History quiz
Secretaries-General of the United Nations
Nine people have led the United Nations since 1946, up to October 2026. Each row shows the years in office and the country the Secretary-General came from.
- Format
- Type them all
- Items
- 9 answers
- Limit
- 2:30
- Level
- Medium
- Checked
- 2026.10.03
- Answers
- 9
- Time limit
- 2:30
- Order
- Any order
- Matching
- Case and accents ignored
- Type an answer; it files itself the moment it matches.
- One answer can fill several slots.
- Give up at any time to see what you missed.
- Pause whenever you like (Esc). The board hides while the clock is stopped.
Name every Secretary-General of the United Nations.
| No. | Years | From | Secretary-General |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1946 to 1952 | Norway | Not found yet |
| 2 | 1953 to 1961 | Sweden | Not found yet |
| 3 | 1961 to 1971 | Burma (now Myanmar) | Not found yet |
| 4 | 1972 to 1981 | Austria | Not found yet |
| 5 | 1982 to 1991 | Peru | Not found yet |
| 6 | 1992 to 1996 | Egypt | Not found yet |
| 7 | 1997 to 2006 | Ghana | Not found yet |
| 8 | 2007 to 2016 | Republic of Korea | Not found yet |
| 9 | 2017 to now | Portugal | Not found yet |
About this quiz
The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations. António Guterres, the ninth, began his term on 1 January 2017.
- Gladwyn Jebb of the United Kingdom was Acting Secretary-General from October 1945 until Trygve Lie took over in February 1946.
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in office from 1992 to 1996, had the shortest tenure of the nine.
- U Thant came from Burma, the country now called Myanmar.
Sources
- [1]United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Who is and has been Secretary-General of the United Nations?.
Note on the data. Names, countries and years in office follow the United Nations library's list of Secretaries-General, checked on 3 October 2026. Acting Secretaries-General (Gladwyn Jebb in 1945 and 1946) are not counted. Guterres's term runs to the end of 2026, so the list needs a re-check in January 2027.
Last checked October 3, 2026
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