Research Note 27 1997-98

Census 96: Religion

Gerard Newman
Statistics Group
3 March 1998

Background

This Research Note is one of a series presenting results from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing held on 6 August 1996.

A question on religious affiliation has been included in each national Census conducted in Australia. The question is optional - the only optional question on the Census form.

In the 1996 Census, respondents were asked to mark one of the seven specified religions (Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Presbyterian, Greek Orthodox, Baptist, or Lutheran) or to specify a particular religion. Persons with no religion were asked to mark the no religion box.

Historical Trends

There have been significant changes in the reported religious adherence of Australians over the 25 years since the 1971 Census. Over the period Catholics have displaced Anglicans as the largest single religious denomination, although this has largely been due to the decline in Anglicans rather than an increase in Catholics. The proportion of Australians of Catholic religion has remained steady over the period (27.0% in 1971 and 26.8% in 1996) while the proportion of Anglicans has declined from 31.0% in 1971 to 21.8% in 1996.

The proportion of total Christian denominations has also declined over the 25 years, from 86.2% in 1971 to 70.3% in 1996, while the proportion of non-Christians has increased from 0.8% in 1971 to 3.4% in 1996. Over the period the number of non-Christians has increased by over 500% while the number of Christians has increased by 14.5%.

The proportion of Australians indicating no religion has increased over the period from 6.7% in 1971 to 16.5% in 1996, while the proportion not stating their religion has increased from 6.7% in 1971 to 8.7% in 1996.

1996 Findings

At the 1996 Census some 13.2 million Australians (73.8% of the population) indicated a religious belief of one form or another. By way of contrast 2.9 million people (16.5% of the population) indicated no religious adherence. Despite a significant increase in the non-Christian population, Australia remains a largely Christian country (70.3% of the population).

Religious adherence is more pronounced among females than males with over half a million more females than males indicating a religious belief. At the 1996 Census, 6.9 million females indicated a religious belief compared to 6.3 million males. Similarly more males than females indicated no religious adherence (1.6 million males and 1.3 million females).

The largest single religious denomination at the 1996 Census was Catholic with 4.8 million adherents (26.8% of the population). Other religions with a substantial number of adherents were Anglican (3.9 million, 21.8%), Uniting Church (1.3 million, 7.5%), Presbyterian and Reformed (676 000), Baptists (295 000), and Lutherans (250 000). The largest non-Christian religious denomination was Islam (201 000), followed by Buddhism (200 000), and Judaism (80 000).

The smallest religions separately identified at the 1996 Census were the Japanese religion-Tenrikyo with 46 adherents and the Faith Churches with 52 adherents. Other religions of interest were Druidism (554 adherents), Satanism (2091), and Wiccan/Witchcraft (1849).

The table on the reverse of this page provides detailed statistics on the religious adherence of Australians as reported in the 1996 Census.

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