Written by Michael Fisher
The concept of a billionaire is relatively modern, yet individuals with extraordinary wealth have long influenced the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. And, according to Forbes magazine’s real-time list of the world’s wealthiest people for 2025, there are more female billionaires than ever before.
Still, women are barely 13.5% of the entire list. So, is the progress in closing the gender wealth gap significant, or do the systemic barriers to wealth-building persist for women in 2025?
The team at TradingPedia set out to unmask the global female billionaire elite and break down the statistics behind their fortunes. By compiling and analysing real-time data from Forbes, we have focused on the wealth gender gap and the countries that give women the best opportunities for education, entrepreneurship, and doing business, as well as those that give women access to venture capital and wealth-building networks.
When we looked at the Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List on April 15 of this year, we discovered 390 women with a wealth of $1 billion or more worldwide. Roughly 31%, or 120, of them are based in the United States, while the most common source of their wealth is real estate.
Global Overview
Following a few weeks of bearish markets and an April shock after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, the number of billionaires has shrunk a bit. In March, Forbes counted 3,028 billionaires based on their publicly available holdings in companies, real estate, and other assets. As of April 15, 2025, the number of these wealthy individuals dropped to 2,889, an insignificant percentage of the global population at first glance.
Female Billionaires Around The World
These people, however, are believed to own over one-third of the global wealth. Known as “status quo members”, billionaires exert control over all facets of daily life – they own the companies and mega corporations, they own the banks and the media; through their ownership, they control the economy and can influence governments.
As of April 2025, the total wealth owned by billionaires reaches roughly $15.28 trillion, with $2.26 trillion of this massive amount owned by the top 15 individuals who have $100 billion or more (the so-called centibillionaires). These 15 ultra-wealthy men (after Alice Walton’s net worth dropped below $100 billion, this elite club has only men) are now worth more than the bottom 1,400 billionaires combined.
While the United States is home to 30% of all billionaires around the world, those based in the U.S. own 42.5% of the total billionaire wealth.
Billionaires In 2025 Breakdown By Gender
Calculations show that 86.5% of all billionaires are men, with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg being the current top three richest people in the entire world, with a combined net worth of $753.2 billion. In comparison, 13.5% (or 390) of all billionaires are women.
The top ten richest female billionaires hold $477.7 billion or 24% of the total female billionaire net worth. Seven of them come from the United States, with the rest being from France, Switzerland, and India. The wealthiest women operate in a plethora of industries, from beauty to investments, consumer goods, and shipping, among others.
- At the very top of the chart, making her the wealthiest current female billionaire in the world, is Alice Walton, a philanthropist and only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Her net worth is estimated at $99.3 billion.
Female Billionaires Around The World
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