The Richest Woman in the World is Worth $38 Billion; Who is She? [See List]
The world's richest woman has already been identified and her net worth is a staggering $37.9 billion.
Wealth-X, "a leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm" according to in.com, has rolled out a list detailing the female billionaires in each of the regions of the world.
Topping the women billionaires list in North America and the overall list of wealthy women in 2014 is Christy Walton. Walton is "the wife of the late John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart," said in.com.
"After John's death in June 2005, she inherited his fortune(a portion of the Walmart empire) of US$18.2 billion. Today, after nine years, the estimated net worth of empire stands at $37.9 billion," adds the outlet.
More than $6 billion behind at $31.3 billion is Liliane Bettencourt of France, topping the list in Europe. Forbes said that the widowed 92-year-old "grew wealthier this year thanks to [L'Oreal]'s stock price, up 9% since 2013."
However, she no longer runs the French cosmetics brand, noted Forbes, as she suffers from dementia. She "was replaced on the company's board by her 25-year-old grandson Jean-Victor Meyers in February 2012," adds the outlet.
According to Wealth-X's list, Walton and Bettencourt are followed by Gina Reinhart. At $14.8 billion, Reinhart is the richest woman in the Pacific region. Mail Online said that the mining heiress hails from Australia.
Next up is "a three-way tie between Mexican sisters Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, and Johanna Slim Ayub," stated Mail Online. Each of the Slim sisters have a not-so-slim net worth of $6.3 billion and are the richest women in Latin America.
Also worth $6.3 billion and reigning in Asia is Yang Huiyan, "one of China's richest women and one of its youngest billionaires," noted Forbes in another report. She is reportedly the "vice chairman and a member of the board's governance committee" of real estate development firm, Country Garden.
The last two on the list are Shari Arison, the wealthiest woman in the Middle East at $4.2 billion and Folorunsho Alakija in Africa at $1.2 billion, according to Wealth-X's list.
The youngest woman in the rich list is Huiyan at 33 years old while the oldest is Bettencourt.
According to Market Watch, the number of men and women billionaires greatly differs.
"There were 2,039 male billionaires in 2014, accounting for 87.7% of the world's total billionaire wealth of $7.3 trillion, but only 286 female billionaires in 2014, accounting for a 12.3% share of global billionaire wealth," noted Market Watch.
In addition, "only one woman on the [Wealth-X] list is self-made," the report said.