Business
Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021
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Mapped: The 50 Richest Women in the World in 2021
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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 Worldโs 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 (โฌ200 million) towards the repair of the Notre Dame cathedral after its devastating fire.
Following closely behind is Alice Walton of the Walmart empireโalso the worldโs richest family. Together with her brothers, they own over 50% of the companyโs shares. Thatโs a pretty tidy sum, considering Walmart raked in $524 billion in revenues in their 2020 fiscal year.
Other family ties among the richest women in the world include Jacqueline Mars and her four granddaughters, heiresses to a slice of the Mars Inc. fortune in candy and pet foodโand all of them make this list.
Rank | Name | Net Worth ($B) | Country |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family | $71.4 | ๐ซ๐ท France |
#2 | Alice Walton | $68.0 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#3 | MacKenzie Scott | $54.9 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#4 | Julia Koch & family | $44.9 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#5 | Yang Huiyan & family | $31.4 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#6 | Jacqueline Mars | $28.9 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#7 | Susanne Klatten | $25.8 | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany |
#8 | Zhong Huijuan | $23.5 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#9 | Laurene Powell Jobs & family | $22.1 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#10 | Iris Fontbona & family | $21.0 | ๐จ๐ฑ Chile |
#11 | Zhou Qunfei & family | $18.6 | ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong |
#12 | Fan Hongwei & family | $17.9 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#13 | Gina Rinehart | $17.4 | ๐ฆ๐บ Australia |
#14 | Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken & family | $17.1 | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands |
#15 | Wu Yajun | $16.3 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#16 | Abigail Johnson | $15.0 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#17 | Kirsten Rausing | $13.5 | ๐ธ๐ช Sweden |
#18 | Kwong Siu-hing | $13.0 | ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong |
#19 | Lu Zhongfang | $12.7 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#20 | Wang Laichun | $12.7 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#21 | Cheng Xue | $10.8 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#22 | Massimiliana Landini Aleotti & family | $10.6 | ๐ฎ๐น Italy |
#23 | Denise Coates | $9.9 | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom |
#24 | Lam Wai Ying | $9.1 | ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong |
#25 | Ann Walton Kroenke | $9.1 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#26 | Savitri Jindal & family | $8.7 | ๐ฎ๐ณ India |
#27 | Nancy Walton Laurie | $8.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#28 | Blair Parry-Okeden | $8.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#29 | Diane Hendricks | $8.0 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#30 | Christy Walton | $7.8 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#31 | Zhao Yan | $7.8 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#32 | Zeng Fangqin | $7.6 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#33 | Magdalena Martullo-Blocher | $7.5 | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
#34 | Rahel Blocher | $7.4 | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
#35 | Marie-Hรฉlรจne Habert | $7.2 | ๐ซ๐ท France |
#36 | Pamela Mars | $7.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#37 | Victoria Mars | $7.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#38 | Valerie Mars | $7.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#39 | Marijke Mars | $7.2 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#40 | Sandra Ortega Mera | $7.1 | ๐ช๐ธ Spain |
#41 | Antonia Ax:son Johnson & family | $7.0 | ๐ธ๐ช Sweden |
#42 | Sofie Kirk Kristiansen | $6.9 | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark |
#43 | Agnete Kirk Thinggaard | $6.9 | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark |
#44 | Li Haiyan | $6.7 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#45 | Ronda Stryker | $6.6 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#46 | Marie Besnier Beauvalot | $6.3 | ๐ซ๐ท France |
#47 | Zheng Shuliang & family | $6.2 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#48 | Meg Whitman | $5.8 | ๐บ๐ธ United States |
#49 | Chan Laiwa & family | $5.8 | ๐จ๐ณ China |
#50 | Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala & family | $5.8 | ๐ฒ๐ฝ 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 Amazonโs outstanding shares.
The total value of these shares? An eye-watering $38.3 billionโpropelling her to the status of one of Americaโs 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.
[Scottโs near $6 billion donation has] to be one of the biggest annual distributions by a living individual.
โMelissa 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 IPOโan amount comparable to Googleโs 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 wealth | ๐ฉ Female philanthropists | ๐จ Male philanthropists |
---|---|---|
Inherited | 68% | 5% |
Inherited/Self-made | 20% | 28% |
Self-made | 12% | 67% |
Source: Wealth-X
Meanwhile, male billionaires are more likely to donate to charity if they built the wealth themselvesโand many companies that fall into this category certainly stepped up during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.
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.

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 billionโwhich is a 30.2% rise since 2017.
Louis Lugas Wicaksono uses data from Worldโs 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.
Rank | Country | Continent | Flower Bouquet Exports (2021 USD) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | Europe | $5.7B |
2 | ๐จ๐ด Colombia | America | $1.7B |
3 | ๐ช๐จ Ecuador | America | $927.3M |
4 | ๐ฐ๐ช Kenya | Africa | $725.5M |
5 | ๐ช๐น Ethiopia | Africa | $254.5M |
6 | ๐ง๐ช Belgium | Europe | $150.0M |
7 | ๐ฎ๐น Italy | Europe | $140.9M |
8 | ๐จ๐ณ China | Asia | $124.6M |
9 | ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia | Asia | $90.5M |
10 | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | America | $82.0M |
11 | ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | Asia | $77.5M |
12 | ๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa | Africa | $70.4M |
13 | ๐ช๐ธ Spain | Europe | $69.6M |
14 | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | Europe | $65.8M |
15 | ๐น๐ท Turkey | Asia | $59.4M |
๐ 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 worldโs 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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