Nobel Peace Prize Winners: A Complete List (1901-2024)

Oct 30, 2025 by Team 55 views

Hey guys! Ever wondered who's snagged the Nobel Peace Prize over the years? Well, buckle up, because we're about to dive deep into a complete list of Nobel Peace Prize winners from 1901 all the way to 2024. This prestigious award recognizes individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to peace, and the list is filled with some truly inspiring figures. Get ready for a fascinating journey through history, filled with stories of courage, diplomacy, and unwavering commitment to a more peaceful world. Let's get started!

The Nobel Peace Prize: A Brief Overview

Alright, before we jump into the names, let's quickly recap what the Nobel Peace Prize is all about. The prize, established by Alfred Nobel's will, is awarded annually to those who have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, is responsible for selecting the laureates. The award ceremony takes place in Oslo, Norway, on December 10th each year, the anniversary of Nobel's death. It's not just about recognizing past achievements; the prize also aims to encourage future efforts towards peace. Now, that's what I call a pretty awesome legacy, right?

This prize is more than just a pat on the back; it's a spotlight on the unsung heroes and heroines working tirelessly to build bridges, resolve conflicts, and promote understanding. It's a reminder that peace isn't a passive state; it's something we actively work towards. The winners come from all walks of life – activists, politicians, organizations, and more – but they all share a common thread: a deep commitment to making the world a better place. The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful symbol of hope and a testament to the enduring human spirit's capacity for good. It's a call to action, reminding us that we all have a role to play in creating a more peaceful and just world. So, whether it's through diplomacy, grassroots activism, or simply acts of kindness, every effort counts.

The process of selecting the laureate is very thorough. Thousands of people worldwide are eligible to nominate candidates, including university professors, members of national assemblies, and former winners. The nominations are then reviewed by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who whittle down the list and eventually choose the winner or winners. The criteria are broad, allowing for a wide range of achievements to be recognized. The committee considers not only the actions of the nominees but also their impact and the long-term consequences of their work. The prize isn't always awarded to the most famous individuals or organizations. Sometimes, it goes to those working quietly behind the scenes, making a real difference in the world. This makes the Nobel Peace Prize unique and impactful!

Complete List of Nobel Peace Prize Winners (1901-2024)

Alright, let's get to the main event! Here's the complete list of Nobel Peace Prize winners from 1901 to 2024. We'll go year by year, highlighting the laureates and their incredible contributions to peace. Get ready to be inspired!

1901: Jean Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy – For their work in founding the International Red Cross and promoting international arbitration.
1902: Élie Ducommun and Charles Albert Gobat – For their work in the Permanent International Peace Bureau.
1903: William Randal Cremer – For his work in the international arbitration movement.
1904: Institut de Droit International – For its work in promoting international law.
1905: Bertha von Suttner – For her work in the peace movement, particularly her novel Lay Down Your Arms.
1906: Theodore Roosevelt – For his role in mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
1907: Ernesto Teodoro Moneta and Louis Renault – For their work in promoting peace and international arbitration.
1908: Klas Pontus Arnoldson and Fredrik Bajer – For their work in the peace movement and promoting international arbitration.
1909: Auguste Beernaert and Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant – For their work in international arbitration.
1910: International Peace Bureau – For its work in the peace movement.
1911: Alfred Fried and Tobias Michael Carel Asser – For their work in promoting peace and international law.
1912: Elihu Root – For his work in international arbitration.
1913: Henri La Fontaine – For his work in the peace movement.
1917: International Committee of the Red Cross – For its work in providing humanitarian aid during World War I.
1919: Woodrow Wilson – For his role in founding the League of Nations.
1920: Léon Bourgeois – For his work in the League of Nations.
1921: Hjalmar Branting and Christian Lous Lange – For their work in the League of Nations.
1922: Fridtjof Nansen – For his work in repatriating prisoners of war and his work with refugees.
1925: Austen Chamberlain and Charles Gates Dawes – For their work in the Locarno Treaties and the Dawes Plan.
1926: Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann – For their work in promoting Franco-German reconciliation.
1927: Ferdinand Buisson and Ludwig Quidde – For their work in promoting peace and international understanding.
1929: Frank Billings Kellogg – For his role in the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
1930: Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom – For his work in promoting ecumenism.
1931: Jane Addams and Nicholas Murray Butler – For their work in promoting peace.
1933: Norman Angell – For his work in promoting peace through his writings.
1934: Arthur Henderson – For his work in disarmament.
1935: Carl von Ossietzky – For his work in promoting peace and freedom of the press.
1936: Carlos Saavedra Lamas – For his work in mediating the Chaco War.
1937: The Viscount Cecil of Chelwood – For his work in promoting the League of Nations.
1938: Nansen International Office for Refugees – For its work in helping refugees.
1939: Not awarded due to World War II.
1940: Not awarded due to World War II.
1941: Not awarded due to World War II.
1942: Not awarded due to World War II.
1943: Not awarded due to World War II.
1944: International Committee of the Red Cross – For its work in providing humanitarian aid during World War II.
1945: Cordell Hull – For his role in establishing the United Nations.
1946: Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott – For their work in promoting peace.
1947: The Friends Service Council and The American Friends Service Committee – For their work in providing humanitarian aid.
1949: Lord John Boyd Orr – For his work in combating hunger.
1950: Ralph Bunche – For his work in mediating in the Middle East.
1951: Léon Jouhaux – For his work in promoting workers' rights and peace.
1952: Albert Schweitzer – For his work in promoting peace and humanitarianism.
1953: George Catlett Marshall – For his role in the Marshall Plan.
1954: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – For its work in helping refugees.
1957: Lester Bowles Pearson – For his role in resolving the Suez Crisis.
1958: Dominique Pire – For his work in helping refugees.
1959: Philip John Noel-Baker – For his work in disarmament.
1960: Albert Lutuli – For his work in fighting for civil rights in South Africa.
1961: Dag Hammarskjöld – For his work in the United Nations.
1962: Linus Carl Pauling – For his work in campaigning against nuclear weapons testing.
1963: International Committee of the Red Cross and League of Red Cross Societies – For their work in providing humanitarian aid.
1964: Martin Luther King Jr. – For his work in the civil rights movement.
1965: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) – For its work in helping children.
1968: René Cassin – For his work in human rights.
1969: International Labour Organization – For its work in promoting workers' rights and peace.
1970: Norman Ernest Borlaug – For his work in the Green Revolution.
1971: Willy Brandt – For his work in promoting Ostpolitik.
1973: Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ – For their work in negotiating the Vietnam peace accord (Lê Đức Thọ declined the prize).
1974: Seán MacBride and Eisaku Satō – For their work in promoting peace and disarmament.
1975: Andrei Sakharov – For his work in human rights.
1976: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan – For their work in promoting peace in Northern Ireland.
1977: Amnesty International – For its work in human rights.
1978: Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin – For their work in promoting peace between Egypt and Israel.
1979: Mother Teresa – For her work in helping the poor and suffering.
1980: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel – For his work in human rights in Latin America.
1981: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – For its work in helping refugees.
1982: Alva Myrdal and Alfonso García Robles – For their work in disarmament.
1983: Lech Wałęsa – For his work in the Solidarity movement in Poland.
1984: Desmond Tutu – For his work in fighting apartheid in South Africa.
1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – For its work in preventing nuclear war.
1986: Elie Wiesel – For his work in human rights and combating indifference.
1987: Óscar Arias Sánchez – For his work in promoting peace in Central America.
1988: United Nations Peacekeeping Forces – For their work in peacekeeping.
1989: The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) – For his work in promoting peace and non-violence.
1990: Mikhail Gorbachev – For his role in ending the Cold War.
1991: Aung San Suu Kyi – For her work in promoting democracy and human rights in Myanmar.
1992: Rigoberta Menchú Tum – For her work in promoting the rights of indigenous peoples.
1993: Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk – For their work in ending apartheid in South Africa.
1994: Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin – For their work in the Oslo Accords.
1995: Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs – For their efforts to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such weapons.
1996: Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta – For their work in promoting peace in East Timor.
1997: Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines – For their work in banning landmines.
1998: John Hume and David Trimble – For their work in promoting peace in Northern Ireland.
1999: Doctors Without Borders – For their humanitarian work.
2000: Kim Dae-jung – For his work in promoting peace and reconciliation with North Korea.
2001: Kofi Annan and the United Nations – For their work in promoting peace and human rights.
2002: Jimmy Carter – For his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.
2003: Shirin Ebadi – For her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.
2004: Wangari Maathai – For her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.
2005: Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency – For their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.
2006: Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank – For their efforts to create economic and social development from the bottom up.
2007: Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – For their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.
2008: Martti Ahtisaari – For his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.
2009: Barack Obama – For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.
2010: Liu Xiaobo – For his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.
2011: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman – For their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.
2012: The European Union – For over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.
2013: Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – For its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.
2014: Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi – For their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.
2015: Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet – For its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
2016: Juan Manuel Santos – For his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.
2017: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – For its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.
2018: Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad – For their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.
2019: Abiy Ahmed Ali – For his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.
2020: World Food Programme – For its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.
2021: Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov – For their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.
2022: Ales Bialiatski, Memorial, and Center for Civil Liberties – For their outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power. They demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.
2023: Narges Mohammadi – For her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.
2024: (To be announced in October 2024) – Stay tuned for the next laureate!

This list is a testament to the incredible individuals and organizations that have dedicated their lives to promoting peace. Their bravery, dedication, and unwavering belief in a better world serve as an inspiration to us all. It's a reminder that even in the face of conflict and adversity, hope remains, and change is possible. The Nobel Peace Prize continues to be a beacon of hope, shining a light on those who are working tirelessly to build a more peaceful and just world. This is not just a list; it is a story of hope, resilience, and the enduring power of the human spirit.

Conclusion

So there you have it, folks! A comprehensive look at the Nobel Peace Prize winners from 1901 to 2024 (well, almost!). I hope you found this journey through history as fascinating as I did. These individuals and organizations have shown us that peace is not just a dream; it's a goal worth fighting for. Their stories remind us of the power of diplomacy, the importance of human rights, and the enduring human spirit's capacity for good. Keep an eye out for the next winner and let's continue to be inspired by their incredible work.

Thanks for reading, and let's all do our part to promote peace in our own lives and communities! Peace out!