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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021

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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World

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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021

View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.

According to a recent census by Wealth-X, 11.9% of global billionaires are women. Even at such a minority share, this group still holds massive amounts of wealth.

Using a real-time list of billionaires from Forbes, we examine the net worth of the 50 richest women in the world and which country they’re from.

Where are the Worldโ€™s Richest Women?

The richest woman in the world, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family own 33% of stock in L’Orรฉal S.A., a French personal care brand. She is also the granddaughter of its founder.

In April 2019, L’Orรฉal and the Bettencourt Meyers family pledged $226 million (โ‚ฌ200 million) towards the repair of the Notre Dame cathedral after its devastating fire.

Following closely behind is Alice Walton of the Walmart empireโ€”also the worldโ€™s richest family. Together with her brothers, they own over 50% of the companyโ€™s shares. Thatโ€™s a pretty tidy sum, considering Walmart raked in $524 billion in revenues in their 2020 fiscal year.

Other family ties among the richest women in the world include Jacqueline Mars and her four granddaughters, heiresses to a slice of the Mars Inc. fortune in candy and pet foodโ€”and all of them make this list.

RankNameNet Worth ($B)Country
#1Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family$71.4๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
#2Alice Walton$68.0๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#3MacKenzie Scott$54.9๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#4Julia Koch & family$44.9๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#5Yang Huiyan & family$31.4๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#6Jacqueline Mars$28.9๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#7Susanne Klatten$25.8๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Germany
#8Zhong Huijuan$23.5๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#9Laurene Powell Jobs & family$22.1๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#10Iris Fontbona & family$21.0๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Chile
#11Zhou Qunfei & family$18.6๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Hong Kong
#12Fan Hongwei & family$17.9๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#13Gina Rinehart$17.4๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Australia
#14Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken & family$17.1๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Netherlands
#15Wu Yajun$16.3๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#16Abigail Johnson$15.0๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#17Kirsten Rausing$13.5๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden
#18Kwong Siu-hing$13.0๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Hong Kong
#19Lu Zhongfang$12.7๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#20Wang Laichun$12.7๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#21Cheng Xue$10.8๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#22Massimiliana Landini Aleotti & family$10.6๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Italy
#23Denise Coates$9.9๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง United Kingdom
#24Lam Wai Ying$9.1๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Hong Kong
#25Ann Walton Kroenke$9.1๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#26Savitri Jindal & family$8.7๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ India
#27Nancy Walton Laurie$8.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#28Blair Parry-Okeden$8.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#29Diane Hendricks$8.0๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#30Christy Walton$7.8๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#31Zhao Yan$7.8๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#32Zeng Fangqin$7.6๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#33Magdalena Martullo-Blocher$7.5๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland
#34Rahel Blocher$7.4๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland
#35Marie-Hรฉlรจne Habert$7.2๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
#36Pamela Mars$7.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#37Victoria Mars$7.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#38Valerie Mars$7.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#39Marijke Mars$7.2๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#40Sandra Ortega Mera$7.1๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Spain
#41Antonia Ax:son Johnson & family$7.0๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden
#42Sofie Kirk Kristiansen$6.9๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark
#43Agnete Kirk Thinggaard$6.9๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark
#44Li Haiyan$6.7๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#45Ronda Stryker$6.6๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#46Marie Besnier Beauvalot$6.3๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
#47Zheng Shuliang & family$6.2๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#48Meg Whitman$5.8๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
#49Chan Laiwa & family$5.8๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China
#50Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala & family$5.8๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ Mexico

All data as of January 15, 2021 (9AM PST)

MacKenzie Scott, ranked #3 on the list, was heavily involved in the early days of turning Amazon into an e-commerce behemoth. She was involved in areas from bookkeeping and accounts to negotiating the company’s first freight contract. Her high-profile divorce from Jeff Bezos captured the headlines, notably because she gained control over 4% of Amazonโ€™s outstanding shares.

The total value of these shares? An eye-watering $38.3 billionโ€”propelling her to the status of one of Americaโ€™s richest people.

However, MacKenzie Scott has more altruistic ventures in mind for this wealth. In 2020, she gave away $5.8 billion towards causes such as climate change and racial equality in just four months, and is a signatory on the Giving Pledge.

[Scottโ€™s near $6 billion donation has] to be one of the biggest annual distributions by a living individual.

โ€”Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Looking towards the East, Yang Huiyan became the richest woman in Asia after inheriting 70% of shares in the property development company Country Garden Holdings. The company went public in 2007, raising $1.6 billion in its IPOโ€”an amount comparable to Googleโ€™s IPO in 2004.

To aid frontline health workers during the pandemic, Country Garden Holdings set up robotic, automated buffet stations to safely serve medical staff in Wuhan, China.

Giving Generously

While the 50 richest women in the world have certainly made progress, the overall tier of billionaires is still very much a boysโ€™ club. One thing that also factors into this could be the way this wealth is spent.

As many female billionaires inherited their wealth, a large share are more inclined to contribute to charitable causes where they can use their money to make an impact. What percentage of billionaires by gender have contributed at least $1 million in donations over the past five years?

Made $1mm in donations over last 5 years (%)

Source of wealth๐Ÿ‘ฉ Female philanthropists๐Ÿ‘จ Male philanthropists
Inherited68%5%
Inherited/Self-made20%28%
Self-made12%67%

Source: Wealth-X

Meanwhile, male billionaires are more likely to donate to charity if they built the wealth themselvesโ€”and many companies that fall into this category certainly stepped up during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.

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Agriculture

Visualizing the World’s Flower Bouquet Export Market

This graphic highlights global flower bouquet sales in 2021 and how a few countries dominate the entire flower export market.

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Flower Bouquet Exports 2021 Shareable

Visualizing the World’s Flower Bouquet Export Market

For many, flower bouquets are the go-to gift choice when congratulating a colleague, visiting an ailing relative, or simply showing love and kindness to partners and friends.

And the global popularity of these carefully-arranged and vividly-colored bundles has led to the creation of a billion-dollar flower bouquet market. And demand for beautiful bouquets has kept growing, with global flower bouquet exports in 2021 reaching $11 billionโ€”which is a 30.2% rise since 2017.

Louis Lugas Wicaksono uses data from Worldโ€™s Top Exports to highlight the spread of this industry. In this image, he shows the flower bouquet exports across different countries in 2021.

Countries Trading the Most Flower Bouquets

Far at the top of the list and best known for their tulips, the Netherlands dominated the flower bouquet export industry in 2021.

RankCountryContinentFlower Bouquet Exports (2021 USD)
1๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ NetherlandsEurope$5.7B
2๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด ColombiaAmerica$1.7B
3๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ EcuadorAmerica$927.3M
4๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ช KenyaAfrica$725.5M
5๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡น EthiopiaAfrica$254.5M
6๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช BelgiumEurope$150.0M
7๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น ItalyEurope$140.9M
8๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ ChinaAsia$124.6M
9๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ MalaysiaAsia$90.5M
10๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaAmerica$82.0M
11๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ IsraelAsia$77.5M
12๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ South AfricaAfrica$70.4M
13๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ SpainEurope$69.6M
14๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช GermanyEurope$65.8M
15๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท TurkeyAsia$59.4M
๐ŸŒŽ Rest of the world$735.2M

The small European nation exported $5.7 billion worth of bouquets in 2021, accounting for over half of global flower bouquet trade. This dominance comes from centuries of being the world’s largest producer of flowers and being a floral trade hub due to its advantageous location and connections with other growers, suppliers, and wholesalers.

Colombia and Ecuador fall next on this list with their exports totaling $1.7 billion and $927 million, respectively. Roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums are heavily exported from these South American nations.

On the other side of the Atlantic, cut rose flower exports were the leading drivers for Kenya and Ethiopia, earning these African nations $725 million and $254 million respectively.

Together, these five nations contributed to 85% of the worldโ€™s flower bouquet trade in 2021.

Post-Pandemic Strategies

Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the flower bouquet export industry remained resilient. However, this was not an easy feat.

Many florists embraced new strategies like online sales and free home deliveries, and exporters dealt with global shipping slowdowns. Some countries including Columbia and Kenya focused on producing flowers with longer shelf lives that could be shipped further away.

As we continue to drift away from the pandemic and global trade eases up, we can expect this industry to blossom further.

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