This is a list of heads of state and government who died in office. In general, hereditary office holders (kings, queens, emperors, emirs, and the like) and holders of offices where the normal term limit is life (popes, presidents for life, etc.) are excluded because, until recently, their death in office was the norm.
Such deaths have most often been from natural causes, but there are also cases of assassination, execution, suicide, accident and even death in battle.
The list is in chronological order. The name is listed first, followed by the year of death, the country, the name of the office the person held at the time of death, the location of the death (where known) and the cause of death.
Name | Year | Country | Title | Place of death | Cause of death | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1743 | Westminster | Illness[1] | |||||
1754 | Westminster | Illness – skin infection[2] | |||||
1782 | Wimbledon | Illness – influenza[3] | |||||
1806 | Putney | Illness – peptic ulceration[4] | |||||
1811 | Santiago | ||||||
1812 | Westminster | Assassination – shooting[5] | |||||
1827 | Chiswick | Illness – pneumonia[6] | |||||
1829 | La Plata | Assassination[7] | |||||
1831 | Nafplion | Assassination – shooting and stabbing[8] | |||||
1832 | Madrid | Spain | Illness[9] | ||||
1832 | Paris | Illness – cholera[10] | |||||
1836 | Mexico City | Illness – typhus[11] | |||||
1840 | Asunción | Illness[12] | |||||
1841 | Washington, D.C. | Illness – pneumonia or enteric fever[13] | |||||
1841 | Ingavi | Killed in action[14] | |||||
1845 | Saint-Marc | Illness[15] | |||||
1845 | Kathmandu | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1846 | Kathmandu | Assassination[16] | |||||
1847 | Port-au-Prince | Illness or poisoning |
Name | Year | Country | Title | Place of death | Cause of death | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1850 | Washington, D.C. | Illness – cholera or gastroenteritis[17] | |||||
1852 | Vienna | Stroke[18] | |||||
1852 | Constantinople[19] | ||||||
1855 | Bern | ||||||
1855 | Bern | Stroke[20] | |||||
1857 | Bern | ||||||
1858 | Constantinople | Myocardial infarction[21] | |||||
1860 | Copenhagen | ||||||
1861 | Turin | Illness – malaria[22] | |||||
1861 | Bad Ragaz | Illness – kidney disease | |||||
1862 | Comayagua | Assassination – shooting[23] | |||||
1862 | Bucharest | Assassination – shooting[24] | |||||
1862 | Asunción | Illness – gout and other diseases | |||||
1864 | Maimón | Assassination – shooting[25] | |||||
1865 | Guatemala City | Illness – dysentery[26] | |||||
1865 | Washington, D.C. | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1865 | Hertfordshire | Illness – fever[27] | |||||
1868 | Buenos Aires | Illness – cholera[28] | |||||
1868 | Madrid | Illness – lung disease[29] | |||||
1869 | Bern | ||||||
1870 | Cerro Corá | Killed in action | |||||
1870 | Madrid | Assassination[30] | |||||
1871 | Constantinople | Illness – tuberculosis[31] | |||||
1872 | The Hague | Illness – cold[32] | |||||
1872 | Mexico City | Myocardial infarction[33] | |||||
1872 | Lima | Assassination | |||||
1873 | Belgrade | Myocardial infarction[34] | |||||
1874 | La Paz | Illness – stomach cancer[35] | |||||
1874 | Heusden | ||||||
1875 | Quito | Assassination – shooting and stabbing[36] | |||||
1875 | İzmir | Assassination – poisoning | |||||
1877 | Villarrica | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1877 | Athens | Myocardial infarction and hemiplegia[37] | |||||
1878 | La Guaira | Illness – bronchial disorder[38] | |||||
1878 | Bern | Illness – appendicitis | |||||
1880 | Asunción | Stroke | |||||
1881 | Elberon | Assassination – shooting and medical ineptitude[39] | |||||
1882 | Alajuela | Illness – tuberculosis | |||||
1885 | Atenas | ||||||
1885 | Chalchuapa | Killed in battle[40] | |||||
1885 | Kathmandu | Assassination | |||||
1885 | Bogotá | ||||||
1887 | Stradella | Illness – gout[41] | |||||
1888 | Bern | Illness and complications following surgery | |||||
1891 | Ottawa | Stroke[42] | |||||
1893 | Prime Minister | Wellington | Intestinal disease and complications following surgery | ||||
1893 | Member of the Federal Council | Bern | Myocardial infarction | ||||
1893 | President of the Ministry | Opatija | |||||
1894 | Lima | Illness – appendicitis | |||||
1894 | President (also Co-Prince of Andorra) | Lyon | Assassination – stabbing[43] | ||||
1894 | Bogotá | Stroke[44] | |||||
1894 | Berkshire | Myocardial infarction | |||||
1895 | Bern | Accident – struck by carriage | |||||
1896 | Port-au-Prince | Stroke[45] | |||||
1896 | Monrovia | ||||||
1896 | Vienna | ||||||
1897 | Mondragón | Assassination – shooting[46] | |||||
1897 | Montevideo | Assassination – shooting[47] | |||||
1898 | Guatemala City | Assassination – shooting[48] | |||||
1899 | President (also Co-Prince of Andorra) | Paris | Myocardial infarction[49] | ||||
1899 | Moca | Assassination |
Name | Year | Country | Title | Place of death | Cause of death | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1901 | Valparaíso | Illness – cerebral thrombosis[50] | |||||
1901 | Buffalo | United States | Assassination – shooting | ||||
1901 | Constantinople | ||||||
1901 | La Seu d'Urgell | ||||||
1902 | Bern | Stroke | |||||
1903 | President of the Ministry | Belgrade | Assassination | ||||
1904 | Arequipa | Heart attack[51] | |||||
1905 | Athens | Greece | Assassination – stabbing | ||||
1906 | Buenos Aires | Illness – pneumonia[52] | |||||
1906 | Prime Minister | At sea | Heart attack[53] | ||||
1907 | Sofia | Assassination – shooting[54] | |||||
1907 | Tehran | Iran | Assassination – shooting[55] | ||||
1907 | Brussels | ||||||
1909 | Rio de Janeiro | Illness – pneumonia[56] | |||||
1910 | |||||||
1910 | Cairo | Egypt | Assassination – shooting[57] | ||||
1910 | Bremen | Stroke[58] | |||||
1910 | Santiago | Illness – cold[59] | |||||
1911 | Menton | Stroke | |||||
1911 | Kiev | Assassination – shooting[60] | |||||
1911 | Santo Domingo | Assassination – shooting[61] | |||||
1911 | Guayaquil | Heart attack | |||||
1912 | Bern | Illness | |||||
1912 | Port-au-Prince | Accident – explosion[62] | |||||
1912 | Madrid | Assassination – shooting[63] | |||||
1913 | San Salvador | Assassination – shooting and stabbing[64] | |||||
1913 | Port-au-Prince | Illness – anemia[65] | |||||
1913 | Istanbul | Assassination – shooting[66] | |||||
Carl von In der Maur | 1913 | Vaduz | Liechtenstein | Stroke | |||
1914 | Buenos Aires | Illness[67] | |||||
1915 | Port-au-Prince | Assassination – beating[68] | |||||
1915 | Luxembourg | Illness – heart and kidney disease | |||||
1916 | Beijing | China | Illness – uraemia[69] | ||||
1916 | Minister-President of Cisleithania | Vienna | Assassination – shooting[70] | ||||
1918 | Lisbon | Assassination – shooting[71] | |||||
1919 | Rio de Janeiro | Illness – Spanish flu[72] | |||||
1919 | Moscow | Illness – Spanish flu or typhus[73] | |||||
1919 | Asunción | Cardiac arrest[74] | |||||
1919 | Pretoria | South Africa | Illness – Spanish flu[75] | ||||
1919 | Bern | ||||||
1920 | Supreme Ruler | Irkutsk | Execution – shooting[76] | ||||
1920 | Tlaxcalantongo | Assassination – shooting[77] | |||||
1920 | Prime Minister | Lisbon | Stroke or apoplexy | ||||
1921 | Madrid | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1921 | Lisbon | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1921 | Tokyo | Assassination – stabbing[78] | |||||
1922 | President of Dáil Éireann | Dublin | Illness – cerebral haemorrhage[79] | ||||
1922 | Chairman of the Provisional Government | Béal na Bláth | Assassination – shooting[80] | ||||
1922 | Warsaw | Poland | Assassination – shooting[81] | ||||
1923 | Niislel Khüree | China | |||||
1923 | San Francisco | United States | Heart attack[82] | ||||
1924 | Gorki | Stroke[83] | |||||
1924 | Amapala | Illness – diabetes[84] | |||||
1925 | Berlin | Illness – septic shock[85] | |||||
1925 | Beijing | China | Illness – gall bladder cancer[86] | ||||
1925 | Wellington | Illness – cancer[87] | |||||
1926 | Tokyo | Illness – pneumonia[88] | |||||
1926 | Neskaupstaður | ||||||
1926 | Antigua Guatemala | Heart attack[89] | |||||
1927 | Riga | ||||||
1927 | Salisbury | Illness – cerebral haemorrhage | |||||
1928 | Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars | Ulaanbaatar | Illness | ||||
1928 | Generalissimo of the Military Government | Shenyang | China | Assassination – bombing | |||
1932 | Oslo | Blood clot[90] | |||||
1932 | President (also Co-Prince of Andorra) | Paris | France | Assassination – shooting[91] | |||
1932 | Tokyo | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1933 | Lima | Assassination – shooting[92] | |||||
1933 | Prahova | Romania | Assassination – shooting[93] | ||||
1934 | Vienna | Austria | Assassination – shooting[94] | ||||
1934 | Neudeck | Germany | Illness – lung cancer | ||||
1935 | Warsaw | Poland | Illness – liver cancer | ||||
1935 | Maracay | Illness – prostate cancer[95] | |||||
1936 | Athens | Greece | Heart attack[96] | ||||
1936 | Munich | Illness – testicular cancer[97] | |||||
Panas Lyubchenko | 1937 | Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars | Moscow | Suicide – shooting | |||
1938 | Istanbul | Illness – liver cirrhosis | |||||
1939 | Cannes | Illness – pneumonia | |||||
1939 | Sydney | Heart attack[98] | |||||
1939 | La Paz | Suicide | |||||
1939 | Bucharest | Romania | Assassination – shooting | ||||
1939 | Quito | Illness – liver infection[99] or suicide[100] | |||||
1940 | Bern | Stroke | |||||
1940 | Barcelona | ||||||
1940 | Montreal | Head injury following stroke[101] | |||||
1940 | Santo Domingo | ||||||
1940 | Wellington | Illness – colon cancer[102] | |||||
1940 | Altos | Accident – plane crash[103] | |||||
1940 | Cairo | Egypt | Heart failure[104] | ||||
1940 | Helsinki | Heart attack[105] | |||||
1941 | Athens | Greece | Illness – septicemia or internal haemorrhage[106] | ||||
1941 | Budapest | Hungary | Suicide – shooting[107] | ||||
1941 | Athens | Greece | Suicide – shooting[108] | ||||
1941 | Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars | At sea[109] | |||||
1941 | Santiago | Illness – tuberculosis[110] | |||||
1942 | Interim President | Malabang | Execution – shooting[111] | ||||
1942 | Copenhagen | Illness[112] | |||||
1943 | Damascus | Heart attack[113] | |||||
1943 | Gibraltar | Accident – plane crash[114] | |||||
1943 | Chongqing | Stroke | |||||
1944 | Saranac Lake | Illness – tuberculosis | |||||
1944 | Chairman of the National Government (at Nanjing) | Nagoya | Complications from gunshot wound[115] | ||||
1945 | Cairo | Egypt | Assassination – shooting | ||||
1945 | Warm Springs | Illness – cerebral haemorrhage[116] | |||||
1945 | Giulino | Execution by firing squad[117] | |||||
1945 | Canberra | Heart attack[118] | |||||
1945 | Berlin | Suicide – shooting[119] | |||||
Joseph Goebbels | 1945 | Chancellor | Berlin | Suicide – shooting | |||
1946 | Santiago | Illness – cancer | |||||
1946 | La Paz | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1946 | Stockholm | Heart attack[120] | |||||
1946 | President of the Provisional Government | Suicide | |||||
1946 | Tallinn | Suicide | |||||
1947 | Yangon | Assassination – shooting[121] | |||||
1947 | Montevideo | Illness – prostate cancer | |||||
1948 | Clark Air Base | Heart attack | |||||
1948 | Karachi | Illness – tuberculosis | |||||
1948 | Cairo | Assassination – shooting | |||||
1949 | Baku | ||||||
1949 | Kifissia | Greece | Illness | ||||
1949 | Barvikha | Illness – heart and liver disease, abdominal cancer and internal haemorrhages[122] | |||||
1949 | Damascus | Syria | Execution by firing squad | ||||
1949 | Damascus | Syria | Execution by firing squad |
Name | Year | Country | Title | Place of death | Cause of death | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | Illness | |||||
2000 | Dominica | Portsmouth | Officially ruled a heart attack; assassination suggested by some[150] [151] | |||
2000 | Edinburgh | Cerebral haemorrhage | ||||
2000 | Tuvalu | Funafuti | Illness | |||
2001 | Kinshasa | Assassination – shooting | ||||
2002 | Pretoria | Died during surgery | ||||
2002 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Toronto | Parkinson's disease | |||
2003 | Nauru | Washington, D.C. | Illness – complications from diabetes | |||
2003 | Belgrade | Assassination – shooting | ||||
2004 | Berkovići | Accident – plane crashed into mountain | ||||
2004 | Iraq | Baghdad | Assassination – bombing | |||
2004 | Austria | Vienna | Heart attack | |||
2004 | Paris | Disputed | ||||
2005 | Georgia | Tbilisi | Accident – poisoning | |||
2005 | Togo | Tunis | Heart attack | |||
2006 | United Arab Emirates | Gold Coast | Heart attack | |||
2006 | Pristina | Illness – lung cancer | ||||
2006 | Turkmenistan | Ashgabat | Heart attack | |||
2007 | Chad | Paris | Heart attack | |||
2007 | Armenia | Yerevan | Heart attack | |||
2007 | Saint Lucia | Castries | Stroke | |||
2007 | Beijing | Illness – leukaemia | ||||
2008 | Zambia | Paris | Stroke | |||
2008 | Guinea | Conakry | Illness | |||
2009 | Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | Assassination – shooting | |||
2009 | Gabon | Barcelona | Heart attack | |||
2010 | Poland | Smolensk | Accident – plane crash | |||
2010 | Nigeria | Milan | Illness – pericarditis | |||
2010 | Barbados | Saint Philip | Illness – pancreatic cancer | |||
2011 | Moscow | Complications following surgery | ||||
2011 | Libya | Sirte | Assassination – shooting | |||
2011 | General Secretary of the Workers' Party | Pyongyang | Heart attack[152] | |||
2012 | Guinea-Bissau | Paris | Illness | |||
2012 | Malawi | Lilongwe | Heart attack | |||
2012 | Ghana | Accra | Stroke | |||
2012 | Ethiopia | Brussels | Illness | |||
2013 | Caracas | Illness – colorectal cancer | ||||
2013 | Bangladesh | Singapore | Illness – lung problems | |||
2014 | Zambia | London | Illness | |||
2016 | Tindouf | Illness – lung cancer | ||||
2016 | Uzbekistan | Omsk | Stroke | |||
2017 | Papua New Guinea | Port Moresby | Illness | |||
2017 | Vanuatu | Port Vila | Heart attack | |||
Alexander Zakharchenko | 2018 | Head of the Republic and Prime Minister | Donetsk | / | Assassination – bombing | |
Gennadi Gagulia | 2018 | Prime Minister | Myussera | / | Accident – car crashed on road | |
2018 | Hanoi | Illness – viral infection | ||||
2019 | Tunisia | Tunis | Illness | |||
2019 | Tonga | Auckland | Illness – pneumonia | |||
2020 | Burundi | Karuzi | Illness – cardiac arrest & suspected COVID-19 | |||
2020 | Abidjan | Illness | ||||
2020 | Bahrain | Rochester | Illness | |||
2020 | Johannesburg | Illness – COVID-19 | ||||
2021 | Freiburg im Breisgau | Illness – malaria, cancer & suspected COVID-19 | ||||
2021 | Dar es Salaam | Illness – heart condition & suspected COVID-19 | ||||
2021 | Chad | Tibesti | Killed in action[153] | |||
2021 | Haiti | Port-au-Prince | Assassination – shooting | |||
2022[154] | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | United Arab Emirates | Natural causes | ||
2024[155] | Namibia | Windhoek | Illness – unspecified form of cancer | |||
Ebrahim Raisi | 2024[156] | President | Varzaqan | Accident – helicopter crash | ||
Nguyễn Phú Trọng | 2024 [157] [158] | General Secretary of the Communist Party | Hanoi | Illness | ||
2024 | Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau | Tehran | Assassination - missile strike | |||
2024 | Lebanon | Secretary-General of Hezbollah | Dahieh | Assassination - airstrike | ||
2024 | Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau | Tel al-Sultan | Killed in action | |||