Age, Biography, and Wiki
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen was born on October 8, 1958, in Brussels, Belgium. She is a German politician and a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), serving as the first female President of the European Commission since 2019. Her biography is marked by her commitment to family and public service, being married to Heiko von der Leyen and having seven children.
| Occupation | Physicians |
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| Date of Birth | 8 October 1958 |
| Age | 66 Years |
| Birth Place | Ixelles, Belgium |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | Belgium |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Although specific details about her height and weight are not widely publicized, Ursula von der Leyen is known for her professional demeanor and stature in the political arena.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Ursula von der Leyen is married to Heiko von der Leyen, a professor of medicine, and they have seven children together. Her family life reflects her strong commitment to family values.
Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and moved to Germany in 1971 when her father became involved in German politics. She graduated from the London School of Economics in 1978, and in 1987, she acquired her medical license from Hanover Medical School. After marrying fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen, she lived for four years in the United States with her family in the 1990s. After returning to Germany she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region in the late 1990s, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005.
In 1971, she relocated to Sehnde in the Hanover region after her father had become CEO of the food company Bahlsen and involved in state politics in Lower Saxony.
Von der Leyen moved to the Hanover Region in 1971 when her father entered politics to become minister-president of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. In 1977, she started studying economics at the University of Göttingen. At the height of the fear of communist terrorism in West Germany, she fled to London in 1978 after her family was told that the Red Army Faction (RAF) was planning to kidnap her due to her being the daughter of a prominent politician. She spent more than a year in hiding in London, where she lived with protection from Scotland Yard under the name Rose Ladson to avoid detection and enrolled at the London School of Economics. A German diminutive of Rose, Röschen, had been her nickname since childhood, while Ladson was the name of her American great-grandmother's family, originally from Northamptonshire. She said that she "lived more than she studied", and that London was "the epitome of modernity: freedom, the joy of life, trying everything" which "gave me an inner freedom that I have kept till today". She returned to Germany in 1979 but lived with a security detail at her side for several years.
In 1980, she switched to studying medicine and enrolled at the Hannover Medical School, where she graduated in 1987 and acquired her medical licence, specialising in women's health. From 1988 to 1992, she worked as an assistant physician at the Women's Clinic of the Hannover Medical School. Upon completing her doctoral studies, she defended the thesis and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1991. Following the birth of twins, she was a housewife in Stanford, California, from 1992 to 1996, while her husband was a faculty member of Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.
When she lived in Brussels, her little sister Benita-Eva died of cancer at the age of eleven and she remembered "the enormous helplessness of my parents" in view of the cancer. This inspired her to make cancer a focus of her commission.
On the deteriorating relationship between Europe and Russia during the annexation of Crimea, she argued that "the reliance on a functioning business relationship with Europe is much, much bigger in Russia" and that sanctions should prod the oligarchs and Russian business. She also called for more significant NATO backing of the Baltic states during Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.
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| Husband | Heiko von der Leyen (m. 1986) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Ursula von der Leyen's estimated net worth varies, with some sources suggesting it is around $8 million, while others estimate it to be approximately €3 million (around $3.3 million). Her annual salary as President of the European Commission is approximately $330,000 (gross), although net figures are closer to $193,980 when accounting for EU taxes and insurance contributions.
In 2003, von der Leyen was part of a group assigned by the then-opposition leader and CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel to draft alternative proposals for social welfare reform in response to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's "Agenda 2010". The so-called Herzog Commission, named after its chairman, the former German President Roman Herzog, recommended a comprehensive package of reform proposals including, among other things, decoupling health and nursing care premiums from people's earnings and levying a monthly lump sum across the board instead.
During her time in office, von der Leyen cultivated the image of being the social conscience of the CDU and helped Merkel to move the CDU into the political centre-ground. In speaking out for increasing the number of childcare nurseries, for the introduction of a women's quota for listed companies' main boards, for gay marriage and a nationwide minimum wage, von der Leyen made enemies among the more traditionalist party members and won admirers on the left.
In January 2015, von der Leyen publicly criticised Airbus over delays in the delivery of A400M military transport planes, complaining that the company had a serious problem with product quality. Under her leadership, the ministry agreed to accept 13 million euros in compensation for delays in deliveries of both the second and third A400M aircraft. In 2016, she asked for an additional 12.7 million euros in damages for delays in the delivery of a fourth plane. Also in 2015, von der Leyen chose MBDA, jointly owned by Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems, and Italy's Leonardo S.p.A., to build the Medium Extended Air Defense System, but set strict milestones for it to retain the contract.
Following her nomination as a candidate for Commission president, the Commission provided her with a salary, office, and staff in Brussels to facilitate negotiations between the EU institutions as to her election. These arrangements were extended, to enable a smooth transition, during her period as president-elect, until the new College of Commissioners was confirmed by the European Parliament and took office in November. In light of her new role, von der Leyen resigned her seat in the German Bundestag on 31 July 2019.
Career, Business, and Investments
Von der Leyen has had a distinguished career in German politics, serving in various roles within Angela Merkel's cabinet, including Federal Minister for Defence from 2013 to 2019. Her appointment as President of the European Commission in 2019 marked a significant milestone in her career. There is no public information on extensive business investments, reflecting her focus on public service.
Ahead of the 2005 federal elections, Angela Merkel chose Ursula von der Leyen to cover the family and social security portfolio in her shadow cabinet. In the negotiations to form a government following the election, von der Leyen led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on families; her co-chair from the SPD was Renate Schmidt.
Von der Leyen also lobbied for lowering the barriers to immigration for some foreign workers, in order to fight shortages of skilled workers in Germany. In 2013, she concluded an agreement with the Government of the Philippines that was aimed at helping Filipino health care professionals to gain employment in Germany. A vital provision of the agreement is that the Filipino workers are to be employed on the same terms and conditions as their German counterparts.
In August 2014 in a debate over funding priorities, von der Leyen categorised as "vital to national interests" only sensor and cryptotechnology and left all other funding items as secondary. Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was unhappy with her and said that "this will have significant consequences for national defence procurement and European cooperation" as the key focus of the debate would determine where funding will be allocated. She admitted that "Germany would at present be unable to meet NATO requirements". For example, at this time the majority of the German Air Force was grounded, with 42 of its 109 Eurofighter Typhoons and 38 of 89 Tornado fighters ready for deployment. An external report had been commissioned and, with cost overruns rising into the billions of euros, all nine of the Bundeswehr's major projects had been delayed by between 30 and 360 months. This occurred one year into her tenure at Defense.
Von der Leyen unveiled the new proposed EU Commission's structure (whom she deemed to be a "geopolitical" one) on 10 September 2019, renaming a number of posts of the College of Commissioners to make them sound less formal and more goal-oriented, including the controversial portfolio for "Protecting our European Way of Life", a vice-presidency responsible for the coordination of migration, security, employment and education policies. The later portfolio's name drew heavy criticism, as it was considered to carry a xenophobic message linking the protection of the "European Way of Life" to migration policies. The proposed structure for the college also saw the "unexpected" promotion of EPP's Valdis Dombrovskis to a role of executive vice-president, up to a number of three executive vice-presidencies, equalling the roles entrusted to Timmermans and Margrethe Vestager.
In March 2020, von der Leyen's Commission turned down the idea of suspending the Schengen Agreement in order to introduce border controls around Italy, at that time the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The decision drew criticism from some European politicians. After some EU member states announced closure of their national borders to foreign nationals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said: "Certain controls may be justified, but general travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization. Moreover, they have a strong social and economic impact, they disrupt people's lives and business across the borders." She condemned the U.S. decision to restrict travel from the coronavirus-affected Europe to the United States.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for EU sanctions against Turkey (citing Belarus as precedent) over Turkey's incursions into Greek maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean, including illegal drilling and the passage of the Oruç Reis, accompanied by a Turkish Navy ship, in Greek waters. Sanctions would require a unanimous decision of the EU Council of Ministers. While France and Austria fully backed Greece's position, Germany (which at the time held the rotating EU presidency) took a more ambiguous stance. Von der Leyen said that Turkey and Belarus are "two different situations".
In April 2021, The New York Times reported that von der Leyen had exchanged electronic correspondence with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla negotiating terms of sale of the COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union. Emily O'Reilly, the European Ombudsman, accused von der Leyen of "maladministration" for failure to disclose that correspondence upon a FOI request, and for claiming that the messages had disappeared, and for further claiming that the vaccine line item of the EU's budget was confidential.
On 4 March 2025, Von der Leyen announced the EU's €800 billion ($840 billion) defence investment plan "ReArm Europe". She suggested that the European Union might need to ease its fiscal rules regarding national debt to facilitate increased defense spending by member states.
Von der Leyen also introduced the German Elternzeit, a paid parental leave scheme. Following Scandinavian models, the scheme reserves two additional months for fathers who go on parental leave as well (Vätermonate in German). This part of the law, in particular, attracted protest from some German conservatives. Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa accused von der Leyen of turning women into "birthing machines". Meanwhile, Bavarian colleagues from von der Leyen's sister party, the CSU, complained that men did not need a "diaper-changing internship". Von der Leyen successfully influenced public opinion of her reforms with a 3-million-euro PR campaign, which was criticised for using public funds for political advocacy and for employing embedded marketing techniques.
In 2013, von der Leyen unsuccessfully campaigned for a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany, requiring company boards to be at least 20% female by 2018, rising to 40% by 2023.
In October 2023, 841 EU staff signed a letter to von der Leyen criticising her stance on the conflict. It stated the commission was giving "a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip" and warned that the EU was "losing all credibility and the position as a fair, equitable and humanist broker". In 2025 Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, suggested von der Leyen be charged for complicity in Israeli war crimes.
Social Network
Ursula von der Leyen maintains a professional presence on social media platforms, primarily through official channels like the European Commission's social media accounts. Her personal life and online presence are managed discreetly.
In early May 2024, a few days before the hearing in Liège was supposed to take place, Baldan's lawyer, Diane Protat, visited the EPPO's offices in Brussels and Luxembourg to request a copy of its case file, but was she told that there was no such file and security was called on her. A few days later, it was reported that Hungary and Poland had joined the lawsuit. By the end of the month, the plaintiff asked "the European People's Party to withdraw the candidacy of Ms von der Leyen for the post of President of the European Commission" as well as "prohibiting anyone from presenting the candidature of Mrs von der Leyen to the post of President of the European Commission or any other post within the European institutions as long as she is the subject of criminal proceedings".
These actions brought her the nickname "Zensursula", a portmanteau word blending the German word for censorship ("Zensur") and her given name ("Ursula"). The combination of a sensitive topic like child pornography and internet censorship is said to have caused a rising interest in the Pirate Party.
Education
Ursula von der Leyen holds a degree in economics from the University of Hannover and later earned a medical degree from the Hannover Medical School. Her educational background in economics and medicine has contributed to her comprehensive approach to policy-making.
In summary, Ursula von der Leyen is a pivotal figure in European politics, known for her dedication to public service and her role as a trailblazer for women in leadership positions. Her net worth and salary reflect her position as a prominent political figure, while her personal life remains modest and family-oriented.
From 1998 to 2002, she taught at the Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research at the Hanover Medical School. In 2001 she earned a Master of Public Health degree at the institution.
In 2015, researchers collaborating at the VroniPlag Wiki reviewed von der Leyen's 1991 doctoral dissertation and alleged that 43.5% of the thesis pages contained plagiarism and in 23 cases citations were used that did not verify claims for which they were given. Multiple notable German academics such as and publicly accused von der Leyen of intended plagiarism. The Hannover Medical School conducted an investigation and concluded in March 2016 that while the thesis contains plagiarism, no intention to deceive could be proven.
The university decided not to revoke von der Leyen's medical degree. Critics questioned the independence of the commission that reviewed the thesis as von der Leyen personally knew its director from joint work for an alumni association. Various media outlets also criticised the decision for being non-transparent, not according to established rules, and failing to secure high academic standards.
In June 2014, von der Leyen introduced a €100 million plan to make the Bundeswehr more attractive to recruits, including by offering crèches for soldiers' children, limiting postings to match school term dates, and considerable rises in hardship allowances for difficult postings.
As part of her efforts to be elected President of the EU Commission, von der Leyen made remarks in favour of EU parliamentarians being given the right to initiate legislation, but reversed course shortly after assuming office.
In July 2009, she referred to the problems of struggling against paedophile pornography on the internet as the responsible persons often use servers located in Africa or India, where, she said, "child pornography is legal". This claim was based on a 2006 study by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. As child pornography is illegal in India, and the country has stricter rules about all pornography than Germany, she later expressed regret for citing an inaccurate study.
Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue of human rights in China during their visit to China in April 2023, amid growing international criticism of China's repression of ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and civil society activists. They expressed their concerns over the situation in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has detained an estimated one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in re-education camps, subjected them to forced labour, surveillance, and abuse. They also urged China to respect the autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong.
When the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favour of tax equality for same-sex couples in 2013, von der Leyen came forward in support of equal adoption rights, arguing, "I know of no study that says that children growing up in same-sex partnerships fare any differently than children who grow up in heterosexual marriages or partnerships." In June 2017, von der Leyen voted against her parliamentary group's majority and in favour of Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.
* Ursula von der Leyen, C-reaktives Protein als diagnostischer Parameter zur Erfassung eines Amnioninfektionssyndroms bei vorzeitigem Blasensprung und therapeutischem Entspannungsbad in der Geburtsvorbereitung, doctoral dissertation, Hannover Medical School, 1990
