It may be hard to believe, but women are still earning less on average than their male counterparts, with recent figures indicating a 16% global pay gap. Whether you are a budding female entrepreneur or want to be inspired by some girl power, our experts at Slingo wish to acknowledge all of the strong and successful women in business.
We have gathered data on the net worth of businesswomen worldwide to reveal the wealthiest females as of 2024. In addition, we will reveal the industries in which billionaire women dominate their male counterparts.
Who are the richest women in the world?
1. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (& Family) - $80.5bn (£62.8bn | €73.3bn) net worth
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is best known as the granddaughter of the founder of cosmetic giant L'Oréal. After the death of her mother back in 2017, she inherited the company's fortune, resulting in her becoming the wealthiest woman in the world, with an estimated net worth of more than $80 billion.
2. Julia Koch (& Family) - $59.0bn (£46.0bn | €53.7bn) net worth
Julia Koch is the second-richest woman in the world, boasting an estimated net worth of $59 billion. Named after the company's founder, Koch Industries deals with everything from paper manufacturing to oil refineries. It is currently one of the largest private companies in the world, and Julia Koch is one of their board members. She is also president of the David H. Koch Foundation, which has donated millions to support various health and art-related causes.
3. Alice Walton - $56.7bn (£44.2bn | €51.6bn) net worth
If you aren't familiar with the name Alice Walton, you have probably heard of the retail corporation Walmart, in which Walton is a heiress to its fortune. Over the years, the 73-year-old has amassed a net worth of almost $57 billion, making her the world's third-richest female.
Industries with the biggest average net worth for female billionaires
1. Fashion & Retail - $25.9bn (£20.2bn | €23.6bn) average female net worth
As revealed earlier, two-thirds of the top three wealthiest women have earned their fortune from fashion & retail businesses. With this in mind, it may come as no surprise that this industry is revealed as having the largest average net worth for female billionaires.
Some of the wealthy women in this category include businesswoman Sandra Ortega Mera, and co-founder of Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, Judy Love.
2. Gambling & Casinos - $20.9bn (£16.3bn | €19.0bn) average female net worth
The industry with the second-most considerable net worth for female billionaires, averaging $20.9bn, is the realm of gambling and casinos. The two females who have made a fortune in this industry are Miriam Adelson and Denise Coates, worth an estimated $35bn and $6.8bn, respectively.
3. Logistics - $20.5bn (£16.0bn | €18.7bn) average female net worth
Of all the individuals in the top 50 wealthiest women, only two are categorized in the logistics sector. However, it appears that these female billionaires are making a lot of money, evidenced by their average net worth of $20.5bn, which has earned the logistics sector the third-place entry on our list.
Countries with the highest average female billionaire net worth
1. France - $23.0bn (£17.9bn | €20.9bn) average female net worth
When taking the top 50 wealthiest women worldwide, France has the highest average net worth, totalling $23.0bn. Of the billionaires in this country, it is worth mentioning Marie Besnier Beauvalot, who has an individual net worth of more than $7bn at just 42 years of age. Her share in the dairy company Lactalis makes her the fifth richest woman in France and one of the youngest billionaires on our list.
2. United States - $16.0bn (£12.5bn | €14.6bn) average female net worth
According to recent data, the United States has more female billionaires than any other country on our list, including Julia Koch and Alice Walton, the second and third richest women in the world. However, when the average net worth of these women is considered, the United States has the second-highest figure.
3. India - $12.3bn (£9.6bn | €11.1bn) average female net worth
India is falling shy of the second spot, with an average female net worth of $12.3bn. Located in Asia, this country generates revenue in many sectors, from agriculture to biotechnology. Regarding female money-making in this country, Savitri Jindal is the most successful billionaire in India, and she has earned her fortune in the mining and metals industry.
In which industries are billionaire women outnumbering their male counterparts?
According to our research, the most populated industry for billionaire women is food & beverage, which has contributed to the wealth of nine of the wealthiest females worldwide. The energy and the metals & mining sectors are also dominated by rich women, with each industry accountable for the fortune of four affluent women, compared to just one male on our seeding list.
Of all the male and female billionaires on our list, only one woman carries the torch for the construction & engineering industry. Diane Hendricks is an American businesswoman who has made her worth as the chair of one of the largest wholesale distributors in the world, ABC Supply.
The construction and engineering industry is one of many instances where women have billionaires in the field, and there are no male equivalents. Gambling & casinos, and the healthcare sectors are entirely dominated by female figures when considering the world's top 50 wealthiest men and women.
Methodology
Our seed list was made using the top 50 figures on Forbes, for which all the data was available. We filtered this data by ‘WOMAN’ and ranked them from highest to lowest based on net worth. We removed any Russian figures from our ranking.
Using the above source, we found the following data for each billionaire: net worth, age, country/ territory, and industry. All figures were then converted to EUR and GBP on 15/1/2024 using Google Finance. This was then repeated for the top 50 male figures for comparison purposes.
The rankings of ‘industries with the biggest average female net worth’ and ‘countries with the highest average female net worth’ only included entries which had two or more female billionaires.
Using our female billionaire seed list, we determined the average net worth of each industry by adding together the net worth of all females in a sector and dividing this by the number of women in that sector. This calculation was repeated to find the average net worth for each country/ territory.
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