Poverty and Religious Affiliation Worldwide, 1970–2010

In this chapter, we provide a novel description of the religious composition of the poorest 20% of global society, around a billion citizens in the lowest part of the income distribution globally. The aim is to characterize a group of people with shared identity and sometimes political interests and behaviours that transcend national borders. Religions traditionally offer ways of coping with poverty, including offering meaning and hope for people in need. It could also steer financial wealth flows. The religious composition of a country or a region may also affect the level of social support and level of financial transfers, as welfare and social welfare systems can be organized through religious groups and indirectly affected by the degree of social welfare. Some religious groups have relatively large shares living in poverty. These religions may motivate different political behaviour if a large share of their compatriots is poor. For instance, this could motivate a stronger preference for transfers within the particular religions—but may also lower the ability to implement an effective, universal and sufficiently generous social security scheme as the economic burden would be too high on the rest of the community. We end the chapter by proposing poverty alleviating measures that take into account religious differences, and that may become thereby more effective.