Lee Kuan Yew

About Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, a towering figure in 20th-century global politics, served as the first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. As a politician, he is credited with transforming the small, resource-poor island nation into a prosperous, first-world economic powerhouse. His pragmatic, sometimes authoritarian, governance style laid the foundations for modern Singapore's political stability and economic success, which is why the Pantheon project ranks him at #641 in overall historical importance among thousands of influential figures.

In terms of modern online attention, Lee Kuan Yew garners 1.6 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. This level of traffic results in an estimated Attention Gap of +5x, suggesting overattention relative to his HPI ranking. Interestingly, this attention is significantly higher than that received by comparably ranked contemporary politicians; for instance, he receives nearly 2.5 times the views of Richard Nixon (#748 importance, 4.1M views) and Xi Jinping (#719 importance, 4.0M views).

Moreover, interest in the statesman is demonstrably increasing, with Wikipedia pageviews in 2025 showing a year-over-year change of +27.2% and a Q1 vs. Q3 momentum gain of +19%, indicating growing contemporary engagement.