The Role That Religion Plays in Poverty

Most people alive today — and indeed most people alive throughout known history — subscribe to some form of religion. However, levels of adherence vary. This ranges from essentially secular with a religious label when asked, to downright extremism.

It has been noted by the existing data on the matter that the more religious a state is, the more poor and uneducated it is as opposed to a secular state. An example is Ethiopia. 98% of people in Ethiopia consider religion to be a very important part of their lives. Ethiopia also has one of the lowest GDP per capita on Earth. To preface this article, I am not proposing religion is the only factor in these countries in causing poverty, but the correlation is undeniable and thus is likely part of the problem.

This is a correlative trend that exists in all religious countries aside from the United States where high percentages of the population live in urban areas which tend to be more secular. An example of the contrary of the Ethiopian example is Germany; only 21% of German inhabitants view religion as highly important and Germany has one of the highest GDP per capitas on Earth.