Zakat and Human Development: An Empirical Analysis on Poverty Alleviation in Indonesia

Along with the trend of development in the world, objectives of improving the welfare become no longer merely from looking at the indicator of economic development, but also include human development. Meanwhile, Zakat is now becoming important and significant instruments in efforts to improve the welfare of the poor in Indonesia’s contemporary. Departing from the above conditions, this study aims to look at the impact of productive-based Zakat effectiveness in improving the welfare of Zakat recipient (mustahiq). Indicator of welfare is not only measured by the economic indicator, but it is also including education and health which are summarized in the Human Development Index ( HDI ). HDI value is then compared with the average value of regional and national level, and tested whether Zakat affect the value of HDI and its components. The Result of the estimation of HDI in mustahiq shows that the average value reached 69.43. This value is however still below the current average HDI of Ja