Born Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev on the 2nd March 1931, in Privolnoye, Stavropol Krai, then Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, he is a lawyer and politician, best known to the world as the last President of the Soviet Union who instituted perestroika and glasnost, and serving in the position from 1990 to 1991.

Have you ever wondered how rich Mikhail Gorbachev is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Gorbachev’s net worth is as high as $5 million, an amount earned largely through his successful political career, which has been active since the ‘50s.

Mikhail Gorbachev Net Worth $5 Million

A son of Ukrainian and Russian migrants, he endured the Soviet famine of 1932-1933. He was primarily raised by his maternal grandparents, since his parents were busy working, as his mother was a kolkhoz worker, while his father worked as a harvester operator, but also later served in World War II. During his teens, Mikhail followed in the footsteps of his father, working on collective farms and operating combine harvesters. After finished high school, Mikhail enrolled at the Moscow State University, from which he graduated in 1955, earning a law degree. Mikhail then moved to Stavropol; even before graduation, Mikhail had joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and with the start of the ‘60s he became more and more involved in politics. In 1963 he was named as Head of the Department of Party Organs in the Stavropol Regional Committee, and seven years later became the First Party Secretary, and by that became one of the youngest people of the party to hold such a position. During his stint as First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee, Mikhail focused on improving the lives of simple people, mostly farmers, since he himself had lived the life of a farmer, before making progress as a politician.

After several years of success, Mikhail was named as the Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and also the Chairman of the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs, while in 1978 he was promoted to the Central Committee’s Secretariat for Agriculture position. Little by little Mikhail was becoming one of the most influential people of the party, and then in 1980 became a full member of the CPSU. Just four years later he was made General Secretary of the CPSU following the deaths of Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chemenko, becoming the youngest party leader. His power and influence became to rise, and he instituted several new policies that improved the lives of the people of the Soviet Union.

He became known for “perestroika”, and “glasnost”, giving his people the freedom of speech. His popularity rose through the roof, and in 1988 he was made the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and then in 1990 he was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union, earning 59% of the votes of the Deputies. Unfortunately, his reign didn’t last long as his new laws and policies led quite deliberately to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Following the end of his presidency, Mikhail remained active in Russian politics, forming two parties along the way, Social Democratic Party of Russia (2001-2004), and Union of Social Democrats (2007-2014), but didn’t have much success.

Thanks to his largely successful career, Mikhail received numerous awards and honors, including Order of St. Andrew in 2011, then Order of Lenin three times, then Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, while in 1989 he was the recipient of the Otto Hahn Peace Medal award, among many other recognitions, which include several honorary doctorates from prestigious universities, including Durham University, Trinity College, Cambridge and the University of Liège.

Regarding his personal life, Mikhail met his wife, Raisa Titarenko, during his studies at Moscow State University. The two married in 1953 and had their only child in 1957, a daughter Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya. His wife passed away in 1999, after losing the battle to leukemia.