Though society and gossip columns track them like Hollywood starlets, these women distinguish themselves by exhibiting the tenacity and risk-taking that makes their parents the most powerful people on Earth. Not all are success stories--it may take a lifetime for these women to match their parents' legacies.

Forbes editors--our very own "wealth experts"--compiled the list. Under 40 and hailing from around the world, the heiresses are ranked according to their father's or mother's most recent net worth on either Forbes' World's Billionaires list, the Forbes 400 list of the Richest Americans or Forbes Asia's 40 Richest Indians.