Background Social determinants influence health and the development of tuberculosis (TB). However, a paucity of data is available considering the relationship of social determinants influencing therapy failure and multi drug resistance (MDR). We conducted a review investigating the relationship of common social determinants on therapy failure and MDR in people with TB. Methods PubMed and SCOPUS were searched without language restrictions until February 02, 2016 for studies reporting the association between socioeconomic factors (income, education and alcohol abuse) and therapy failure or MDR-TB. The association between social determinants and outcomes was explored by pooling data with a random effects model and calculating crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) ±95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Fifty studies with 407,555 participants with TB were included. Analysis demonstrated that low income (unadjusted OR = 2.00 (95% CI: 1.69–2.38; I2 = 88%; 33 studies, adjusted OR 1.77, p