China and India are the two largest and fastest growing developing economies in the
world. However, rapid economic growth has been accompanied by rising income
inequality and social discontent, especially among different religious and ethnic
groups. Both countries have many similarities in economic development and the
pattern of income inequality, but few comparative studies have been found in the
literature about the welfare of their religious and ethnic minorities. This paper aims
to fill this literature gap. It concludes that poverty and economic inequality is closely
related with religion and ethnicity in both countries. In particular, poverty and
inequality are two important factors responsible for social unrests in India’s states of
Jammu and Kashmir, and China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where the Muslims
minority accounts for a large share of local population.