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The correlation betweenwealth and religion has been subject to academic research.Wealth is the status of being the beneficiary or proprietor of a large accumulation ofcapital andeconomic power.Religion is asocio-cultural system that often involves belief insupernatural forces and may intend to provide a moral system or a meaning to life.
According to a study from 2015,Catholics hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed byMuslims (5.8%),Hindus (3.3%), andJews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification "Irreligion", or other religions, hold about 34.8% of the total global wealth.[2][3]
| How income varies among U.S. religious groups (2014) | |
|---|---|
 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/10/11/how-income-varies-among-u-s-religious-groups/ |
A study in theUnited States (based on data from 1985 to 1998), conducted by the sociologist Lisa A. Keister and published in theSocial Forces journal, found that adherents ofJudaism andEpiscopalianism[4] accumulated the most wealth, believers inCatholicism and mainlineProtestants were in the middle, while conservative Protestants accumulated the least; in general, people who attend religious services accumulated more wealth than those who do not (taking into account variations of education and other factors).[5] Keister suggested that wealth accumulation is shaped byfamily processes.[6] According to the study, the mediannet worth of people believing inJudaism is calculated at US$150,890, while the median net worth of conservativeProtestants (includingBaptists,Seventh-day Adventists,Christian Scientists) was US$26,200. The overall median in the dataset was US$48,200.
Some of thewealthiest and most affluent American families such as theVanderbilts,Astors,Rockefellers,[7]Du Ponts,Roosevelts,Forbes,Fords,[7]Mellons,[7]Whitneys,Morgans, and Harrimans are white primarilymainline Protestant families.[8]
Another study in the United States, from 2012, stated that 48% ofHindus had ahousehold income of $100,000 or more, and 70% make at least $75,000, which is the highest among all religions in United States.[9]
Pew Research Center reported in 2015 that Hindus, Jews,atheists, andagnostics were relatively wealthy compared to other religious demographics. The report stated that these differences "across religious traditions largely mirror the differences in educational attainment."[10]
According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, Jewish again ranked as the most financially successful religious group in the United States, with 44% of Jews living in households with incomes of at least $100,000, followed byHindu (36%),Episcopalians (35%), andPresbyterians (32%).[11] In a 2016 report about their study, Pew Research stated "members of some religious groups – not to mention atheists and agnostics – on average have a higher household income than others and those in the richest religious groups also tend, on average, to be better educated than most Americans."[11] Amongst Jews, in 2016,Modern Orthodox Jews had a median household income of $158,000, whileOpen Orthodoxy Jews had a median household income of $185,000 (compared to the American median household income of $59,000 in 2016).[12] According to the same study there is correlation between education and income, about 77% of American Hindus have anundergraduate degree followed by Jews (59%), Episcopalians (56%), and Presbyterians (47%).[13]
A study published in theAmerican Journal of Sociology by Lisa Keister, found that "wealth affects religion indirectly through educational attainment, fertility, and female labor force participation" but also found some evidence of direct effects of religion on wealth attainment.[14] Keister notes that certain religious beliefs ("one should have many children", "women should not work") lower wealth accumulation, both on the micro- and macro-scale.[14][15]
The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees.
