Only one person is more powerful than U.S. President Barrack Obama according to Forbes’ latest "The World’s Most Powerful People" list, and that person is Chinese President Hu Jintao, who topped the annual ranking for the first time, just barely beating out the beleaguered U.S. head of state.

Forbes described the Chinese president as the "paramount political leader of more people than anyone else on the planet; exercises near dictatorial control over 1.3 billion people, one-fifth of world’s population. Unlike Western counterparts, Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor Internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats, courts."

Obama, last year’s most powerful person on the Forbes list, "can take comfort in the fact that he remains commander-in-chief of the world’s largest, deadliest military, leader of the world’s largest (in spending) and most dynamic economy and holds the unofficial title of ‘Leader of the Free World.’"

This year’s "Most Powerful People" list ranked 68 of the world’s 6.8 billion people based on their ability to "bend the world to their will." To qualify that ability, the organization defined power in four dimensions:

• Whether the person has influence over a lot of people

• Whether the person has significant financial resources relative to their peers

• Whether the person is powerful in multiple spheres, awarding bonus points for those who can project their power in many ways.

• Whether the person actively wields their power.

Following these guidelines, China and India were well represented on the list.

In addition to President Hu, five other political and business leaders from Mainland China made the list: Zhou Xiaochuan (11), governor of China’s central bank; Lou Jiwei (30), chairman of China Investment Corporation; Li Changchun (32), China’s propaganda chief; Robin Li (46), CEO of Baidu; and Wang Yong (62), chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China. Li Ka-shing (36), Hong Kong’s richest man, and the Dalai Lama (39) were also included.

India, meanwhile, had just as many people make the list as Mainland China, although they tended to be less political and more business oriented. The Indians included are: Sonia Gandhi (9), head of India’s National Congress; Manmohan Singh (18), India’s prime minister; Mukesh Ambani (34), head of Reliance Industries; Lakshmi Mittal (44), chairman of Arcelor Mittal ADS; Ratan Tata (61), head of Tata Sons; and Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar (63), leader of the Mumbai-based crime syndicate D-Company.