Wealth and religion
[Image:Religion economy.png|thumb|350px|The average annual income of countries correlates negatively with national levels of religiosity.]
The correlation between wealth and religion has been subject to academic research. Wealth is the status of being the beneficiary or proprietor of a large accumulation of capital and economic power. Religion is a socio-cultural system that often involves belief in supernatural forces and may intend to provide a moral system or a meaning to life.
Statistics
Global
According to a study from 2015, Catholics hold the largest amount of wealth, followed by Muslims, Hindus, and Jews. 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.United States
A study in the United States, conducted by the sociologist Lisa A. Keister and published in the Social Forces journal, found that adherents of Judaism and Episcopalianism accumulated the most wealth, believers in Catholicism and mainline Protestants 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. Keister suggested that wealth accumulation is shaped by family processes. According to the study, the median net worth of people believing in Judaism is calculated at US$150,890, while the median net worth of conservative Protestants was US$26,200. The overall median in the dataset was US$48,200.Some of the wealthiest and most affluent American families such as the Vanderbilts, Astors, Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Roosevelts, Forbes, Fords, Mellons, Whitneys, Morgans, and Harrimans are white primarily mainline Protestant families.
Another study in the United States, from 2012, stated that 48% of Hindus had a household income of $100,000 or more, and 70% make at least $75,000, which is the highest among all religions in United States.
[Image:US household wealth by education.png|thumb|350px|Pew Research states that wealth differences between religions "largely mirror the differences in educational attainment."]
Pew Research Center reported in 2015 that Hindus, Jews, atheists, and agnostics were relatively wealthy compared to other religious demographics. The report stated that these differences "across religious traditions largely mirror the differences in educational attainment."
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 by Hindu, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. 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." Amongst Jews, in 2016, Modern Orthodox Jews had a median household income of $158,000, while Open Orthodoxy Jews had a median household income of $185,000. According to the same study there is correlation between education and income, about 77% of American Hindus have an undergraduate degree followed by Jews, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians.