The President of Cameroon Paul Barthélemy Biya marks 44 years as a President. The 92-year-old statesman was officially sworn in for his 8th consecutive seven-year term on November 6, 2025, at the National Assembly Palace in Yaoundé, Cameroon
Biya was inaugurated as the second President of Cameroon on November 6, 1982, after his predecessor Ahmadou Ahidjo, the country’s first President, who resigned from office in 1982.
Born on February 13,1933 in Mvomeka’a, Cameroon, Biya becomes the oldest seating President in the world and the second longest serving after Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea who has been a President since August 1979.
Biya attended local Catholic schools and a minor seminary, originally considering the priesthood .
He attended at Lycée Leclerc in Yaoundé, a prestigious high school in the French colony, where he received a classical education studying Latin, Greek, and philosophy
He later went to further his studies at University of Paris (La Sorbonne) where he earned a Licence en Droit Public (bachelor’s degree in public law) in 1960.
A year later he went to Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) where he obtained a diploma in political science. In 1963 he studied at an Institute of Advanced Studies in Public Law where he earned a Diplôme d’Études Supérieures en Droit Public (Diploma of Higher Studies in Public Law).
He married Chantal Biya (Chantal Pulchérie Biya) on April 23, 1994, following the 1992 passing of his first wife, Jeanne-Irène Biya. He has four children.
In 1962 he joined the civil service, working as a chargé de mission in the presidency and heading the foreign development aid department. He was Appointed Secretary-General of the Presidency in 1968.
Biya’s role was escalated when he was appointed Prime Minister from1975–1982.
Biya is currently the national President of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM}
Cameroon has the 15th largest economy in Africa by nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a total nominal GDP of approximately $64.81 billion (as of 2026 IMF/World Bank projections)
Cameroon’s population is estimated at approximately 31 million people in 2026
–MoffatMokoena–
