ban Ki-moon (born 1944)	1 January 2007 – 31 December 2016	South Korea	Asia-Pacific	Retired after two full terms.	[24]
		Ban became the first East Asian to be selected as the Secretary-General and the second Asian overall after U Thant. He was unanimously elected to a second term by the General Assembly on 21 June 2011. His second term began on 1 January 2012.[25] Prior to his selection, he was the Foreign Minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006.
9		António Guterres (born 1949)	1 January 2017 – present	Portugal	Western European & Others
		Guterres is the first former head of government to become Secretary-General, and the first Secretary-General born after the establishment of the United Nations. He was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He has also been President of Socialist International (1999–2005) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2005–2015).

A map showing which nations have had a national serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations

Jebb

Lie

Hammarskjöld

Thant

Waldheim

Pérez de Cuéllar

Boutros-Ghali

Annan

Ban

Guterres

Birthplaces of Secretaries-General of the United Nations

Statistics[edit]

#	Secretary-General	Date of birth	Age at ascension (first term)	Time in office (total)	Age at retirement (last term)	Date of death	Longevity
acting	Gladwyn Jebb	April 25, 1900	45 years, 182 days	101 days	45 years, 283 days	October 24, 1996	96 years, 182 days
1	Trygve Lie	July 16, 1896	49 years, 201 days	6 years, 282 days	56 years, 117 days	December 30, 1968	72 years, 167 days
2	Dag Hammarskjöld	July 29, 1905	47 years, 255 days	8 years, 161 days	56 years, 51 days	September 18, 1961	56 years, 51 days
3	U Thant	January 22, 1909	52 years, 312 days	10 years, 31 days	62 years, 343 days	November 25, 1974	65 years, 307 days
4	Kurt Waldheim	December 21, 1918	53 years, 11 days	9 years, 364 days	63 years, 10 days	June 14, 2007	88 years, 175 days
5	Javier Pérez de Cuéllar	January 19, 1920	61 years, 347 days	9 years, 364 days	71 years, 346 days	Living	98 years, 118 days (Living)
6	Boutros Boutros-Ghali	November 14, 1922	69 years, 48 days	4 years, 364 days	74 years, 47 days	February 16, 2016	93 years, 94 days
7	Kofi Annan	April 8, 1938	58 years, 268 days	9 years, 364 days	68 years, 267 days	Living	80 years, 39 days (Living)
8	Ban Ki-moon	June 13, 1944	62 years, 202 days	9 years, 364 days	72 years, 201 days	Living	73 years, 338 days (Living)
9	António Guterres	April 30, 1949	67 years, 246 days	1 year, 136 days (Ongoing)	Incumbent	Living	69 years, 17 days (Living)