The 2021 census found that 38.9% of Australian-born Australians claim no religion. In 2011 adults aged 18–34 were more than twice as likely as those in 1976 to have no religion (29% compared with 12%). The highest proportion of people who had no religion were young adults.
Almost 40 per cent (38.9 per cent) of Australia's population reported having no religion in the 2021 Census, an increase from 30 per cent (30.1 per cent) in 2016 and 22 per cent (22.3 per cent) in 2011. Other religions are growing but continue to make up a small proportion of the population.
Religion in Australia is diverse. In the 2021 national census, 43.9% of Australians identified with Christianity and 38.9% declared "no religion".
Majority believe in God
Not only does most of Australia identify with Christianity, but more than half (55%) of the population believes in God, as defined as the Creator of the universe, the Supreme Being.
According to the 2021 Australian Census, the Catholic population was 5,075,907 people, representing about 19.9% of the overall population of Australia.
Religious affiliation in 2021
Christianity (43.9%) No religion (38.9%) Islam (3.2%) Hinduism (2.7%)
For the first time, fewer than half of Australians identified as Christian, though Christianity remained the nation's most common religion (declared by 43.9 per cent of the population). Meanwhile, the number of Australians who said they had no religion rose to 38.9 per cent (from 30.1 per cent in 2016).
A 2023 Gallup International survey found that Sweden was the country with the highest percentage of citizens that stated they do not believe in God.
Hinduism is Australia's fastest growing religion. The diversity of modern Australia connects us to every part of the world, including South Asia.
Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, with a total of 43.9% of the nation-wide population identifying with a Christian denomination in the 2021 census. The first presence of Christianity in Australia coincided with the foundation of the first British colony at New South Wales in 1788.
There are various and interrelated sociological reasons for the decline in mainstream Christianity in Australia, including improvements in education and prosperity, along with internal institutional issues, such as the child abuse scandal, the role of women and issues of sexual ethics.
Australian Constitution
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.
The institutional separation of state and religion means Australia is also usually described as a secular country. This is largely based on section 116 of the Australian Constitution which, among other things, prohibits the federal government from establishing a state church or religion.
Australia is a secular country, with a high degree of religious freedom and religious diversity. Although the state and religious groups are maintained as separate entities, religious institutions continue to play a large role in Australian society.
According to sociologists Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera's review of numerous global studies on atheism, there are 450 to 500 million positive atheists and agnostics worldwide (7% of the world's population) with China alone accounting for 200 million of that demographic.
According to the Government of Japan, 69.0% of the population practises Shintō, 66.7% practise Buddhism, 1.5% practise Christianity and 6.2% practise other religions as of 2018. However, people tend to identify with no religion when asked about religious belief.
Statistics from censuses show that the proportion of the South Korean population self-identifying as Buddhist has grown from 2.6% in 1962 to 22.8% in 2005, while the proportion of Christians has grown from 5% in 1962 to 29.2% in 2005.
Sharia law is already operating in Australia
Sharia regulates the legal relationships many Australian Muslims enter into and out of, including marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance, as well as contractual and commercial dealings.
India. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in India. Growth rate of Muslims has been consistently higher than the growth rate of Hindus, ever since the census data of independent India has been available. For example, during the 1991–2001 decade, Muslim growth rate was 29.5% (vs 19.9% for Hindus).
Officially North Korea is an atheist state, however according to most recent estimates, some religions do exist. These are the Korean religions of Shamanism and Chondoism, as well as Christianity & Buddhism. The North Korean constitution officially guarantees freedom of religion but in reality this is not the case.
China. Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist state. According to World Population Review 2023, 91 per cent of the nation's population does not follow any religion.
In comparison, only 14% considered themselves to be religious. More recently, a 2015 Gallup poll found the number of convinced atheists in China to be 61%, with a further 29% saying that they are not religious compared to just 7% who are religious.
At the 2021 census, 1,390,637 Australian residents identified themselves as having Chinese ancestry, accounting for 5.5% of the total population.
Attendance at religious services
However, in 2021, around one in five Australians (21%) reported attending religious services frequently i.e., at least monthly. Among frequent attenders, 13% attended weekly or more often.
National surveys conducted in the early 21st century estimated that some 80% of the population of China, which is more than a billion people, practice some kind of Chinese folk religion; 13–16% are Buddhists; 10% are Taoist; 2.53% are Christians; and 0.83% are Muslims.