As the chancellor of Germany, Merkel leads the European Union's most powerful economy. She has held the top spot on Forbes list seven times in the past ten years.
Read on to see who else made it into Forbes' top ten.
Watch the video on CBS This Morning and see the full list here.
#2 Dilma Rousseff
The president of Brazil, Rousseff is challenged with pulling the world's seventh largest economy out of two years of sluggish growth. Rousseff is currently 18th on Forbes' most powerful people list.
#3 Melinda Gates
Gates co-chairs the largest private foundation in the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Last year, the group gave away $3.4 billion, mostly to global health initiatives.
#4 Michelle Obama
As first lady of the United States, Obama has a powerful platform and she has put it to good use: A former attorney and Harvard graduate, Obama has led campaigns fighting childhood obesity and promoting nutrition.
#5 Hillary Clinton
While she is no longer secretary of state, Clinton still wields enormous political power and is considered a likely 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
#6 Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook COO Sandberg made waves with her 2013 top-selling book "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead." Watch Norah O'Donnell's "60 Minutes" interview with Sandberg and see the full list here.
#7 Christine Lagarde
Lagarde is the first woman to lead the International Monetary Fund. She faces huge challenges globally, and especially in restoring growth to the economically distressed eurozone.
#8 Janet Napolitano
As secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Napolitano oversees a $48 billion budget and staff of 240,000. In the last Forbes ranked her number 9 in their "most powerful women" list.
#9 Sonia Gandhi
As president of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi is the longest-serving chief of India's ruling political party. India is the second most populous nation in the world and the tenth largest economy.
#10 Indra Nooyi
The CEO of PepsiCo, Nooyi has led initiatives that have helped the beverage and snack food giant to boost profits and develop innovation, like research into a new sweeterner, that has kept them competitive with rival Coca-Cola. Click here for the full Forbes list.