Distribution of billionaires worldwide 2026, by gender

Distribution of billionaires around the world in 2026, by gender

Just 14 percent of the world billionaires are women in 2026. Of the 3,428 billionaires on the Forbes list, 481 are women and about 2,947 are men, so men make up about 86 percent of the total, though the share of women has been rising slowly. The gender distribution of the world billionaires is one of the clearest measures of how unevenly great wealth is shared between men and women, a gap that remains vast even as the number of women at the top slowly grows. On the 2026 Forbes list, 481 of the 3,428 billionaires are women, a record number, yet they still make up only about one in seven of the total, a ratio that has barely a decade of slow improvement behind it. The gap between men and women at the very top of the wealth distribution is far wider than in almost any other measure of economic life, a reminder that the accumulation of extreme fortunes has historically been, and largely remains, a male preserve.

The richest woman in the world is the Walmart heiress Alice Walton, worth about 134 billion dollars. The picture builds on our richest people in America and richest women in the world coverage.

A slow rise: the number of women billionaires rose from about 138 in 2013 to 481 in 2026, and their share from about 9 percent to 14 percent.

Most women billionaires inherited their fortunes, though a growing number are self-made, and the number of women on the list rose to 481 in 2026 from 406 a year earlier, themes our billionaires around the world and top billionaire countries coverage explores.

A note on the data. The figures show the distribution of billionaires around the world in 2026 by gender, from the Forbes World Billionaires list, with the number and share of men and women. The figures are the 2026 snapshot, and some breakdowns are estimates. Because the count is a point-in-time snapshot from the annual Forbes list, the exact numbers change from year to year, but the broad picture, of a heavily male billionaire population with a slowly rising female share, is stable and clear. The gender figures are drawn from the annual Forbes World Billionaires list, which identifies the sex of each billionaire, and the regional, country and industry breakdowns are estimates based on that list and on wealth-research data.

Billionaires by Gender

The table shows the number and share of men and women among the world billionaires in 2026. It shows men making up the great majority, at about 86 percent, with women at 14 percent, a share that has risen slowly over the years. Reading the figures shows the scale of the imbalance, with about 2,947 men against 481 women, a ratio of roughly six to one, even after years in which the number of women has grown faster than the number of men. Because the figures are a snapshot tied to the annual list, the exact numbers shift from year to year, but the fundamental pattern, of a heavily male billionaire population slowly admitting more women, is stable and well documented. The roughly six-to-one ratio of men to women among billionaires stands in sharp contrast to the near-equal split of the world adult population, a gap that captures the scale of the imbalance in access to extreme wealth.

What Share of Billionaires Are Women?

Women make up about 14 percent of the world billionaires in 2026, or 481 of the 3,428 on the Forbes list. Men make up the other 86 percent, about 2,947 people, a large imbalance that reflects the historical concentration of wealth and business among men. Among the richest people in the world, the gap is even wider, since the richest man in the world, and the richest person of all, is Elon Musk, while no woman ranks among the very top handful of the richest people in the world. The overwhelming male majority among billionaires reflects centuries of unequal access to business, capital, education and inheritance, imbalances that are only slowly beginning to narrow at the very top of the wealth distribution. The 481 women on the 2026 list, against about 2,947 men, mean that for every woman billionaire there are roughly six men, a ratio that has narrowed only slowly from about ten to one a decade earlier. Even as women have made enormous strides in education, the workforce and business leadership over recent decades, their representation among the very wealthiest people in the world has lagged far behind, changing only at a glacial pace.

The imbalance is one of the most striking features of the billionaire population, reflecting long-standing differences in access to business, capital and inheritance, a pattern our billionaires by region coverage frames.

Mostly men: men make up about 86 percent of the world 3,428 billionaires in 2026, about 2,947 people, while women make up 14 percent, or 481.

Although women remain a small minority of billionaires, their share has risen steadily, from about 9 percent in 2013 to 14 percent in 2026, as more women build or inherit great fortunes. Even so, the richest people in the world remain overwhelmingly male, and the title of richest woman in the world sits far below that of the richest man in the world. The rise from about 9 to 14 percent over thirteen years, while real, underlines how slowly the gender balance at the top of the wealth distribution is shifting, even in a period of rapid overall growth in the number of billionaires. Taken together, the split confirms that great wealth remains overwhelmingly concentrated among men, even as the slow rise in the share of women points to a gradual, generational shift in the composition of the billionaire class. Seen over the full sweep of the past decade, the rise of women from about 9 to 14 percent of billionaires represents real progress, even if it leaves the top of the wealth distribution far from anything resembling gender balance.

Is the Share of Women Rising?

The share of women among billionaires has risen slowly but steadily. It stood at about 9 percent in 2013, reached about 12 percent by 2020, and climbed to 14 percent in 2026, as the number of women on the list rose from 406 to 481 in a single year. The slow but steady rise in the share of women among billionaires is one of the more hopeful trends in the data, even if, at the current pace, true parity between men and women at the top of the wealth distribution remains generations away. The share of women rose from about 9 percent in 2013 to about 12 percent by 2020 and 14 percent in 2026, a rise of about 5 percentage points in thirteen years, or less than half a point a year on average. The trajectory of the female share, rising a few tenths of a percentage point most years, tells a story of slow but genuine change, driven by a mix of generational wealth transfer and a new wave of women building fortunes of their own.

The steady rise reflects both the growing number of women inheriting family fortunes and a smaller but faster-growing group of self-made women entrepreneurs, a shift our age distribution of billionaires coverage frames.

Rising slowly: the share of women among billionaires rose from about 9 percent in 2013 to 14 percent in 2026, less than half a point a year.

The 18 percent jump in the number of women billionaires between 2025 and 2026, from 406 to 481, was one of the largest yearly increases on record, though women still make up only about one in seven of the total. The record jump of 2026, adding 75 women to the list in a single year, was driven both by rising markets lifting existing fortunes over the billion-dollar mark and by a growing number of women building new businesses. Looking ahead, the share of women seems likely to keep rising slowly as more women inherit and build great fortunes, though at the current pace the billionaire population will remain majority male for decades to come. The pace of change, though real, remains slow enough that the gender balance among billionaires is unlikely to shift dramatically for many years, even if the recent acceleration in the number of self-made women continues.

Who Are the Richest Women?

The richest woman in the world is the Walmart heiress Alice Walton, worth about 134 billion dollars in 2026, the second year running she has held the top spot. She is followed by the French cosmetics heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers on about 100 billion. The list of the richest women is dominated by heirs to great family fortunes in retail, cosmetics and mining, a reflection of the fact that inheritance, rather than founding a company, remains the most common route to great wealth for women. Alice Walton about 134 billion dollars, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers about 100 billion and Julia Koch about 81 billion lead a list of the richest women dominated by heirs to retail, cosmetics and industrial fortunes. The women at the very top of the wealth rankings are, with rare exceptions, the heirs and widows of men who built great family businesses, a pattern that sets the female billionaire elite apart from its overwhelmingly self-made male counterpart.

Third is Julia Koch, on about 81 billion dollars, followed by the Chilean mining heir Iris Fontbona and the candy heir Jacqueline Mars, showing how the richest women are dominated by inherited fortunes, a pattern our leading billionaires coverage frames.

Led by Alice Walton: the richest woman is the Walmart heiress Alice Walton on about 134 billion dollars, ahead of Francoise Bettencourt Meyers on 100 billion.

The only self-made woman among the ten richest is the Swiss shipping magnate Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, on about 45 billion dollars, the richest of the 122 women who built their own fortunes rather than inheriting them. The dominance of inherited fortunes among the richest women, with only one self-made woman in the top ten, stands in sharp contrast to the men at the top of the list, most of whom built their own fortunes in technology. The presence of just one self-made woman among the ten richest, against a male top ten built almost entirely on self-made technology fortunes, is one of the clearest illustrations of the different routes men and women take to the very top.

Where Do Women Billionaires Live?

The United States is home to the most women billionaires, with about 122, followed by China with about 90 and Germany with about 35. Italy, the United Kingdom and India each have more than 15, reflecting where great family fortunes are concentrated. The geography of women billionaires closely follows that of billionaires as a whole, concentrated in the largest and wealthiest economies, above all the United States and China, where the most great fortunes are made and passed down. The United States about 122 women billionaires are more than the next two countries, China on about 85 and Germany on about 32, combined, reflecting the size of its economy and the many family fortunes passed down within it. The distribution of women billionaires across countries closely tracks the overall distribution of wealth, a reminder that the forces creating great female fortunes are the same as those creating great fortunes in general, concentrated in the largest economies.

The American lead reflects the size and wealth of its economy and the many family fortunes passed down to daughters and widows, a pattern our global stock markets by country coverage frames.

The US leads: the United States has about 122 women billionaires, ahead of China on about 90 and Germany on about 35.

China strong showing, with about 90 women billionaires, reflects the rapid creation of new fortunes as its economy has grown, including a number of self-made women, more than in most other countries. The strong showing of China, with more self-made women billionaires than most countries, points to a changing pattern in which more women are building rather than inheriting their fortunes, especially in the fast-growing economies of Asia. The relatively strong showing of self-made women in China, in particular, hints at how the pattern of female wealth may change in the decades ahead, as more women in fast-growing economies build rather than inherit their fortunes.

Women Billionaires by Region

By region, women billionaires are spread fairly evenly across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, each home to around 140 to 150, with far fewer in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. The regional spread of women billionaires reveals that great female wealth is a feature of the developed world, concentrated in the same regions that dominate the billionaire population as a whole rather than in any distinct pattern of its own. That women billionaires are found in roughly equal numbers across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America reflects the global reach of the family firms and new businesses that create great female fortunes, spread across the developed world.

The even spread across the three richest regions reflects the global nature of great wealth, with family fortunes and new businesses creating women billionaires across the developed world, a pattern our sources of billionaire wealth coverage frames.

Evenly spread: women billionaires are spread fairly evenly across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America, each home to around 140 to 150.

The small numbers of women billionaires in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa reflect both the smaller billionaire populations of those regions and the particular barriers women face in building and keeping great wealth there. The very small numbers of women billionaires in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America reflect both the smaller billionaire populations of those regions and the particular barriers women face there in building and keeping great wealth.

Self-Made or Inherited, by Gender

Women billionaires are far more likely than men to have inherited their wealth. About 53 percent of women billionaires inherited their fortunes and another 22 percent have a mix of inherited and self-made wealth, leaving only about 25 percent who are fully self-made. The stark difference between men and women in how they came by their wealth is one of the most revealing features of the gender distribution, pointing to the barriers women have long faced in building businesses from scratch. About 53 percent of women billionaires inherited their fortunes, 22 percent have a combination of inherited and self-made wealth, and only about 25 percent, some 122 women, built their fortunes entirely themselves. The contrast between the mostly inherited fortunes of women billionaires and the mostly self-made fortunes of men is perhaps the single most revealing statistic about gender and extreme wealth, pointing to how differently the two groups have arrived at the top.

Among men, by contrast, about 70 percent are self-made, a striking difference that reflects the historical barriers women have faced in building businesses from scratch, a pattern our Nasdaq stock market coverage frames.

Women inherit more: about 53 percent of women billionaires inherited their fortunes, against about 13 percent of men, of whom about 70 percent are self-made.

The share of self-made women is rising, with 122 self-made women billionaires in 2026, up from 113 a year earlier, as more women build their own fortunes in technology, finance and other industries. The steady rise in the number of self-made women, even as they remain a minority of women billionaires, points to a slow but real shift toward more women building their own fortunes rather than inheriting them. The gradual rise in the number and share of self-made women billionaires, though still a minority, is perhaps the most encouraging sign of change in the data, pointing to a slow shift in how women reach the top of the wealth distribution.

The Industries of Women Billionaires

Women billionaires are concentrated in fashion and retail, food and beverage, and manufacturing, industries with many long-established family firms. Fashion and retail alone account for around 90 women billionaires, more than any other industry. The concentration of women billionaires in consumer-facing industries reflects the long history of great family firms in retail, food and luxury goods, whose fortunes have often passed to daughters and widows over the generations. Fashion and retail account for around 90 women billionaires, food and beverage for around 55 and manufacturing for around 50, together making up more than half of all women billionaires. The industries in which women billionaires are concentrated, from fashion and retail to food and consumer goods, are those with the longest histories of great family firms, whose fortunes have often been shared with or passed to daughters and widows.

The concentration in consumer industries reflects the many family fortunes built in retail, food and luxury goods and passed down through the generations, a pattern our biggest companies by market value coverage frames.

Retail leads: fashion and retail account for around 90 women billionaires, more than any other industry, ahead of food and beverage and manufacturing.

Technology, which produces the largest fortunes among men, accounts for far fewer women billionaires, reflecting the small number of women who have founded or led the largest technology companies. The scarcity of women among technology billionaires, the group that dominates the very top of the male ranking, is one of the main reasons women are so underrepresented among the largest fortunes of all. The under-representation of women in technology, the industry that produces the largest and fastest-growing fortunes, helps explain why women remain so scarce among the very richest people, and why closing that gap will be so difficult.

How Much Wealth Do Women Hold?

Women hold a smaller share of billionaire wealth than their numbers alone would suggest. Although they make up 14 percent of billionaires, women hold only about 11 percent of total billionaire wealth, because their fortunes are on average smaller than those of men. The gap between the share of billionaires who are women and the share of wealth they hold is a subtle but telling measure of inequality within the billionaire class, showing that even among women billionaires, fortunes tend to be smaller. Women make up 14 percent of billionaires but hold only about 11 percent of billionaire wealth, a gap that reflects the smaller average size of their fortunes compared with those of the men at the very top. The wealth held by women billionaires, smaller as a share than their numbers, reflects the near-total absence of women from the ranks of the very largest fortunes, which are dominated by the self-made technology founders at the very top.

The gap between the share of women and the share of wealth reflects the concentration of the very largest fortunes, above all in technology, in the hands of men, a pattern our largest asset managers coverage frames.

Below their numbers: women hold about 11 percent of billionaire wealth, less than their 14 percent share of the headcount, as their fortunes are smaller.

The share of billionaire wealth held by women has risen slowly, from about 8 percent in 2015 to about 11 percent in 2026, broadly in line with the rising number of women on the list. The slow rise in the share of billionaire wealth held by women, broadly tracking their rising numbers, suggests that the gender wealth gap at the very top is narrowing only gradually, if at all. The slow convergence between the share of billionaires who are women and the share of wealth they hold, if it continues, would gradually erode one of the starkest gender gaps in the entire economy, though progress so far has been modest.

Women at the Top of the Pyramid

Women are underrepresented at the very top of the wealth pyramid. Only two women, Alice Walton and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, are worth more than 100 billion dollars, and just 11 are worth more than 50 billion, while most women billionaires are worth 1 to 5 billion. The near-absence of women from the very top of the wealth pyramid, with only two worth more than 100 billion dollars, is one of the starkest illustrations of how the largest fortunes remain almost entirely in the hands of men. Only two women, Alice Walton and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, are worth more than 100 billion dollars, and just 11 are worth more than 50 billion, out of 481 women billionaires in all.

The scarcity of women at the very top reflects the way the largest fortunes, above all the self-made technology fortunes, are held almost entirely by men, a concentration our crypto market coverage frames.

Few at the top: only two women are worth more than 100 billion dollars, and just 11 more than 50 billion, while most are worth 1 to 5 billion.

With about 230 women worth 1 to 2 billion dollars and only a handful worth more than 50 billion, the distribution of women billionaires is even more bottom-heavy than that of men, with fewer of the truly enormous fortunes. The bottom-heavy distribution of women billionaires, with most worth a few billion dollars and only a handful worth tens of billions, mirrors the distribution of billionaires as a whole but with even fewer of the very largest fortunes. Whether more women reach the very top will depend above all on whether more women found and lead the largest companies, the surest route to the enormous fortunes that dominate the top of the wealth distribution. The concentration of women billionaires in the lower net worth bands, with only a handful in the highest, mirrors and even exceeds the concentration seen among billionaires as a whole, underlining how few women have built the truly enormous fortunes.

Billionaires by Gender in Numbers

A few numbers capture the picture. Women make up 14 percent of the world billionaires in 2026, 481 of 3,428, the richest is Alice Walton on about 134 billion dollars, and about 122 women are self-made. These figures together map the gender distribution of the world billionaires, showing a population still overwhelmingly male but with a slowly rising share of women, most of whom inherited rather than built their fortunes. The overall picture is of a billionaire class that remains overwhelmingly male, in which women are slowly gaining ground, mostly through inheritance but increasingly through building their own businesses in a widening range of industries.

The figures matter because the gender distribution of billionaires reflects deep imbalances in access to wealth and business around the world, a picture our euro to dollar exchange rate coverage sets in the global context.

Together these figures show a billionaire population still dominated by men, at about 86 percent, but with a slowly rising share of women, most of whom inherited their fortunes while a growing number build their own. For now, the gender distribution of billionaires stands as a vivid measure of how unevenly the opportunity to build and keep extreme wealth has been shared, and of how slowly, if steadily, that imbalance is beginning to change.

Billionaires by Gender: The Big Picture

Taken together, the gender distribution of billionaires in 2026 maps a world of great wealth still overwhelmingly held by men, though the share of women is rising, a story our gold as an investment coverage sets against other assets.

Whether the share of women continues to rise will depend on how many build and keep great fortunes in the years ahead, but for now the billionaire population remains largely male, alongside the markets in our hedge fund assets and federal funds rate overviews.

Frequently Asked Questions: Billionaires by Gender