77-year-old José Mujica is the president of Uruguay and has been dubbed the world’s ‘poorest’ president. President Mujica doesn’t need the luxury lifestyle like some of the other presidents in the world. Mujica donates 90% of his £7,500 [$12,000] monthly income, leaving him with a salary inline with the average Uruguayan income of £485 [$775]. Mujica lives a simple life on a small rural farm in Montevideo. Mujica says –
‘I’m called ‘the poorest president’, but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more. This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself. I may appear to be an eccentric old man. But this is a free choice.’
[BBC]