The Indian Prime Minister becomes the first world leader to hit the milestone, leveraging visual platforms to connect directly with citizens and bypass traditional media.
SHARJAH, UAE – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cemented his status as the world’s most popular politician on social media, becoming the first global leader to surpass 100 million followers on Instagram, the platform announced on Thursday.
Modi’s massive digital footprint puts him in a league of his own, leaving other world leaders far behind. US President Donald Trump, who ranks second, trails with 43.2 million followers—less than half of Modi’s count.
The ranking highlights a fundamental shift in political communication. Since joining Instagram in 2014, the year he first became prime minister, Modi has strategically used visual and interactive platforms to engage directly with compatriots and the Indian diaspora, bypassing traditional media channels where he rarely interacts.
The Global Leaderboard
Following Modi’s historic milestone and Trump’s distant second-place finish, the rest of the top tier includes:
- Prabowo Subianto (President of Indonesia): 15 million followers
- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (President of Brazil): 14.4 million followers
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (President of Turkey): 11.6 million followers
- Javier Milei (President of Argentina): 6.4 million followers
Dominance at Home and Abroad
Modi’s influence extends beyond sheer numbers. On the domestic front, he is far ahead of his Indian political rivals. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath follows with 16.1 million followers, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has 12.6 million.
The Instagram milestone complements Modi’s high approval ratings at home. According to Statista’s 2025 rankings of selected world leaders, Modi holds the highest domestic approval rating at 70 percent, followed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (63 percent) and Argentina’s Milei (60 percent).
The announcement of the Instagram record comes during Modi’s two-day official visit to Israel, where the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) conferred upon him the ‘Speaker of the Knesset Medal’—its highest honor—on Wednesday.
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