Girls rule, boys drool! The world’s female billionaire population has grown 560% over the past two decades, according to a new report.
A record 145 women around the world are now billionaires, compared to just 22 in 1995, finds a study by UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers. They’re largely building their wealth in real estate, industrial companies and health.
Eighty percent of the world’s female billionaires are in the U.S. and Europe, but most have inherited their riches. New wealth creation is increasingly shifting to Asia, where more than half of the women billionaires are first-generation entrepreneurs.
The number of male billionaires (1,202) is growing at a slower rate, but the global billionaires’ club is still largely dominated by men. They account for roughly 90% of the world’s billionaires.
Going forward, more women are expected to join the billionaire club, as “daughters [are] groomed to take an active role in leading the family and its business,” said the report.
Overall, the world’s wealthiest are getting richer much faster than the global economy. In the past two decades, billionaires’ wealth has increased eightfold to $5.4 trillion in 2014, while global GDP has tripled to over $77 trillion.
The report is based on PwC data on more than 1,300 billionaires around the globe, along with many interviews with the world’s elite.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the percentage increase in billionaires.