Female billionaires increase sevenfold in 20 years
The number of female billionaires worldwide has increased nearly sevenfold in the past 20 years to 145, and Asian entrepreneurs are driving this growth, according to a study.
The report, which builds upon UBS/PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Billionaires Report released in May 2015, found that women have outpaced men when it comes to membership of the billionaires’ club, with their ranks and wealth growing at faster rates, The Guardian reports. The number compares with only 22 in 1995.
Lists of the world’s wealthiest women have long featured the likes of Liliane Bettencourt, the 93-year-old L’Oréal heiress, and Christy and Alice Walton, members of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. family. But they are now increasingly featuring self-made billionaires from countries including China, Hong Kong and India.
However, this is a club still very much dominated by men over 60. There are 1,202 male billionaires, but their number has only grown by a factor of 5.2.
Read more in-depth findings from the report.