Only 13.4% of the world’s billionaires are women — here are the richest

Women continue to be underrepresented among the world’s richest individuals, as evident in Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List 2025. According to the list only 406 of the 3,028 billionaires this year are women—just 13.4% of the total. While that's a small increase from 369 women (13.3%) in 2024, it highlights how progress is still needed to close the gender wealth gap.

Women still make up a small share of the world’s billionaires, but their numbers are gradually growing,” Forbes noted in its annual report.

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, L'Oréal heiress, holds a net worth of $81.6 billion in 2025, making her the second richest woman.AFP

At the top of the list is Alice Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, with a net worth of $101 billion, reclaiming the No. 1 spot from Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the L’Oréal heiress, whose net worth dropped to $81.6 billion amid falling share prices. The two have been trading the title of world’s richest woman for the past five years.

Most of the top 10 wealthiest women inherited their fortunes. This includes Julia Koch, who inherited a stake in Koch Industries after the death of her husband David Koch, and Jacqueline Mars, whose family owns the iconic Mars candy and pet food empire. Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman and matriarch of the Jindal steel empire, also remains among the top ranks.

Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, co-founder of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, is one of the world’s wealthiest self-made womenAFP

The highest-ranked self-made woman is Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, co-founder of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest shipping line. Her net worth is now estimated at $37.7 billion, placing her fifth on the list. She is one of just 113 self-made women billionaires globally, a category that also includes cultural powerhouses like Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift. Swift, in particular, saw a 45% surge in wealth this year thanks to the massive success of her Eras Tour, the highest-grossing music tour in history at an estimated $2 billion.

Melinda French Gates, philanthropist and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enters the top 10 richest women in 2025 with a net worth of $30.4 billion.AFP

Two names fell out of the top ten: Gina Rinehart, affected by declining iron ore prices, and MacKenzie Scott, who continues to give away large portions of her wealth to charity. Their spots were filled by Melinda French Gates, following an updated valuation of her divorce settlement with Bill Gates, and Marilyn Simons, the widow of hedge fund pioneer Jim Simons.

This year’s list also welcomed new female billionaires, including Martine Rothblatt, founder of United Therapeutics, and Tatiana Volodina, who owns Russian cosmetics retailer L’Etoile.