There are now nearly 7 times as many female billionaires as there were 20 years ago

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last updated 15 December 2015

In 1995, the world had only 22 female billionaires. Twenty years later, that number has increased nearly sevenfold. There are now 145 women among the world's 1,347 billionaires, a new study released Tuesday reveals. Most of that growth can be attributed to female entrepreneurs in Asia, whose numbers have increased from just three in 1995 to 25, thanks to Asia's "fast-growing young economies," The Guardian reports.

While women still have a long way to go before they catch up to the number of male billionaires in the world — 1,202 — their pace is pushing them in the right direction. The study discovered that women are outpacing men at becoming billionaires, growing by a factor of 6.6 in the last 20 years compared to men's growth rate of 5.2.

Overall though, men and women billionaires alike are faring pretty well. In the last two decades, the wealth of the world's billionaires has grown nearly eight fold, jumping from $700 billion to $5.4 trillion. The world's GDP, on the other hand, has increased just 2.5 times.