Most common religions in 2021 Census
But as Christianity declines, the number of Australians who follow other faiths including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism are on the rise.
Religious affiliation in 2021
Christianity (43.9%) No religion (38.9%) Islam (3.2%) Hinduism (2.7%)
Modern growth. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. In 1990, 1.1 billion people were Muslims, while in 2010, 1.6 billion people were Muslims.
The 2021 Census shows that nearly 10 million Australians indicated they had no religion; the data also shows a reduction of over a million Christians since the 2016 Census. These statistics highlight an increasing rate of decline in Christianity and a trend that has continued since the 1960s.
Other religions are growing but continue to make up a small proportion of the population. Hinduism has grown by 55.3 per cent to 684,002 people, or 2.7 per cent of the population. Islam has grown to 813,392 people, which is 3.2 per cent of the Australian population.
Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 … The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
77% of new converts to Islam are from Christianity, whereas 19% were from non-religion.
As Professor Riaz Hassan and his team at the Hawke's International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding expertly identify, Muslims currently constitute 2.2% of the Australian population, and it is estimated there will be almost one million more Muslims in Australia by 2050.
Australia is a secular country with a diverse migrant population and over 120 faiths, yet Australia has traditionally been a majority Christian country.
Today Russian Orthodoxy is the country's largest religious denomination, representing more than half of all adherents.
Hinduism had the most significant growth between 2006 and 2016, driven by immigration from South Asia. The growing percentage of Australia's population reporting no religion has been a trend for decades, and is accelerating.
The number of Buddhists around the world is expected to increase between 2010 and 2030, rising from 488 million to about 511 million. However, the global Buddhist population is projected to decline after 2030, falling to 486 million by 2050, roughly where it was in 2010.
Buddhism is the fourth-largest religion in the world, and after Christianity is the second-largest religion in Australia. It has become one of Australia's fastest growing religions especially over the past thirty years due to migration from Buddhist countries and an increasing numbers of western converts.
Of the world's major religions, Christianity is the largest, with more than two billion followers. Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is approximately 2,000 years old.
Christianity. The world's largest religion, Christianity, is practiced by about 2.4 billion people.
Beginning in the early nineteenth century, Protestant missionaries attracted small but influential followings, and independent Chinese churches were also established. It is estimated that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China.
The young median age and high fertility rate of Muslims relative to other religious groups are significant factors behind Islam's population growth.
However, due to this small initial population base, immigration from Muslim majority countries has made Islam the fastest growing religion in the country in terms of percentage increase, with its followers growing by 110%, from 110,000 in 2010 to 230,000 at the end of 2019, out of the total population of Japan of ...
Church attendance has rebounded recently but remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels. A 2021 Gallup poll revealed another grim number for Christians: church membership in the US has fallen below 50% for the first time.
According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Muslims in Australia, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of the total Australian population.
Chinese Buddhism and Folk Religions
China has the world's largest Buddhist population, with an estimated 185–250 million practitioners, according to Freedom House. Though Buddhism originated in India, it has a long history and tradition in China and today is the country's largest institutionalized religion.
According to NORC of Chicago, 20.6% of Australians don't believe in God and never have, while 9.7% are "strong atheists".