Three Hundred Thousand People Have Escaped Poverty Thanks to Zakat Funds

JAKARTA — The National Zakat Agency (Baznas) released data on national zakat management showing that 302,994 people have been lifted out of poverty, of which 113,134 come from the extremely poor. The figure accounts for 5.84 percent of the total national poverty alleviation in the same year. Of the total achievement, Baznas RI directly contributed to lifting 18,035 people out of poverty and achieved a score of 0.57, placing it in the ‘stable’ category on the Indeks Zakat Nasional (IZN) version 3.0.

‘Through the Indeks Zakat Nasional, we not only measure the distribution of zakat, infak, and sedekah funds, but also the system we have and its measurable impact. Each rupiah of muzaki funds must be accounted for in a Shariah-compliant, professional manner, and must bring about real social and economic change,’ said the head of Baznas RI in the Planning, Research, and Development of Zakat division, Zainulbahar Noor, in a statement from Jakarta on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.

Zainulbahar emphasised that the IZN plays a role in explaining accurately and simply to the public the role and tangible impact of zakat in improving people’s welfare. He hopes the IZN can become more widely known and serve as an important reference not only within Baznas but also among the government, academics, and other institutions. Zainulbahar believes the IZN could be considered in shaping the national Islamic economic development index.