Working Paper

Zakat as Non-State Social Welfare Provision: Distributional Dynamics and Gender Equity in Pakistan

Working Paper 234

Zakat, an annual mandatory payment on productive wealth and one of the five pillars of Islam, represents the largest non-state welfare system in the world. Despite its significance as a redistributive mechanism, little is known about its actual distributional impacts. The decentralised nature of zakat distribution in many contexts raises critical questions about whether it overcomes or reinforces social and economic exclusions.

This paper examines the distributional dynamics of zakat in Pakistan, which provides a useful case for understanding non-state welfare provision in a Muslim-majority country with predominately decentralised, individualised zakat distribution. Drawing on a novel nationally representative survey of 7,500 Sunni Muslims and employing conjoint survey experiments, supplemented by qualitative data and data from over 118,000 recipients of the Punjab state zakat fund, we assess patterns of zakat distribution based on gender and ethnicity. Three main findings emerge. First, zakat is widespread and makes up a substantial part of social assistance in Pakistan, surpassing the scale of Pakistan’s largest state-run social protection programme. Second, despite being marginalised in Pakistan and less visible in public spaces, women make up an overwhelming majority of zakat recipients, suggesting that zakat payers are reacting to real inequalities and needs. Third, there is no conclusive evidence of systematic ethnic bias in decentralised zakat distribution. These findings highlight the need to understand zakat as a major redistributive institution and underscore its implications for state-based social welfare provision, development actors, and equity across Muslim-majority countries. They also demonstrate the significance of non-state social welfare for redistribution, suggesting the need for greater research on similar practices in other contexts.

 

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Authors

Max Gallien

Max Gallien is a Research Fellow at ICTD. His research specialises in the politics of informal and illegal economies, the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa and development politics. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics. Max co-leads the informality and taxation programme with Vanessa, as well as the ICTD’s capacity building programme.

Umair Javed

Dr. Umair Javed is an Assistant Professor at the Mushtaq Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He completed his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2018, where he was a recipient of the LSE Centennial PhD Studentship. His doctoral research focused on politics and practices of accumulation, and labour relations in Pakistan's informal economy, with a specific focus on the retail-wholesale (bazaar) sector. More broadly, his research interests span various aspects of political participation, socio-economic development, and urban public life in South Asia.

Vanessa van den Boogaard

Vanessa van den Boogaard is a Research Fellow at ICTD and a Senior Research Associate at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD thesis on informal revenue generation and statebuilding in Sierra Leone, and has ongoing research on the topic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Somalia. Vanessa co-leads ICTD's research programme on informality and tax.
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Publication Details

Publisher: Institute of Development Studies
Date: January 2026
Citation: Gallien, M.; Javed, U. and van den Boogaard, V. (2026) Zakat as Non-State Social Welfare Provision: Distributional Dynamics and Gender Equity in Pakistan, ICTD Working Paper 234, DOI: 10.19088/ICTD.2026.001
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