List of awards and honours received by Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel has received awards and honours from national governments, universities, and other non-governmental organisations. Merkel was the chancellor of Germany from 2005 until 2021, a length of tenure only exceeded by that of Helmut Kohl,^[1] and was the first female German chancellor.^[2] During her chancellorship, she was widely considered the de facto leader of the European Union.^[3][4][2] Forbes named Merkel the world's second most powerful person in 2012^[5] and 2015,^[6] and the world's most powerful woman fourteen times.^[7][8] Merkel has also commonly been described as the leader of the free world.^[9]

Merkel received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. president Barack Obama in 2011.

Awards and honours received by Merkel include a special issue of the Grand Cross First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and twenty-one doctorates honoris causa.^[10]

State honours

German honours

On 17 April 2023, Merkel received the third-ever special issue of the Grand Cross 1st Class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Großkreuz in besonderer Ausführung) from President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.^[11][12] The special issue had previously been awarded to then-chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl in 1954 and 1998, respectively, making Merkel the first woman to receive the honour.^[13][14] Steinmeier lauded Merkel's ambition, intelligence, passion, and commitment to her responsibilities as chancellor of Germany.^[11] Many observers praised Merkel's achievements, particularly in international diplomacy and shaping the politics of Germany. Some critics questioned the decision to bestow the award on Merkel due to her controversial legacy.^[15]

Foreign honours

Foreign honours received by Angela Merkel

Year	Image	Awarding country	Foreign honour	Ref(s)
2006		Italy	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic	[16]
2007		Norway	Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit	[17]
2008		Peru	Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru	[18]
2009		Portugal	Collar of the Order of Infante Henry	[19]
2010		United Arab Emirates	Collar of the Order of Zayed	[20]
2010		Bulgaria	Order For Bravery, 1st Class	[21][22]
2011		United States	Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom	[23]
2014		Israel	Recipient of the President's Medal	[24]
2015		Austria	Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria	[25]
2015		Moldova	Member of the Order of the Republic	[26]
2017		Lithuania	Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great	[27]
2019		Slovakia	Grand Cross of the Order of the White Double Cross	[28]
2019		Latvia	Grand Officer of the Order of the Three Stars	[29]
2021		Estonia	Member 1st Class of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana	[30]
2021		Ukraine	Recipient of the Order of Liberty	[31]
2021		Slovenia	Recipient of the Order for Exceptional Merits	[32]
2021		Belgium	Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold	[33][34]
2021		Luxembourg	Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	[35]
2021		Jordan	Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance	[36][37]
2021		France	Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour	[38]
2021		Portugal	Collar of the Order of Infante Henry	[19]
2022		Netherlands	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	[39][40]

Honorary degrees

Merkel received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern in 2015.

Merkel received an honorary doctorate from HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management while visiting the university in 2019 to give a speech.

All honorary degrees received by Merkel have been doctorates honoris causa.

Honorary degrees received by Angela Merkel

Year	Country	Institution	Ref(s)
2007	Israel	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	[41]
2008	Germany	Leipzig University	[42]
2008	Poland	Wrocław University of Science and Technology	[43]
2009	United States	The New School	[44][45]
2009	Switzerland	University of Bern	[46]
2010	Bulgaria	University of Ruse	[47]
2010	Romania	Babeș-Bolyai University	[48][49][50]
2010	South Korea	Ewha Womans University	[51]
2011	Israel	Tel Aviv University	[52]
2013	Netherlands	Radboud University Nijmegen	[53]
2014	Slovakia	Comenius University	[54]
2015	Hungary	University of Szeged	[55][56]
2016	China	Nanjing University	[57]
2017	Belgium	Jointly by Ghent University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven	[58][59]
2017	Finland	University of Helsinki	[60][61]
2018	Israel	University of Haifa	[62][63]
2019	United States	Harvard University	[64]
2019	Germany	HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management	[65]
2021	United States	Johns Hopkins University (JHU)	[66]
2021	Israel	Technion – Israel Institute of Technology	[67]
2023	France	Sciences Po	[68]

Awards and other significant honours

Merkel was awarded the 2009 Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 2011.

In 2021, King Felipe VI awarded Merkel the Charles V European Award.

The North Rhine-Westphalian State Prize was awarded to Merkel in 2023.

Awards and other significant honours received by Angela Merkel

Year	Award	Ref(s)
2006	Vision for Europe Award	[69][70]
2008	B'nai B'rith Europe Award of Merit	[71]
2008	Charlemagne Prize	[72][73]
2010	European Prize from the European Society Coudenhove-Kalergi	[74]
2010	King Charles II Medal from the Royal Society	[75]
2010	Global Leadership Award from the American-German Institute at JHU	[76]
2010	Leo Baeck Medal	[77][78]
2011	Light unto the nations Prize from the American Jewish Committee	[79]
2011	2009 Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding	[80][81]
2011	Prize for Understanding and Tolerance from the Jewish Museum Berlin	[82]
2012	Heinz Galinski Award	[83]
2013	Lord Jakobovits Prize for European Jewry from the Conference of European Rabbis	[84]
2013	Indira Gandhi Peace Prize	[85]
2015	Time Person of the Year	[86]
2015	Abraham-Geiger Prize	[87]
2016	Four Freedoms Award	[88][89]
2017	Elie Wiesel Award	[90]
2017	International Gender Equality Prize from the Finnish Government	[91]
2019	Fulbright Prize for International Understanding	[92]
2020	Henry A. Kissinger Prize	[93]
2020	Buber-Rosenzweig Medal	[94]
2021	Charles V European Award	[95]
2022	Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize	[96]
2022	Nansen Refugee Award	[97]
2023	North Rhine-Westphalian State Prize	[98][99]
2023	Bavarian Order of Merit	[100]