Last week the Asian Wealth Times reported that China had overtaken the US as the home to the most billionaires. A few days earlier we reported that the size of the middle class in China had also outstripped the US.
Now this week comes news via the Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2015 report that another threshold has been broken by China, which is now the biggest creator of self-made dollar billionaire women.
At the head of the list is Chinese touchscreen queen Zhou Qunfei with 50 billion yuan (US$7.8 billion) in personal wealth. Zhou was relatively unknown at this time last year however she shot up to first place worldwide after her company Lens, a leading supplier for Apple and Samsung, went public on the ChiNext board.
The Hurun report saw the women’s ultra wealth club expand at its fastest pace yet, up almost 50 percent over last year to include 73 dollar billionaires as of August 14.
Forty-nine, including eight in the top 10, live in China, a country that “is setting the global benchmark for women in business,” according to Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun’s chairman and chief researcher. By comparison, the US ranks second with 15 living there, followed by the UK with three.
Property development remains the biggest source of wealth for women in China, with up to a quarter of them involved in the sector though that is slightly down on last year.
