PM Modi third most followed world leader after Donald Trump and Pope Francis: Study

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also features in the top 10 list of the most followed leaders in the world

File photo (PTI)

Geneva: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the third most followed world leader after US President Trump and Pope Francis, with 42 million followers on his personal account and 26 million followers on his institutional account, a global study said today.

"Over the past 12 months, @realDonaldTrump has achieved 264 million interactions, more than five times as many as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with 52 million interactions, and 12 times as many as Pope Francis," said Twiplomacy, a digital platform which assists international organisations and governments to improve their digital strategy.

The latest 'Twiplomacy' study by communications firm Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) identified 951 Twitter accounts ? 372 personal and 579 institutional accounts ? of heads of state and government and foreign ministers of 187 countries.

"Prime Minister @NarendraModi is the third-most followed world leader with 42 million followers on his personal account and 26 million followers on his institutional account (@PMOIndia), which boasts the fourth-largest following," according to the study. 

External Affairs Minister (@SushmaSwaraj), @QueenRania of Jordan and the Indonesian President (@Jokowi) are in the top 10 list of the most followed leaders with more than 10 million followers each.

Swaraj is also the most followed foreign minister, with 11 million followers. 

The official @POTUS Twitter account of the US president and the @WhiteHouse accounts occupy the fifth and sixth rankings, with 23 and 17 million followers respectively. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (@RT_Erdogan) has more than 12 million followers. 

Sixty-nine world leaders have more than 1 million followers each. 

The study said that 97 per cent of all 193 UN member states have an official presence on the platform. 

The governments of only six countries, namely Laos, Mauritania, Nicaragua, North Korea, Swaziland and Turkmenistan do not have an official presence on the social media platform.