Richest woman in the world: Alice Walton leads at $134.5 billion, with no woman in the top 10

Alice Walton, the Walmart heiress, is the richest woman in the world, worth $134.5 billion (about ₹12.6 lakh crore) on Forbes’ real-time list on 11 November 2026. She ranks 14th among all billionaires, and no woman is in the world’s top 10. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers of L’Oréal is second among women at $104.9 billion, and Julia Koch is third at $84.6 billion. 12

Who is the richest woman in the world?

Alice Walton, 76, is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. She inherited her fortune and, unlike her brothers Rob Walton and Jim Walton, chose not to serve on Walmart’s board, Vanguard News reported. Forbes valued her at $134 billion on its World’s Billionaires list on 1 March 2026, $118 billion on the September Forbes 400 and $134.5 billion in real time on 11 November, as her Walmart shares rose and fell. 23

Top 10 richest women in the world

Rank	Name	Net worth	Country	Source of wealth
1	Alice Walton	$134.5 billion	United States	Walmart
2	Françoise Bettencourt Meyers and family	$104.9 billion	France	L’Oréal
3	Julia Koch and family	$84.6 billion	United States	Koch, Inc.
4	Jacqueline Mars	$50.3 billion	United States	Mars, Inc.
5	Rafaela Aponte-Diamant	$43.9 billion	Switzerland	Mediterranean Shipping Company
6	Iris Fontbona and family	$43.3 billion	Chile	Antofagasta mining
7	Abigail Johnson	$41.6 billion	United States	Fidelity Investments
8	Savitri Jindal and family	$41.2 billion	India	Jindal Group (steel)
9	Marilyn Simons and family	$36.6 billion	United States	Renaissance Technologies
10	Melinda French Gates	$34.6 billion	United States	Microsoft

The figures are Forbes’ real-time estimates on 11 November 2026, as compiled by Imagine If, and they move with share prices every day. For the next ten names, see our list of the wealthiest women in the world. 3

Who is the richest self-made woman?

Only one of the top 10 built her fortune rather than inheriting it: Rafaela Aponte-Diamant, who co-founded Mediterranean Shipping Company with her husband Gianluigi Aponte and is worth $43.9 billion. In the United States the richest self-made woman is Diane Hendricks, co-founder of ABC Supply, at $21.7 billion on Forbes’ June 2026 list, with Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei second at $15.5 billion. 3

Who is the richest woman in India?

Savitri Jindal and her family, who head the Jindal Group, are worth about $41.2 billion, roughly ₹3.9 lakh crore at ₹94 to the dollar. That makes her the eighth-richest woman in the world and the richest in India; see her Savitri Jindal profile. 13

Why is no woman in the top 10?

The ten richest people are all men, from Elon Musk at $902.2 billion to Amancio Ortega at $151.6 billion, on Forbes’ real-time list on 12 November. The ten richest women are worth about $615.5 billion together, so Musk alone is worth nearly one and a half times as much. Forbes counted 481 women among 3,428 billionaires on its 2026 list, about 14%, as covered in our guide to women billionaires. 123

What happens next

Alice Walton’s lead is wide, with more than $29 billion between her and Bettencourt Meyers, so the title depends mostly on Walmart’s share price. Rankings change daily, and we update our lists as Forbes revises them. For the men’s side, see the richest man in the world and the full top 10 richest people in the world.

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