List of heads of state and government who died in office

This is a list of heads of state and government who died in office.

Such deaths have most often been from natural causes, but there are also cases of assassination, execution, suicide and accident.

The list is in chronological order. The name is listed first, followed by the name of the office the person held at the time of death, and the year of death.

Prior to 1850

• Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1743)
• Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1754)
• Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1782)
• Pedro de Melo, viceroy of the Río de la Plata (1797)
• Charles Leclerc, Governor of Saint-Domingue (1802)
• Joaquín del Pino y Rozas, Viceroy of the Río de la Plata (1804)
• William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1806)
• Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1812) – assassinated
• Alexandre Pétion, President of Haiti (1818)
• George Canning, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1827)
• Ioannis Kapodistrias, Governor of Greece (1831) – assassinated
• Casimir Pierre Perier, Prime Minister of France (1832)
• José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Supreme Dictator of Paraguay (1840)
• William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (1841)
• Philippe Guerrier, President of Haiti (1845)
• Jean-Baptiste Riché, President of Haiti (1847)

1850–1899

• Zachary Taylor, President of the United States (1850)
• Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, Prime Minister of Austria (1852)
• Henri Druey, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1855)
• Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1855)
• Stefano Franscini, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1857)
• Carl Edvard Rotwitt, Prime Minister of Denmark (1860)
• Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy (1861)
• Jonas Furrer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1861)
• José Santos Guardiola, President of Honduras (1862) – assassinated
• Barbu Catargiu, Prime Minister of Romania (1862) – assassinated
• Carlos Antonio López, President of Paraguay (1862)
• Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States (1865) – assassinated
• Rafael Carrera, President of Guatemala (1865)
• Henry Temple, Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1865)
• Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché, Joint Premier of Canada (1865)
• Victor Ruffy, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1869)
• Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1872)
• Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (1872)
• José Balta, President of Peru (1872)
• Adolfo Ballivián, President of Bolivia (1874)
• Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt, Prime Minister of Belgium (1874)
• Gabriel García Moreno, President of Ecuador (1875) – assassinated
• Konstantinos Kanaris, Prime Minister of Greece (1877)
• Johann Jakob Scherer, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1878)
• James A. Garfield, President of the United States (1881) – assassinated
• Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez, President of Costa Rica (1882)
• Francisco Javier Zaldúa, President of Colombia (1882)
• Próspero Fernández Oreamuno, President of Costa Rica (1885)
• Agostino Depretis, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy (1887)
• Wilhelm Hertenstein, President of the Swiss Confederation (1888)
• Sir John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada (1891)
• John Ballance, Premier of New Zealand (1893)
• Louis Ruchonnet, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1893)
• Remigio Morales Bermúdez, President of Peru (1894)
• Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (1894) – assassinated
• Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada (1894)
• Karl Schenk, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1895)
• Joseph James Cheeseman, President of Liberia (1896)
• Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, Shah of Iran (1896)
• Florvil Hyppolite, President of Haiti (1896)
• Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, Prime Minister of Spain (1897) – assassinated
• José María Reina Barrios, President of Guatemala (1898) – assassinated
• Félix Faure, President of France (1899)
• Ulises Heureaux, President of the Dominican Republic (1899) – assassinated

1900–1949

• Umberto I, King of Italy (1900)
• Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1901)
• William McKinley, President of the United States (1901) – assassinated
• Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, President of Chile (1901)
• Ramon Riu i Cabanes, Co-Prince of Andorra (1901)
• Abdur Rahman Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (1901)
• Walter Hauser, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1902)
• Alexander I, King of Serbia (1903)
• Manuel Candamo, President of Peru (1904)
• Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1905)
• Theodoros Deligiannis, Prime Minister of Greece (1905) – assassinated
• Christian IX, King of Denmark (1906)
• Richard Seddon, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1906)
• Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, Shah of Iran (1907)
• Dimitar Petkov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1907) – assassinated
• Jules de Trooz, Cabinet Chief of Belgium (1907)
• Oscar II, King of Sweden (1907)
• Carlos I, King of Portugal (1908) – assassinated
• Afonso Pena, President of Brazil (1909)
• Leopold II, King of Belgium (1909)
• Pedro Montt, President of Chile (1910)
• Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1910)
• Boutros Ghali, Prime Minister of Egypt (1910) – assassinated
• Emilio Estrada Carmona, President of Ecuador (1911)
• Prithvi, King of Nepal (1911)
• Ernst Brenner, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1911)
• Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of Russia (1911) – assassinated
• William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1912)
• José Canalejas, Prime Minister of Spain (1912) – assassinated
• Meiji, Emperor of Japan (1912)
• Cincinnatus Leconte, President of Haiti (1912)
• Frederick VIII, King of Denmark (1912)
• Adolf Deucher, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1912)
• George I, King of Greece (1913)
• Tancrède Auguste, President of Haiti (1913)
• Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia (1913)
• Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman (1913)
• Roque Sáenz Peña, President of Argentina (1914)
• Carol I, King of Romania (1914)
• Paul Eyschen, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (1915)
• Yuan Shikai, President of the Republic of China (1916)
• Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1916)
• Sidónio Pais, President of Portugal (1918) – assassinated
• Manuel Franco, President of Paraguay (1919)
• Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan (1919)
• Eduard Müller, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1919)
• Yakov Sverdlov, Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (1919)
• Alexander, King of Greece (1920)
• Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (1920) – assassinated
• Hara Takashi, Prime Minister of Japan (1921) – assassinated
• Peter I, King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1921)
• Giacomo De Martino, Governor of Cyrenaica (1921)
• Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government of Ireland (1922) – assassinated
• Arthur Griffith, President of the Dáil of Ireland (1922)
• Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland (1922) – assassinated
• Warren G. Harding, President of the United States (1923)
• Vladimir Lenin, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union (1924)
• Bogd Khan, Khagan of Mongolia (1924)
• Friedrich Ebert, President of Germany (1925)
• William Ferguson Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1925)
• Vajiravudh, King of Siam (1925)
• Sun Yat-sen, Generalissimo of the National Government of the Republic of China (1925)
• Jón Magnússon, Prime Minister of Iceland (1926)
• Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (1926)
• Count Katō Takaaki, Prime Minister of Japan (1926)
• Taishō (Yoshihito), Emperor of Japan (1926)
• Jānis Čakste, President of Latvia (1927)
• Ferdinand I, King of Romania (1927)
• Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1929)
• Zewditu, Empress of Ethiopia (1930)
• Inukai Tsuyoshi, Prime Minister of Japan (1932) – assassinated
• Paul Doumer, President of France (1932) – assassinated
• Faisal I, King of Iraq (1932) – assassinated
• Ion G. Duca, Prime Minister of Romania (1933) – assassinated
• Mohammed Nadir Shah, King of Afghanistan (1933) – assassinated
• Albert I, King of Belgium (1934)
• Engelbert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria (1934) – assassinated
• Alexander I, King of Yugoslavia (1934) – assassinated
• Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany (1934)
• Juan Vicente Gómez, President of Venezuela (1935)
• Józef Piłsudski, Leader of the Second Polish Republic (1935)
• George V, King of the United Kingdom (1936)
• Fuad I, King of Egypt (1936)
• Konstantinos Demertzis, Prime Minister of Greece (1936)
• Gyula Gömbös, Prime Minister of Hungary (1936)
• Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey (1938)
• Franz I, Prince of Liechtenstein (1938)
• Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia (1939)
• Ghazi, King of Iraq (1939)
• Aurelio Mosquera, President of Ecuador (1939)
• Armand Călinescu, Prime Minister of Romania (1939) – assassinated
• Justí Guitart i Vilardebó, Co-Prince of Andorra (1940)
• Giuseppe Motta, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1940)
• Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1940)
• Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (1940)
• Italo Balbo, Governor-General of Libya (1940) - killed in action
• Pedro Aguirre Cerda, President of Chile (1941)
• Ioannis Metaxas, Prime Minister of Greece (1941)
• Count Pál Teleki, Prime Minister of Hungary (1941) – suicide
• Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (1942)
• Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government of the Republic of China (1943)
• Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria (1943)
• Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines (1944)
• Wang Jingwei, Chairman of the National Government of China at Nanjing (1944)
• John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia (1945)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States (1945)
• Adolf Hitler, Führer of Germany (1945) – suicide
• Per Albin Hansson, Prime Minister of Sweden (1946)
• Juan Antonio Ríos, President of Chile (1946)
• Ananda Mahidol, King of Siam (Thailand) (1946)
• Gualberto Villarroel, President of Bolivia (1946) – assassinated
• Nguyen Van Thinh, Presidents of the Provisional Government of Cochinchina (1946) – suicide
• George II, King of Greece (1947)
• Christian X, King of Denmark (1947)
• Aung San, Premier of Burma (1947)
• Tomás Berreta, President of Uruguay (1947)
• Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, King of Yemen (1948)
• Manuel Roxas, President of the Philippines (1948)
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of Pakistan (1948)
• Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt (1948) - assassinated
• Georgi Dimitrov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria (1949)
• Themistoklis Sophoulis, Prime Minister of Greece (1949)
• Louis II, Prince of Monaco (1949)
• Domingo Díaz Arosemena, President of Panama (1949)
• Husni al-Za'im, President of Syria (1949) – executed
• Muhsin al-Barazi, Prime Minister of Syria (1949) – executed

1950–1999

• Vasil Kolarov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1950)
• Enrico Mizzi, Prime Minister of Malta (1950)
• Víctor Manuel Román y Reyes, President of Nicaragua (1950)
• Gustaf V, King of Sweden (1950)
• Karl Renner, President of Austria (1950)
• Óscar Carmona, President of Portugal (1951)
• Abdullah I, King of Jordan (1951) – assassinated
• Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi, President of Council of Regency of Thailand (1951)
• Haj Ali Razmara, Prime Minister of Iran (1951) – assassinated
• Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan (1951) – assassinated
• George VI, King of the United Kingdom, (1952)
• Jigme Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (1952)
• D. S. Senanayake, Prime Minister of Ceylon (1952)
• Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Mongolia (1952)
• Sveinn Björnsson, President of Iceland (1952)
• Chaim Weizmann, President of Israel (1952)
• Adrian Alberga, Prime Minister of Suriname (1952)
• Pierre Dupong, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (1953)
• Joseph Stalin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1953)
• Klement Gottwald, President of Czechoslovakia (1953)
• Gonchigiin Bumtsend, Chairman of the Presidium of the State Little Khural (head of state) of Mongolia (1953)
• Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia (1953)
• Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (1954) – suicide
• José Antonio Remón Cantera, President of Panama (1955) – assassinated
• Tribhuvan, King of Nepal (1955)
• Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark (1955)
• Alexandros Papagos, Prime Minister of Greece (1955)
• Anastasio Somoza García, President of Nicaragua (1956) – assassinated
• Bolesław Bierut, de facto leader (Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party) of Poland (1956)
• Theodor Körner, President of Austria (1957)
• Antonín Zápotocký, President of Czechoslovakia (1957)
• Carlos Castillo Armas, President of Guatemala (1957) – assassinated
• Ramón Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (1957) – plane crash
• Haakon VII, King of Norway (1957)
• Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly, President of the Government Council of Upper Volta (1958)
• Barthélemy Boganda, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (1958) – plane crash
• Petru Groza, President of the Presidium of the Great National Assembly (head of state) of Romania (1958)
• Faisal II, King of Iraq (1958) - assassinated
• Markus Feldmann, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1958)
• Georgi Damyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly (head of state) of Bulgaria (1958)
• Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom, Prime Minister of South Africa (1958)
• Pope Pius XII, Sovereign of the Vatican (1958)
• Ernest George Jansen, Governor-General of South Africa (1959)
• Pierre Frieden, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (1959)
• S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon (1959) – assassinated
• Sisavang Vong, King of Laos (1959)
• Hans Christian Hansen, Prime Minister of Denmark (1960)
• Wilhelm Pieck, President of East Germany (1960)
• Abdul Rahman, King of Malaysia (1960)
• Norodom Suramarit, King of Cambodia (1960)
• Hazza' al-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan (1960) – assassinated
• Hisamuddin, King of Malaysia (1960)
• Prince Louis Rwagasore, Prime Minister of Rwanda (1961) – assassinated
• William Morrison, Viscount Dunrossil, Governor-General of Australia (1961)
• Mohammed V, King of Morocco (1961)
• Cardinal Nicola Canali, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State (1961)
• Rafael Trujillo, de facto leader of the Dominican Republic (1961) – assassinated
• Cardinal Nicola Canali, President of the Governorate of Vatican City (1961)
• Ahmad bin Yahya, King of Yemen (1962)
• Sylvanus Olympio, President of Togo (1963) – assassinated
• Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole, Head of State of Western Samoa (1963)
• Abd al-Karim Qasim, Prime Minister of Iraq (1963) – executed
• Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (1963)
• John F. Kennedy, President of the United States (1963) – assassinated
• Pope John XXIII, Sovereign of the Vatican (1963)
• Sarit Thanarat, Prime Minister of Thailand (1963)
• Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (1963) – assassinated
• Dimitur Ganev, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly (head of state) of Bulgaria (1964)
• Paul, King of Greece (1964)
• Jigme Palden Dorji, Prime Minister of Bhutan (1964) – assassinated
• Otto Grotewohl, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of East Germany (1964)
• Sir Milton Margai, Prime Minister of Sierra Leone (1964)
• Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (1964)
• Aleksander Zawadzki, Chairman of the Council of State (head of state) of Poland (1964)
• Hassan Ali Mansur, Prime Minister of Iran (1965) – assassinated
• Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi (1965) – assassinated
• Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, President of the State Council (head of state) of Romania (1965)
• Adolf Schärf, President of Austria (1965)
• Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (1965)
• Abdul Salam Arif, President of Iraq (1966) – plane crash
• Chris Soumokil, President of South Maluku (state without international recognition) (1966) – executed
• Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria (1966) – assassinated
• Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (1966)
• Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa (1966) – assassinated
• René Schick, President of Nicaragua (1966)
• Óscar Diego Gestido, President of Uruguay (1967)
• Georges Vanier, Governor General of Canada (1967)
• Léon M'ba, President of Gabon (1967)
• Sir Donald Burns Sangster, Prime Minister of Jamaica (1967)
• Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (1967)
• Peter Mohr Dam, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (1968)
• Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (1969)
• Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam (1969)
• Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, President of Somalia (1969) – assassinated
• René Barrientos, President of Bolivia (1969) – helicopter crash
• Zakir Husain, President of India (1969)
• Sir David Rose, Governor-General of Guyana (1969)
• Bjarni Benediktsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (1970)
• Said Mohamed Cheikh, President of the Government Council of Comoros (1970)
• Yusof bin Ishak, President of Singapore (1970)
• Gamal Abdel Nasser, President and Prime Minister of Egypt (1970)
• François Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971)
• Wasfi al-Tal, Prime Minister of Jordan (1971) – assassinated
• William Tubman, President of Liberia (1971)
• Frederick IX, King of Denmark (1972)
• Mahendra, King of Nepal (1972)
• Jamsrangiin Sambuu, Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Great Khural (head of state) of Mongolia (1972)
• Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (1972)
• Sir Leonard Williams, Governor-General of Mauritius (1972)
• Salvador Allende, President of Chile (1973) – suicide
• Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (1973) – assassinated
• Walter Ulbricht, Chairman of the State Council (head of state) of East Germany (1973)
• Gustaf VI Adolf, King of Sweden (1973)
• Erskine Hamilton Childers, President of Ireland (1974)
• Franz Jonas, President of Austria (1974)
• Norman Eric Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1974)
• Juan Perón, President of Argentina (1974)
• Georges Pompidou, President of France & Co-Prince of Andorra (1974)
• Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China (1975)
• Faisal, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (1975) - assassinated
• Long Boret, Prime Minister of the Khmer Republic (1975) – executed
• Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II, Prime Minister of Western Samoa (1975)
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (1975) – assassinated
• Richard Ratsimandrava, President of the Malagasy Republic (1975) – assassinated
• François Tombalbaye, President and Prime Minister of Chad (1975) – assassinated
• Francisco Franco, Head of State of Spain (1975)
• Abdul Razak Hussein, Prime Minister of Malaysia (1976)
• Murtala Mohammed, Head of the Federal Military Government (head of state) of Nigeria (1976) – assassinated
• Joel Rakotomalala, Prime Minister of Madagascar (1976)
• El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (unrecognized state) (1976)
• Sir Arleigh Winston Scott, Governor-General of Barbados (1976)
• Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (1976)
• Mao Zedong, de facto leader (Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party) of China (1976)
• Zhu De, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (head of state) of the People's Republic of China (1976)
• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, President of India (1977)
• Tafari Benti, Chairman of the Provisional Military Administrative Council (head of state) of Ethiopia (1977) - executed
• Ibrahim al-Hamdi, President of North Yemen (1977) – assassinated
• Džemal Bijedić, President of the Federal Executive Council (head of government) of Yugoslavia (1977) – plane crash
• Makarios III, President of Cyprus (1977)
• Marien Ngouabi, President of the Republic of Congo (1977) – assassinated
• Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (1977)
• Mohammed Daoud Khan, President of Afghanistan (1978) – assassinated
• Ahmad al-Ghashmi, President of North Yemen (1978) – assassinated
• Houari Boumedienne, President of Algeria (1978)
• John Wrathall, President of Rhodesia (1978)
• Salim Rubai Ali, President of South Yemen (1978) – executed
• Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, Premier of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (1978)
• Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs, State President of South Africa (1978)
• Pope Paul VI, Sovereign of the Vatican (1978)
• Pope John Paul I, Sovereign of the Vatican (1978)
• Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya (1978)
• Botha Sigcau, President of Transkei (unrecognized state) (1978)
• Sir Milo Butler, Governor-General of The Bahamas (1979)
• Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot, Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See (1979)
• Agostinho Neto, President of Angola (1979)
• Mashiur Rahman, Chief Minister of Bangladesh (1979)
• Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (1979)
• Nur Muhammad Taraki, President of Afghanistan (1979) – assassinated
• Hafizullah Amin, Chairman of the Presidium of the Revolutionary Council (head of state) & Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Afghanistan (1979) – assassinated
• Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (1979) – assassinated
• Maphevu Dlamini, Prime Minister of Swaziland (1979)
• Paul Southwell, Premier of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (1979)
• Sir Seretse Khama, President of Botswana (1980)
• Tôn Đức Thắng, President of Vietnam (1980)
• James Alexander George Smith McCartney, Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands (1980)
• Masayoshi Ohira, Prime Minister of Japan (1980)
• William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia (1980) - executed
• Abdelhamid Sharaf, Prime Minister of Jordan (1980)
• Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (1980)
• Francisco Sá Carneiro, Prime Minister of Portugal (1980) – plane crash
• Benjamin Henry Sheares, President of Singapore (1981)
• Mehmet Shehu, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Albania (1981) – suicide (disputed)
• Jaime Roldós Aguilera, President of Ecuador (1981) – plane crash
• Omar Torrijos, de facto leader of Panama (1981) - plane crash
• Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (1981) – assassinated
• Eric Williams, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1981)
• Anwar Sadat, President and Prime Minister of Egypt (1981) – assassinated
• Mohammad-Ali Rajai, President of Iran (1981) – assassinated
• Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran (1981) – assassinated
• Antonio Guzmán Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic (1982) – assassinated
• Khalid, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (1982)
• Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland (1982)
• Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) of the Soviet Union (1982)
• Willi Ritschard, member of the Swiss Federal Council (1983)
• Sir Deighton Lisle Ward, Governor-General of Barbados (1984)
• Yuri Andropov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) of the Soviet Union (1984)
• Edward Sokoine, Prime Minister of Tanzania (1984) – car crash
• Chan Sy, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Kampuchea (1984)
• Ahmad Fuad Mohieddin, Prime Minister of Egypt (1984)
• Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (1984) – assassinated
• Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (1984)
• Tom Adams, Prime Minister of Barbados (1985)
• Enver Hoxha, de facto leader (First Secretary of the Communist Party) of Albania (1985)
• Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (1985)
• Haruo Remeliik, President of Palau (1985) – assassinated
• Konstantin Chernenko, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (head of state) of the Soviet Union (1985)
• Tancredo Neves, President-elect of Brazil (1985)
• Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Governor-General of Mauritius (1985)
• Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (1986) – assassinated
• Lê Duẩn, de facto leader (General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party) of Vietnam (1986)
• Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (1986) – plane crash
• Errol Barrow, Prime Minister of Barbados (1987)
• Rashid Karami, Prime Minister of Lebanon (1987) – assassinated
• Seyni Kountché, President of the Supreme Military Council of Niger (1987)
• Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso (1987) – assassinated
• Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (1988)
• Patrick Mphephu, President of Venda (unrecognized state) (1988)
• Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (1988) – plane crash
• Lazarus Salii, President of Palau (1988) – suicide
• Phạm Hùng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (1988)
• Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (1989)
• Herbert Blaize, Prime Minister of Grenada (1989)
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (1989)
• Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1989)
• Ahmed Abdallah, President of Comoros (1989) - assassinated
• René Moawad, President of Lebanon (1989) – assassinated
• Sir Ignatius Kilage, Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (1989)
• Samuel Doe, President of Liberia (1990) - executed
• Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (1990)
• Olav V, King of Norway (1991)
• Nasirdin Isanov, Prime Minister of Tajikistan (1991) – car crash
• Artur Mkrtchyan, Chairman of Parliament (head of state) of Nagorno-Karabakh (state without international recognition) (1992) - assassinated
• Kaysone Phomvihane, President of Laos (1992)
• Sir Robert Rex, Prime Minister of Niue (1992)
• József Antall, Prime Minister of Hungary (1993)
• Ranasinghe Premadasa, President of Sri Lanka (1993) – assassinated
• Baudouin, King of Belgium (1993)
• Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, President of Fiji (1993)
• Félix Houphouët-Boigny, President of Côte d'Ivoire (1993)
• Melchior Ndadaye, President of Burundi (1993) – assassinated
• Turgut Özal, President of Turkey (1993)
• Zhiuli Shartava, Prime Minister of Abkhazia (state without international recognition) (1993) – assassinated
• Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (1994) – assassinated
• Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (1994) – assassinated
• Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (1994) – assassinated
• Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea (1994)
• Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel (1995) – assassinated
• Dame Nita Barrow, Governor-General of Barbados (1995)
• Hamilton Lavity Stoutt, Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands (1995)
• Moshoeshoe II, King of Lesotho (1996)
• Amata Kabua, President of the Marshall Islands (1996)
• Dzhokhar Dudayev, President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (state without international recognition) (1996) – assassinated
• Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (1997)
• Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai, Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1997) – plane crash
• Sani Abacha, Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria (1998)
• Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim, President of Comoros (1998)
• Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, President of Niger (1999) – assassinated
• Jumabek Ibraimov, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (1999)
• Hussein, King of Jordan (1999)
• Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Emir of Bahrain (1999)
• Hassan II, King of Morocco (1999)
• Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (1999)
• Vazgen Sargsyan, Prime Minister of Armenia (1999) – assassinated

2000–present

• Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (2000)
• Rosie Douglas, Prime Minister of Dominica (2000)
• Ionatana Ionatana, Prime Minister of Tuvalu (2000)
• Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (2001) – assassinated
• Salahuddin, King of Malaysia (2001)
• Birendra, King of Nepal (2001) - assassinated
• Dipendra, King of Nepal (2001)
• Sir Charles Antrobus, Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (2002)
• Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, President of Somaliland (state without international recognition) (2002)
• Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (2003)
• Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (2003) – assassinated
• Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority (2004)
• Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (2004)
• Ezzedine Salim, President of the Governing Council of Iraq (2004) – assassinated
• Thomas Klestil, President of Austria (2004)
• Boris Trajkovski, President of Macedonia (2004) – plane crash
• Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (2004)
• Gnassingbé Eyadéma, President of Togo (2005)
• Pope John Paul II, Sovereign of the Vatican (2005)
• Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (2005)
• Aslan Maskhadov, President & Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (state without international recognition) (2005) – assassinated
• Fahd, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (2005)
• Zurab Zhvania, Prime Minister of Georgia (2005)
• Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (2006)
• Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (2006)
• Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, King of Tonga (2006)
• Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (2006)
• Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan (2006)
• Pascal Yoadimnadji, Prime Minister of Chad (2007)
• Andranik Markaryan, Prime Minister of Armenia (2007)
• Malietoa Tanumafili II, Head of State of Samoa (2007)
• Sir John Compton, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (2007)
• Soe Win, Prime Minister of Burma (2007)
• Levy Mwanawasa, President of Zambia (2008)
• Lansana Conté, President of Guinea (2008)
• Omar Bongo, President of Gabon (2009)
• João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (2009) – assassinated
• Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland (2010) – plane crash
• Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria (2010)
• David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados (2010)
• Sergey Bagapsh, President of Abkhazia (state without wide international recognition) (2011)
• Kim Jong-Il, Supreme Leader of North Korea (2011)
• Muammar Gaddafi, Brotherly Leader and Guide to the Revolution of Libya (2011) – assassinated
• Malam Bacai Sanhá, President of Guinea Bissau (2012)
• George Tupou V, King of Tonga (2012)
• Bingu wa Mutharika, President of Malawi (2012)
• John Atta Mills, President of Ghana (2012)
• Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (2012)
• Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (2013)
• Zillur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (2013)
• Michael Sata, President of Zambia (2014)
• Abdullah, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia (2015)

See also

• List of Presidents of the United States who died in office
• List of Russian governors who died in office