The Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2015 report released on Monday, Oct. 19, revealed that China is the biggest creator of self-made dollar billionaire women this year, led by Chinese touchscreen queen Zhou Qunfei with 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) in personal wealth.
The Shanghai Daily reported that as of Aug. 14, there are about 73 dollar billionaire women, with the list showing the women's ultra-wealth club had expanded almost 50 percent over last year's record.
According to Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun's chairman and chief researcher, 49 billionaire women, including eight in the top 10, live in China, whom he said "is setting the global benchmark for women in business."
The report said that by comparison, the U.S. ranks second with 15 living there, followed by the U.K. with three.
Zhou rose to first place worldwide after her company, Lens, a leading supplier for Apple and Samsung, went public on the ChiNext board.
The Hurun Richest Women in China 2015 list, which also includes rich heiresses, showed that Zhou replaced property queen Chen Lihua not only as the richest self-made woman in the world, but also the richest Chinese woman.
Chen now ranks second on both lists, with 49.5 billion yuan in assets, followed by Wu Yajun, a co-founder of Longfor Properties, with 27 billion yuan, and Yang Huiyan, a Country Garden heiress, with 40.5 billion yuan, next in line.
The report said that the biggest money source for rich women in China is real estate, with up to a quarter of them involved in the sector, although it declined by 3 percentage points from last year. Manufacturing comes second, rising in status by 4 percentage points to 15 percent, followed by finance and investments.
Two self-made dollar billionaires abroad have Chinese roots, making China's contribution to the world's richest women even bigger, the report added.
Chinese fast-food brand Panda Express owner Peggy Cherng was brought up in Hong Kong before she relocated to the United States and started Panda Express with her husband. Australian telecoms queen Vicky Teoh of TPG was born in Taiwan before she moved abroad and settled down in Australia where she started her company.
"Cherng and Teoh were born or brought up in China, suggesting that China has contributed to 70 percent of the world's most successful women today," Hoogewerf said in the report.