On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. As described in Nobel’s will, one part was dedicated to “the person who shall 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”. Learn more about the Nobel Peace Prize from 1901 to 2024.
105 Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded since 1901. It was not awarded on 19 occasions: in 1914-1916, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1939-1943, 1948, 1955-1956, 1966-1967 and 1972.
Why were the peace prizes not awarded in those years? In the statutes of the Nobel Foundation it says: “If none of the works under consideration is found to be of the importance indicated in the first paragraph, the prize money shall be reserved until the following year. If, even then, the prize cannot be awarded, the amount shall be added to the Foundation’s restricted funds.” During World War I and II, fewer Nobel Prizes were awarded.
71 peace prizes have been given to one laureate* only.
31 peace prizes have been shared by two laureates.
3 peace prizes have been shared between three laureates. The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, and the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.
Why is that? In the statutes of the Nobel Foundation it says: “A prize amount may be equally divided between two works, each of which is considered to merit a prize. If a work that is being rewarded has been produced by two or three persons, the prize shall be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons.”
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 142 laureates – 111 individuals and 31 organisations. Since Comité International de la Croix Rouge (International Committee of the Red Cross) was awarded three times and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was awarded twice there are 111 individuals and 28 organisations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
List of all Nobel Peace Prize laureates
List of all Nobel Peace Prize awarded organisations
“for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”
“for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms”
Of the 111 individuals awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 19 are women. The first time a Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to a woman was in 1905, to Bertha von Suttner.
“for her audacity to oppose the horrors of war”
“for their assiduous effort to revive the ideal of peace and to rekindle the spirit of peace in their own nation and in the whole of mankind”
“for her lifelong work for the cause of peace”
“for the courageous efforts in founding a movement to put an end to the violent conflict in Northern Ireland”
“for the courageous efforts in founding a movement to put an end to the violent conflict in Northern Ireland”
“for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity”
“for their work for disarmament and nuclear and weapon-free zones”
“for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”
“for her struggle for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples”
“for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines”
“for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children”
“for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”
“for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”
“for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”
“for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”
“for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”
“for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”
“for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”
“for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”
The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been honoured the most – three times – by a Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, the founder of the ICRC, Henry Dunant, was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
for promoting the principles of the Geneva Convention and cooperation with the UN.
for the great work it has performed during the war on behalf of humanity.
for the efforts to take care of wounded soldiers and prisoners of war and their families.
for promoting the fundamental rights of refugees.
for its efforts to heal the wounds of war by providing help and protection to refugees all over the world.
for his fight against the nuclear arms race between East and West.
for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances.
The Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, is the only person who has declined the Nobel Peace Prize. They were both awarded the prize for negotiating the Vietnam peace accord. Le Duc Tho said that he was not in a position to accept the Nobel Prize, citing the situation in Vietnam as his reason.
The Vietnam Conflict (1959 – 1975), was fought between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the United States-supported Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The Southern and American forces were defeated and the war ended with unification of Vietnam under the communist government of the North.
for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.
The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.
for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.
for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
for his burning love for freedom of thought and expression and his valuable contribution to the cause of peace.
There is one posthumous Nobel Peace Prize, to Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961. From 1974, the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation stipulate that a prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement of the Nobel Prize. Before 1974, the Nobel Prize was also awarded posthumously to Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Nobel Prize in Literature 1931).
Many believe that Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was actually awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature. In fact, Churchill was nominated both for the literature prize and for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Explore the nomination database for the Nobel Prizes
The 109 awarded individuals and organisations over the first one hundred years of the Nobel Peace Prize (1901-2001), and the 4857 nominees, can be distributed geographically and by organisation as shown below:
The three most common searches on individuals in the Nobel Peace Prize nomination database are Adolf Hitler, Mahatma Gandhi and Joseph Stalin.
Joseph Stalin, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 and 1948 for his efforts to end World War II.
Mahatma Gandhi, one of the strongest symbols of non-violence in the 20th century, was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, finally, shortly before he was assassinated in January 1948. Although Gandhi was not awarded the prize (a posthumous award is not allowed by the statutes), the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to make no award that year on the grounds that “there was no suitable living candidate”.
Read more about “the missing laureate”
Adolf Hitler was nominated once in 1939. As unlikely as it may seem today, Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939 by a member of the Swedish parliament, E.G.C. Brandt. Apparently, Brandt never intended the nomination to be taken seriously. Brandt was a dedicated antifascist and had intended this nomination more as a satiric criticism of the current political debate in Sweden. At the time, a number of Swedish parliamentarians had nominated then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for the Nobel Peace Prize, a nomination which Brandt viewed with great skepticism. However, Brandt’s satirical intentions were not well received and the nomination was swiftly withdrawn in a letter dated 1 February 1939.
Read more about the nomination of Adolf Hitler
Other statesmen and national leaders who were nominated but not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize:
Czechoslovakia: Thomas G. Masaryk, Edvard Benes,
Great Britain: Neville Chamberlain, Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee,
Ramsay MacDonald, Winston Churchill
USA: the presidents William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman &
Dwight D. Eisenhower; the foreign ministers Charles Hughes, John Foster Dulles
France: Pierre Mendès-France
Western Germany: Konrad Adenauer
Argentina: Juan and Eva Peron
India: Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru
Finland: Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Italy: Benito Mussolini
Artists nominated but not awarded the peace prize:
Leo Tolstoy (Russian author), E.M. Remarque (German author), Pablo Casals (Spanish Catalan cellist and later conductor), Nicholas Roerich.
Nominees not primarily known for their peace work:
John Maynard Keynes, British economist.
Pierre de Coubertin, French pedagogue and historian best known for founding the International Olympic Committee.
Lord Baden-Powell, Lieutenant-General in the British Army, writer, founder of the Scout Movement.
Maria Montessori, best known for her philosophy and method of educating children from birth to adolescence. Her educational method is still in use today in a number of public as well as private schools throughout the world.
Royal nominees:
Tsar Nikolai II (1901), Prince Carl of Sweden (1919), King Albert I of Belgium (1922), Emperor Haile Selassi of Ethiopia (1938), King Paul I of Greece (1950), Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1951).
To be nominated for a Nobel Prize is not an official endorsement or extended honour to imply affiliation with the prize or its related institutions. Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize require no invitation and can be submitted from all corners of the world to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The broad eligibility of nominators means thousands of people – with no affiliation to the Nobel Committee – can put forward a name and motivate their opinion of why they consider a candidate worthy. This is what differs the selection process for the Nobel Peace Prize from many other prizes where awarding committees or academies select all the nominees as well as the winner.
Jane Addams was nominated 91 times between 1916 and 1931, when she was finally awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. By contrast Emily Green Balch, Fridtjof Nansen and Theodore Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize the first year that they were nominated.
Search the nomination database for the Nobel Prizes
All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. The founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel, was a Swedish cosmopolitan. In his will, he declared that the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded by a Norwegian committee. When Alfred Nobel was alive, Norway and Sweden were united under one monarch, until 1905 when Norway became an independent kingdom.
More about the Norwegian Nobel committee
The Nobel Peace Prize medal was designed by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland and shows Alfred Nobel in a pose slightly different from that of the other medals.
Read more about the Nobel Peace Prize medal
Each Nobel Prize diploma is a unique work of art, created by foremost Swedish and Norwegian artists and calligraphers.
More about the Nobel Prize diplomas
Alfred Nobel left most of his estate, more than SEK 31 million (today approximately SEK 2,2 billion) to be converted into a fund and invested in “safe securities.” The income from the investments was to be “distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
The Nobel Prize amount for 2024 is set at Swedish kronor (SEK) 11.0 million per full Nobel Prize.
More about the Nobel Prize amount
Why are the individuals and organisations awarded a Nobel Prize called Nobel Prize laureate? The word “laureate” refers to being signified by the laurel wreath. In Greek mythology, the god Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. A laurel wreath is a circular Crown made of branches and leaves of the bay laurel (in Latin: Laurus nobilis). In Ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors as a sign of honour – both in athletic competitions and in poetic meets.
First published 5 October 2009.