AUSTRALIAN FACTS AND FIGURES

Religions in Australia

The Australian Constitution states that . . .
Section 116 The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

Although Australia is considered a Christian country, there are a variety of religions that can be found here. The question about a person's religious affiliation has been asked on every census taken in Australia. Since 1933 the answer has been specifically stated as voluntary.

In 1971 the choice of "if no religion, write none" was introduced. As a result, there was a seven-fold increase over the previous census in people stating "none".

Religious Affiliations in Australia

	2006	2001	2006	2001
Total Christian	63.9%	68.0%	12,685,829	12,764,342
... Roman Catholic ... Anglican ... Uniting Church in Australia ... Presbyterian and Reformed ... Orthodox ... Baptist ... Lutheran ... Pentecostal ... Other Protestant ... Oriental Orthodox	25.8% 18.7% 5.7% 3.0% 2.7% 1.6% 1.3% 1.1% 3.7% 0.2%	26.6% 20.7% 6.7% 3.4% 2.8% 1.6% 1.3% 1.0% 3.6% 0.2%	5,126,884 3,718,250 1,135,423 596,668 544,162 316,740 251,108 219,689 736,004 40,901	5,001,624 3,881,162 1,248,674 637,530 529,444 309,205 250,365 194,592 675,422 36,324
Buddhist	2.1%	1.9%	418,753	357,813
Muslim	1.7%	1.5%	340,397	281,578
Hindu	0.7%	0.5%	148,123	95,473
Jewish	0.5%	0.5%	113,876	98,125
Other Religions	1.2%	0.5%	242,848	92,369
No Religion	18.7%	15.5%	3,706,556	2,905,993
Unknown	11.2%	11.6%	2,223,959	2,187,688
Total Population	100.0%	100.0%	19,855,293	18,769,249

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Census Dictionary defines "No Religion" as a category of religion which has sub categories such as agnosticism, atheism, Humanism and rationalism.

Note: This information is for entertainment purposes. We assume no liability resulting from any errors or omissions. Translation . . . we've done our best to bring you accurate information. For official facts and figures, please visit any of the many Australian government websites available such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics.