Secretaries-general of the United Nations

name country of origin period of service

Trygve Lie (Lie, Trygve (Halvdan)) Norway Feb. 1, 1946–April 10, 1953

Dag Hammarskjöld (Hammarskjöld, Dag) Sweden April 10, 1953–Sept. 18, 1961

U Thant* (Thant, U) Myanmar (Burma) Nov. 30, 1962–Dec. 31, 1971

Kurt Waldheim (Waldheim, Kurt) Austria Jan. 1, 1972–Dec. 31, 1981

Javier Pérez de Cuellar (Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier) Peru Jan. 1, 1982–Dec. 31, 1991

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Boutros-Ghali, Boutros) Egypt Jan. 1, 1992–Dec. 31, 1996

Kofi Annan (Annan, Kofi) Ghana Jan. 1, 1997–Dec. 31, 2006

Ban Ki-moon South Korea Jan. 1, 2007–

*Acting secretary-general from Nov. 3, 1961.