Religion | Australia | Community profile (2024)

FAQs

Religion | Australia | Community 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.

The 2021 census recorded over 100 different religious affiliations in Australia. Approximately 52.1% identified as Christian, constituting the largest religious category. The Catholic Church (20.0%) and Anglican Church (9.8%) were the two largest Christian denominations identified.

Religion. Although Australia is a predominantly Christian country with about 52% of all Australians identifying as Christian, there is no official state religion. People in Australia are free to practice any religion they choose, as long as they are not breaking the law.

Decline in Christian identity

Australian census data from 2021 revealed Christianity remained the most common religion in the country, but the religious identity had steadily declined since the 1980s.

Hinduism is the third largest religion in Australia consisting of more than 684,002 followers, making up 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census. Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration.

The 2021 census found that 38.9% of Australian-born Australians claim no religion.

The permanent presence of Catholicism in Australia came rather with the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. One-tenth of all the convicts who came to Australia on the First Fleet were Catholic, and at least half of them were born in Ireland.

According to the 2021 Australian Census, the Catholic population was 5,075,907 people, representing about 19.9% of the overall population of Australia. Between 2016 and 2021, the number of Catholics decreased, and the proportion of Catholics in the population also decreased.

Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.

Is Australia a democratic society? ›

Australia is a representative democracy where voters elect candidates to carry out the business of government on their behalf. All Australian citizens over the age of 18 must vote in elections.

The principle of state neutrality has coexisted in Australia with a strong secular tradition in politics in the sense that there is no official church and no expectation that what the Church or Church's might say would be translated into law.

Judaism is a minority religion in Australia. 99,956 Australians identified as Jewish in the 2021 census, which accounts for about 0.4% of the population. This is a 9.8% increase in numbers from the 2016 census.

While Christianity is currently the predominant religion in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States, the religion is declining in many of these areas, particularly in Western Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand.

For the first time in Australia's history, however, the proportion of Australians identifying with Christianity has dropped to below half (44% cf. 52% 2016). At the same time, Australians identifying with no-religion has been rising (from 30% in 2016 to 39% in 2021)1.

In 1971, Christians represented 86.2% of the Australian population. In 2021, Christians were down to 43.9% of the population. The 2021 Census also show that identification with other religions besides Christianity has grown from 3.5% in 1996 to 10% of the population in 2021.

The majority of schools in Australia are non-denominational government schools. Catholic schools are the next largest group, followed by Independent schools representing non-denominational or a range of religious faiths such as, Christian, Anglican, Uniting Church, and Seventh Day Adventist.

​​​English, as our national language, connects us together and is an important unifying element of Australian society. English language proficiency is a key contributor to better educational and employment outcomes and social participation levels.