Christians hold largest percentage of global wealth: Report

Christians account for the overwhelming majority of wealth held worldwide, followed by Muslims and Hindus, says a report. A significant percentage of wealth (USD 67,832 billion, accounting for 34.8 per cent) is held by individuals with no religion or those who believe in other religion.

In terms of the number of High Net Worth Individuals (those with net assets of USD 1 million or more) by religion, Christians dominate, followed by Muslims and then Hindus, according to the report by New World Wealth.

It said the total wealth held by Christians stood at USD 107,280 billion, which account for over 55 per cent of worldwide wealth, followed by Muslims at the second place with wealth of USD 11,335 billion (5.8 per cent) and Hindu (USD 6,505 billion, 3.3 per cent). Meanwhile, the total wealth held by Jewish religion stood at USD 2,079 billion (1.1 per cent). There are 7,384,680 Christian HNWIs constituting 56.2 per cent of total HNWIs, followed by Muslims - 8,854,100 (6.5 per cent), Hindus - (512,460; 3.9 per cent) and Jews - (223,380; 1.7 per cent).

As many as 4,165,380 HNWIs have either no religion or belong to "other" religion. "The bulk of the HNWIs classified under 'other' live in China and Japan. Notable numbers also living in the US, Europe, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong," the report said.

The report further noted that seven out of the top 10 wealthiest countries in the world (ranked by number of HNWIs) are Christian dominated. They include: USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, France and Australia. Exceptions to this being China, Japan and India.

Total wealth held by individuals worldwide amounts to USD 195 trillion and around USD 66 trillion of this is held by HNWIs. New World Wealth provides information on the global wealth sector, with a special focus on Africa and the Middle East.