Boris Yeltsin

About Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007) was a pivotal politician who served as the first President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. His historical importance, reflected in his #434 HPI rank, stems primarily from leading the Russian Federation through the collapse of the Soviet Union and overseeing the transition to a market economy and multi-party democracy, fundamentally reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the late 20th century. His tenure included navigating significant economic hardship and political turmoil following the dissolution of the USSR.

In terms of modern attention, Yeltsin receives 1.3 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, which places him in a state of overattention relative to his historical ranking, indicated by an Attention Gap score of +3x. While this suggests solid name recognition, it is telling that he garners fewer views than figures ranked significantly lower in overall historical impact. For comparison, George H. W. Bush (#788 importance) registered 4.3 million views, suggesting a higher modern digital profile despite lower historical weight according to the Pantheon methodology.

Recent online interest shows a slight contraction; his year-over-year change was -1.6%, and momentum between Q1 and Q3 2025 saw a steep drop of -23%, indicating that current discourse is moving away from the immediate legacy of the post-Soviet transition period.