Meet The Richest Women In The World

The richest women in the world - all of whom are billionaires - have been announced. Wealth-X listed the extremely wealthy women in a Wednesday release. Wealth-X is the world’s leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm with the largest collection of curated research on UHNW individuals, defined as those with net assets of US$30 million and above. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices on five continents.

Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria has an estimated net worth of $1.2billion    

The website determined the most affluent women by net worth in seven regions - North America, Europe, Pacific, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa - then ranked those women against one another.

Christy Walton, who inherited a portion of the Walmart fortune after her husband’s death in 2005, is the richest woman in North America and the world with an estimated net worth of US$37.9 billion.

Christy Walton has an estimated net worth of $37.9billion

Taking second place on the Wealth-X list is Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of the French cosmetic giant L’Oreal, whose personal fortune of US$31.3 billion earns her the title of richest woman in Europe.

Liliane Bettencourt  has an estimated net worth of $31.3billion 

Mining heiress Gina Reinhart of Australia took the title of most affluent woman in the Pacific, with an estimated net worth of $14.8billion, Wealth-X reported.

Mining heiress Gina Rinehart has an estimated net worth of $14.8billion

For Latin America, it was a three-way tie between Mexican sisters Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, and Johanna Slim Ayub, who are thought to possess a net worth of $6.3billion individually, the website found.

In the Middle East, Shari Arison of Israel has a reported net worth of $4.2billion

Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, right, is thought to be worth $6.3billion  - just like her two sisters     

Collectively, the women on the Wealth-X list control US$114.6 billion of personal wealth.

The oldest female billionaire on the list is Bettencourt at 92 years of age, while the youngest is 33-year-old Yang Huiyan, whose father Yang Guoquiang transferred 70% of his shares in Country Garden Group, a Chinese real estate development firm, to her before the its 2007 IPO.

Yang Huiyan, right, is thought to have a net worth of $6.3billion

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s three daughters – who, along with their brothers, have been on the receiving end of the asset transfer that Slim reportedly began in 2003 – emerged as the richest women in Latin America. Each of the three sisters is estimated to be worth US$6.3 billion.

In Africa, Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria has an estimated net worth of $1.2billion. Alakija is a businesswoman. She was born in 1951 to the family of Chief L. A. Ogbara in Ikorodu, Lagos State. She is a business tycoon involved in the fashion, oil and printing industries. She is the group managing director of The Rose of Sharon Group which consists of The Rose of Sharon Prints & Promotions Limited and Digital Reality Prints Limited and the executive vice-chairman of Famfa Oil Limited.

Folorunsho Alakija is World's richest black woman 

Alakija is ranked by Forbes as the richest woman in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion. As of 2014, she is listed as the 96th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.

Alakija has a foundation called the Rose of Sharon Foundation that helps widows and orphans by empowering them through scholarships and business grants.