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AustraliaCommunity profile

In Australia in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (19.6% of all people), while 38.7% of people had no religion and 6.9% did not answer the question on religion.

Australia's religion statistics provide an indicator of cultural identity and ethnicity when observed in conjunction with other key variables. Religion data reveal the major concentrations of religions as well as revealing the proportion of people with no religious affiliation. There are a number of reasons for different religious compositions across areas including the country of birth and ethnic background of the population, the age of the population (belief in religion is generally stronger, the older the population) and changes in values and belief systems.

Australia's religion statistics should be analysed in conjunction with other ethnicity statistics such as Country of Birth data and Language Spoken data to assist in identifying specific cultural and ethnic groups.

Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of individual religion groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's religion?'

Religion - Summary
Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Capital Cities %Number%Greater Capital Cities %2016 to 2021
Christian total11,149,64343.942.712,201,61352.149.7-1,051,970
Non Christian total2,539,54310.013.41,922,0288.211.1+617,515
Non-classifiable religious belief141,5710.60.5144,7800.60.6-3,209
No Religion/secular beliefs9,840,97638.737.37,001,29329.929.9+2,839,683
Not stated1,751,0536.96.12,132,1609.18.6-381,107
Total Population25,422,786100.0100.023,401,874100.0100.0+2,020,912
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Capital Cities %Number%Greater Capital Cities %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic4,994,18719.620.15,229,66722.322.6-235,480
Anglican2,496,2679.88.13,101,18813.311.0-604,921
Islam813,3953.24.5604,2442.63.6+209,151
Christian,nfd688,4432.72.8612,3652.62.7+76,078
Hinduism683,9952.73.7440,2981.92.6+243,697
Uniting Church673,2672.62.0870,1873.72.8-196,920
Buddhism615,8222.43.2563,6722.43.2+52,150
Presbyterian and Reformed414,8891.61.4526,6832.31.8-111,794
Greek Orthodox390,9611.52.1373,5941.62.2+17,367
Baptist347,3351.41.4345,1451.51.5+2,190
Show all (41 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Excludes religions with fewer than 10 adherents.

Dominant groups

Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Australia in 2021 compared to Greater Capital Cities shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 53.8% of the population nominated a religion, and 38.7% said they had no religion, compared with 56.1% and 37.3% respectively for Greater Capital Cities.

The largest single religion in Australia was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 19.6% of the population or 4,994,187 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Australia and Greater Capital Cities were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (9.8% compared to 8.1%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (3.2% compared to 4.5%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Australia between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-604,921 persons)
  • Hinduism (+243,697 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-235,480 persons)
  • Islam (+209,151 persons)

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