List of Canadian Prime Ministers by age

This is a list of Prime Ministers of Canada since Confederation in 1867, arranged in descending order of their age upon first taking office.


Rank

Prime Minister

Date of Birth

First mandate begins

Age
(years/days)

1

Charles Tupper

July 2 1821

May 1 1896

74y 304d

2

John Abbott

March 12 1821

June 16 1891

70y 96d

3

Mackenzie Bowell

December 27 1824

December 21 1894

69y 359d

4

Louis St. Laurent

February 1 1882

November 15 1948

66y 288d

5

Lester B. Pearson

April 23 1897

April 24 1963

66y 1d

6

Paul Martin

August 28 1938

December 12 2003

65y 228d

7

John Diefenbaker

September 18 1895

June 21 1957

61y 276d

8

Richard Bennett

July 3 1870

August 7 1930

60y 35d

9

Jean Chrétien

January 11 1934

November 4 1993

59y 297d

10

Robert Borden

June 26 1854

October 10 1911

57y 104d

11

John Turner

June 7 1929

June 30 1984

55y 23d

12

Wilfrid Laurier

November 20 1841

July 11 1896

54y 234d

13

John A. Macdonald

January 11 1815

July 1 1867*

52y 171d

14

Alexander Mackenzie

January 28 1822

November 7 1873

51y 283d

15

Pierre Trudeau

October 18 1919

April 20 1968

48y 185d

16

John Sparrow Thompson

November 10 1845

December 5 1892

47y 25d

17

William Lyon Mackenzie King

December 17 1874

December 29 1921

47y 12d

18

Stephen Harper

April 30 1959

February 6 2006

46y 282d

19

Kim Campbell

March 10 1947

June 25 1993

46y 99d

20

Arthur Meighen

June 16 1874

July 10 1920

46y 24d

21

Brian Mulroney

March 20 1939

September 17 1984

45y 181d

22

Joe Clark

June 5 1939

June 4 1979

39y 364d

* Date of Confederation. John A. Macdonald began his first mandate as Joint Premier of the pre-confederation Province of Canada on May 24, 1856, when he was 41y 144d old, which would make him the second-youngest on the list. Charles Tupper was Premier of Nova Scotia at the time of Confederation having been in that office since 1864 when he was 45.

Source