High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Starting in 2009, Forbes Magazine compiles an annual list of the world`s most powerful people. The list has one slot for every 100 million people on Earth, meaning in 2009 there were 67 people on the list, in 2010 there were 68, in 2011 there were 70, and in 2012 there were 71. Slots are allocated based on the amount of human and financial resources that they have sway over, as well as their influence on world events.