Lee Hsien Loong was born on 10 February 1952.

He was educated in Nanyang Primary School, Catholic High School and National Junior College.

Awarded the President's Scholarship in 1970 and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Scholarship in 1971, Mr Lee studied at the University of  Cambridge, where he graduated in 1974 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science (with distinction).

In 1979, he became a Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, graduating in 1980 with a Master's degree in Public Administration.

Mr Lee joined the SAF in 1971. He held various staff and command posts, and attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, USA, in 1978. He was the first Director of the Joint Operations and Plans Directorate, and Chief of Staff of the General Staff, when he left the SAF in 1984 as a Brigadier-General to enter politics.

First elected Member of Parliament as a candidate of the People's Action Party (PAP) in 1984, he was re-elected in 1988, 1991, 1997 and 2001.

In 1986, Mr Lee was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the PAP. He was elected Second Assistant Secretary-General in 1989, and First Assistant Secretary-General in 1992. He took over as Secretary-General of the party in December 2004.

Mr Lee was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence in 1984. He was promoted to Acting Minister for Trade and Industry in 1986, and confirmed as full minister in 1987, when he became concurrently Second Minister for Defence.

In 1990, Mr Lee was appointed Deputy Prime Minister with responsibilities for economic and civil service matters. He also continued as Minister for Trade and Industry until 1992.

Mr Lee was concurrently appointed Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 1998, and Minister for Finance in 2001.

On 12 August 2004, Mr Lee succeeded Mr Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister. He remains the Minister for Finance but relinquished the chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

He was re-elected as one of six MPs for Ang Mo Kio GRC in the May 2006 General Election and re-appointed Prime Minister.

First married to Wong Ming Yang in 1978, Mr Lee was widowed in 1982. He remarried to Ho Ching in 1985. He has one daughter and three sons.

Mr Lee enjoys reading, walking, listening to classical music and tinkering with computers.

(Provided by the Embassy of Singapore)