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 (S$48.4 billion), according to a Wealth-X list of the wealthiest women in each region released.
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.
Collectively, the women on the Wealth-X list control US$114.6 billion of personal wealth.
The oldest female billionaire on the list is Ms Bettencourt at 92, while the youngest is 33-year-old Yang Huiyan, whose father, Yang Guoquiang, transferred 70 per cent of his shares in Country Garden Group, a Chinese real estate development firm, to her before its 2007 IPO.
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.
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Richest women in each region:
North America
Christy Walton - US$37.9 billion
Europe
Liliane Bettencourt - US$31.3 billion
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands
Gina Reinhart - US$14.8 billion
Latin America
Vanessa Paola Slim Hajj, Maria Soumaya Slim de Romero, Johanna Monique Slim Ayub - US$6.3 billion each
Asia
Yang Huiyan - US$6.3 billion
Middle East
Shari Arison - US$4.2 billion
Africa
Folorunsho Alakija - US$1.2 billion
The recently published Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014 shows that there are 286 female billionaires, accounting for 12.3 per cent of the total global billionaire population of 2,325. The average age of female billionaires is 61 years old. The female billionaire population controls 12.8 per cent of the world's total billionaire wealth of US$7.3 trillion.