Premier is a title for the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

s and

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

s of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a

, but is not the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. In

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

s, the two roles are often combined into one, whereas in

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

s of government the two are usually kept separate.

Relationship to the term "prime minister"

"Premier" is often the title of the heads of government in sub-national entities, such as the

provinces and territories of Canada Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...

provinces of South Africa South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 South African general election, 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, known as Bantustans, were reintegrated into the country, and the four provinces were incr ...

, the island of

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

within the Federation of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

. In some of these cases, the formal title remains "Prime Minister" but "Premier" is used to avoid confusion with the national leader. In these cases, care should be taken not to confuse the title of "premier" with "prime minister". In these countries, terms such as "Federal Premier", "National Premier" or "Premier of the Dominion" were sometimes used to refer to prime ministers, although these are now obsolete.

Etymology

The word comes from French which means prime minister. ''Premier'' meaning 'first', coming from Latin ''prīmārius''. This is why in many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Examples by country

"premier" is the official title for the heads of government in Australia's six states. The term "chief minister" is the title of the head of government in Australia's two self-governing territories, and is effectively equivalent to a premier. "premier" is used for the heads of government in Canada's 13 Provinces and territories. " Premier ministre" is the French term for the Prime Minster of the Canadian federal government. "premier" is more common and official, but "prime minister" is still used (see

Premier of the People's Republic of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...

). the head of government is officially the President of the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive (government), executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Under the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, amended constitution, the head of the Execut ...

, but it can also be abbreviated to Premier. the head of government is referred to as the “Premier”, however, as a British Overseas Territory, the British Monarch is the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

, and the British government often has the last say on external affairs. "Premier" means the "Prime Minister". In the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: ''Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / ''Федерација Босне и Херцеговине'') is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities composing Bo ...

, a sub-national entity of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, as well as in the

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

, the head of government has the formal title of "premier", often anglicized as "prime minister", while the national prime minister is

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina The chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Bosnian/ Croatian: ''Predsjedavajući Vijeća ministara Bosne i Hercegovine'', ) is the head of the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The chairman of the Council of Minis ...

, but "premier" is sometimes colloquially used. the head of government is colloquially called “Premiér”, and the

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

translates both “Premier” and “Prime Minister” as “Premiér”. However, although his post is commonly translated in English as “Prime Minister”, the official title as per articles 67 and 68 of the Constitution is “ Předseda vlády”, literally “President of the Government”. the head of government is officially called “President of the Government” (''predsjednik vlade'') but “Premier” (''premijer'') is colloquially used. the head of government is officially called "President of the Government" (''predsednik vlade'') but "Premier" (''premijer'') is colloquially used. the

is officially called "President of the Council of Ministers" () but "Premier" (polish for Prime Minister) is colloquially used. the

President of the Council of Ministers The president of the Council of Ministers (sometimes titled chairman of the Council of Ministers) is the most senior member of the cabinet in the executive branch of government in some countries. Some presidents of the Council of Ministers are ...

, an office equivalent to prime minister, is informally referred to as the "Premier". the

head of the government In the executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gr ...

is named premier (Macedonian премиер, ''premier''), usually translated in English as

. the title of premier was applied to the

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

, named

of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

after 1946, which became the

Prime Minister of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). From 1923 to 1946, the name of the office was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and from 1946 to 1991 its name was C ...

in 1991. the head of the

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

state government is known as the

Premier of Sarawak The premier of Sarawak () is the head of government of the States and federal territories of Malaysia, Malaysian state of Sarawak. The premier leads the Government of Sarawak, the Executive (government), executive branch of the state government, ...

following a state constitutional amendment in 2022, a move widely seen to reflect the status of Sarawak as an equal partner with Sabah and Malaya in Malaysia as stipulated in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63). the term premier is colloquially used as a synonym of

. In the Dutch language, the official and also commonly used term is "minister president", so this is even a third synonym, but this is normally not translated literally into the English language.

By jurisdiction

Premiers of Australia The premiers and chief ministers of the Australian states and territories are the heads of the executive governments in the six states and two self-governing territories of Australia. They perform the same function at the state and territor ...

* Premier of Bermuda *

Premier of the British Virgin Islands The Premier of the Virgin Islands is the head of government for the British Virgin Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, the Premier is appointed by the Governor on behalf of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. Until 2007, the ...

* Premiers of Canada *

Premier of the Cayman Islands The Premier of the Cayman Islands is the political leader and head of government. The post of premier in the Cayman Islands is the equivalent to chief minister or prime minister in other British Overseas Territories. It is the highest political ...

List of premiers of China This is a list of the premiers of Names of China, China from 1911–1912, during the Qing dynasty, 1912 onwards of the Taiwan, Republic of China, and 1949 onwards of the China, People's Republic of China. The first recorded instance of a monarc ...

Chancellor of China The grand chancellor (, among other titles), also translated as counselor-in-chief, chancellor, chief councillor, chief minister, imperial chancellor, lieutenant chancellor and prime minister, was the highest-ranking executive official in the i ...

Premier of North Korea The premier of North Korea, officially the premier of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the head of government of North Korea and leader of the North Korean Cabinet. The premier is officially appointed by the Supre ...

Premier of Montserrat The premier of Montserrat is the head of government of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat. The premier is appointed by the governor of Montserrat on behalf of the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently Charles III, King Charles III. ...

* Premiers of South Africa *

Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). From 1923 to 1946, the name of the office was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and from 1946 to 1991 its name was ...

* Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) *

Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands The Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands is the political leader and head of government. The post of premier is the equivalent to chief minister or prime minister in other British Overseas Territories. It is the highest political level that c ...

References

{{Heads of government Heads of government of non-sovereign entities Positions of authority Positions of subnational authority Gubernatorial titles

Relationship to the term "prime minister"

Etymology

Examples by country

By jurisdiction

See also

References