Who Was Alive

Were Mobutu Sese Seko and Barack Obama alive at the same time?

Yes. Mobutu Sese Seko and Barack Obama were alive at the same time for 36 years, from 1961 to 1997.

Mobutu Sese Seko was 30 when Barack Obama was born.

Barack Obama was 36 when Mobutu Sese Seko died, aged 66.

Mobutu Sese Seko

Congolese politician and military officer, the first and only president of Zaire from 1971 to 1997

Born 14 October 1930 · died 7 September 1997, aged 66

Barack Obama

44th President of the United States

Born 4 August 1961 · living, 65 as of September 2026

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Adolf Hitler
  3. Ronald Reagan
  4. Nelson Mandela
  5. Mobutu Sese Seko
  6. Donald Trump
  7. Vladimir Putin
  8. Michael Jackson
  9. Barack Obama
Mobutu Sese Seko and Barack Obama in bold, with some of their best-known contemporaries. Drag across to see the age each reached in any year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.