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Nobel Peace Prize: Famous laureates, from Malala Yousafzai to Lester B. Pearson
Several U.S. presidents and a future Canadian prime minister are among the most famous Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
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Year: 2025
The Venezuelan opposition leader was awarded in 2025 ‘for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,’ The Nobel Prize says.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado speaks during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolás Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she claims the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
Year: 2023
Mohammadi was awarded ‘for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,’ The Nobel Prize says.
Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi speaks at a meeting in Tehran, Iran, In this July 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Year: 2014
Malala was awarded the prize at age 17 ‘for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,’ according to The Nobel Prize.
Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate accompanied by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks in the Treaty Room at the State Department, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Year: 2009
According to the Nobel Prize, the former U.S. president was awarded ‘for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.’
Barack Obama speaks during his meeting with the 2016 American Nobel Prize winners in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Year: 2002
The former U.S. president received the award for ‘for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.’
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, right, receives the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize from chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Gunnar Berge, left, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002 at Oslo City Hall, Norway. (AP Photo/Bjoern Sigurdsoen)
Year: 2001
The United Nations and Kofi Annan were awarded jointly ‘for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world,’ says The Nobel Prize.
United Nations-Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Anan addresses the United Nations General Assembly on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, Thursday, June 7, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Year: 1998
John Hume, the Catholic leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and David Trimble, the Protestant leader of the Ulster Unionists, were honoured ‘for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
The 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winners John Hume, right, and David Trimble, at the Grand Hotel in Oslo on Wednesday Dec. 9, 1998. (AP Photo/Jon Eeg)
Year: 1994
From left: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were awarded jointly for their ‘efforts to create peace in the Middle East,’ according to The Nobel Prize.
Nobel Foundation archive)
Year: 1993
According to The Nobel Prize, the former South African president was awarded jointly with Frederik Willem de Klerk ‘for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.’
Nelson Mandela addresses the crowd during the South Africa Freedom Day concert in London's Trafalgar Square Sunday, April 29, 2001. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Year: 1991
The politician and human rights activist, and daughter of Myanmar independence hero, General Aung San, was awarded ‘for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights,’ according to The Nobel Prize.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is surrounded by bodyguards and aides in the garden of her house during a press conference following her release earlier in the week after six years under house arrest, Rangoon, Burma on July 14, 1995. (AP Photo/Anat Givon)
Year: 1990
The final leader of the Soviet Union who opened his nation’s doors to the West was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize ‘for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations.’
In this June 5, 1991 photo, Soviet president Mikhail S. Gorbachev receives applause from the audience in Oslo as he enters the lecture hall to deliver his long-delayed Nobel Peace lecture. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Year: 1989
The 14th Dalai Lama was awarded ‘for advocating peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people,’ says The Nobel Prize.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama appears to be pondering a question during a fundraising luncheon with followers Sunday, June 25, 2000, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Year: 1986
According to the Nobel Prize, the Romanian-born U.S. writer and Holocaust survivor was awarded ‘for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity.’
Elie Wiesel listens to a question from the media during a press conference, March 17, 2005, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Haraz Ghanbari)
Year: 1984
Human rights activist Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize ‘for his role as a unifying leader figure in the non-violent campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.’
Desmond Tutu greets a crowd of 10,000 people with his hands held high during a rally at the Greek Theater on the University of California at Berkeley, Calif., campus, May 14, 1985. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Year: 1979
According to the Nobel Prize, the nun won ‘for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity.’ Mother Teresa was declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2016.
Mother Theresa is greeted by a crowd during a visit to St. Paul, Alta., on June 25, 1982. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Buston
Year: 1964
The civil rights activist was awarded ‘for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population.’
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. (AP Photo)
Year: 1957
The future prime minister of Canada got the Nobel Peace Prize ‘for his crucial contribution to the deployment of a United Nations Emergency Force in the wake of the Suez Crisis.’ It’s considered one of the earliest examples of modern peacekeeping.
Lester Pearson, Canada's former foreign secretary, displays the Nobel Peace Prize presented him a short time before in Oslo, December 10, 1956. (AP Photo)