• August 13 is International Lefthanders Day.
  • Just 10% of people in the world are left-handed, though many of them occupy high offices.
  • Scroll down to see 11 left-handed world leaders – from Benjamin Netanyahu to Barack Obama to Simon Bolivar, the military general who liberated South America.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Though left-handers make up just 10% of the world, many of them have very important jobs.

A surprising number of US presidents, in particular, are left-handers – George HW Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama are just three of the lefties to have occupied the Oval Office.

According to some research, lefties may be more creative, be better at “divergent thinking” – generating new ideas based on existing information – and face challenges better.

Read more: Scientists say left-handed people may be smarter in one key way

Scroll down to see 11 of the world's left-handed leaders.


When former US President Barack Obama signed his first executive order in 2009, he said: "That's right, I'm a lefty, get used to it."

Foto: Obama signs the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House on March 23, 2010.sourceJ. Scott Applewhite/AP

Source: Business Insider


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a lefty.

Foto: Netanyahu writes in a visitor's book as his wife Sara and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look on during their visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India, in January 2018.sourceAmit Dave/Reuters

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is also one of many left-handed world leaders. Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first ever president, has led the country since 2013.

Foto: Kenyatta casts his ballot in his hometown of Gatundu, Kiambu county, in August 2017.sourceBaz Ratner/Reuters

Read more: Scientists think they have found the reason some people are left-handed - and it has nothing to do with the brain


Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who has occupied his office since 2004, also writes with his left hand.

Foto: Then-Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Lee sign a defense cooperation agreement in Singapore in August 2008.sourceWong Maye-E/AP

Prince William — seen here in 2015 — is a left-handed royal.

Foto: Prince William signs a book of condolences for victims of the Paris terror attacks at the French Embassy in London on in November 2015.sourceJonathan Brady/Pool via AP

Read more: 5 ways being left-handed can positively affect your life


Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron is seen here in Jakarta signing a guest book with his left hand.

Foto: Cameron signs a guest book at the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, in July 2015.sourceDita Alangkara/AP

Bill Clinton was the third consecutive US president who writes with his left hand.

Foto: Then-Democratic presidential nominee Clinton signs documents in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in October 1992 as his daughter Chelsea Clinton walks in the room.sourceStephan Savoia/AP

Here's his predecessor, George HW Bush...

Foto: Bush signs the Central American Bipartisan accord in April 1989, in the White House Rose Guardian as US officials look on.sourceBarry Thumma/AP

... and his predecessor, Ronald Reagan.

Foto: Reagan in the Oval Office.sourceGetty Images / Handout

Reagan was born left-handed, but his schoolteachers forced him to learn right-handed writing.

Many former US presidents were also lefties. They include James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, and Gerald Ford.

Read more: 8 presidents you had no idea were left-handed


Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime prime minister, is another famous leftie.

Foto: sourceCecil Beaton/Wikipedia

Though there (obviously) isn't photographic evidence to prove it, multiple historical documents have recorded Roman Empire ruler Julius Caesar to be left-handed.

Foto: sourceWikimedia Commons

Statues and paintings also depict Simon Bolivar, the military leader who liberated Latin America from Spain, holding his sword or documents in his left hand.

Foto: A statue of Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar in downtown Bogotá, Colombia, in October 2016.sourceFernando Vergara/AP