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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has climbed two spots up from last year to become Singaporeans' second most admired man, according to a YouGov survey.

YouGov is an international research data and analytics group headquartered in London.

Topping the list is former United States President Barack Obama, who has occupied the spot for the fourth year in a row.

The findings are from YouGov’s annual study of which public figures people look up to.

Keanu Reeves pulled up third, a marked improvement from his seventh place last year.

For female public figures, Michelle Obama came in first, followed by Queen Elizabeth II and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Here's the complete list of Singapore's most admired men and women for the year:

This is also Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai's debut on the list.

Global sentiments

Globally, the Obama family dominated as well, with Barack Obama retaining the first place.

The former president had wrested the position from long-time incumbent Bill Gates last year.

Michelle Obama held her position as the world’s most admired woman for the third consecutive year.

YouGov notes that the top three spots for each gender are unchanged from last year.

The top 20 for each gender globally here:

New additions to this list include:

• US president Joe Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris
• Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar
• Blackpink's Lisa (of Blackpink fame)
• New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern

Methodology

The study took in responses from more than 42,000 people in 38 countries and territories.

The open-ended question posed was, “Thinking about people alive in the world today, which [man or woman] do you most admire?”

These nominations were then used to compile the global top 20 men and women, who also had to be nominated in at least four countries.

An additional five to 10 popular local figures were added to the lists for individual countries.

In subsequent fieldwork, Yougov used the lists to poll the 38 areas, asking two questions:

1. "Who do you truly admire?”, where respondents could make multiple selections, and
2. “Who do you most admire?”, where they could only pick one option.

The questions are designed to understand the breadth (i.e. global reach) and the intensity of a person's support.

The two numbers were combined into a percentage share of admiration, displayed to the right of each name.

All surveys were conducted online.

You can read more about the results and methodology here.

Top image by Ngau Kai Yan/MCI, via Lee Hsien Loong's Facebook page