Most of the world retires at around 65. We tell our teachers, surgeons, pilots and CEOs that it’s time to hand over, mentor the next generation and step back gracefully. Yet look at who is running nations right now. With Lula re-elected in Brazil at 80 (81 tomorrow), here are the presidents and prime ministers still in office aged 75 and over: Paul Biya, Cameroon – 93 Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine – 90 Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové, Togo – 87 Peter Mutharika, Malawi – 86 Sergio Mattarella, Italy – 85 Alassane Ouattara, Côte d’Ivoire – 84 Teodoro Obiang, Equatorial Guinea – 84 Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe – 84 Denis Sassou Nguesso, Republic of the Congo – 82 Alexander Van der Bellen, Austria – 82 Yoweri Museveni, Uganda – 82 Ram Chandra Paudel, Nepal – 82 Joseph Boakai, Liberia – 81 Lula da Silva, Brazil – 80 Thongloun Sisoulith, Laos – 80 Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua – 80 Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algeria – 80 Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea – 80 Donald Trump, United States – 80 Xanana Gusmão, Timor-Leste – 80 Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia – 79 Navin Ramgoolam, Mauritius – 79 Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Djibouti – 78 Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Bangladesh – 78 Sitiveni Rabuka, Fiji – 78 Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel – 77 Dharam Gokhool, Mauritius – 77 José Ramos-Horta, Timor-Leste – 76 Narendra Modi, India – 76 Hilda Heine, Marshall Islands – 75 Salva Kiir, South Sudan – 75 Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan – 75 Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia – 75 That’s 33 leaders. Seventeen of them are in Africa, the world’s youngest continent, where the median age is under 20. This isn’t just about age. Experience matters, and plenty of people are still mentally sharp well into their 80s. Physically is another story. Stamina. Temperament and more. It’s more about renewal. Some on this list have held power for 30 or 40 years. Some eve changed their constitutions to remove term or age limits. Too few have built a successor. In any well-run organisation, the leader’s last great job is to make themselves replaceable. Leadership isn’t something you own. You hold it for a while and then pass it on. So the question isn’t just “Are they too old?” It’s “Why can’t they let go?” It’s that second part that worries me most… What does it tell us?