Christianity still top but numbers falling

The 2021 census revealed on Tuesday that 43.9 per cent of Australians identify as Christian, with Catholic being the largest denomination, followed by Anglican.

However the number of people reporting they were Christian in the national survey has fallen, dropping from 61.1 per cent in 2011 and 52.1 per cent in 2016.

Some other religions are growing. Hinduism was listed by 2.7 per cent of census respondents and Islam grew to 3.2 per cent.

An increasing number of people are also reporting they are not religious, with the 2021 census showing 38.9 per cent have no religious affiliation.

That figure has increased from 22.3 per cent in 2011 and 30.1 per cent in 2016.

Questions on religion are one of the few voluntary questions in the census, however 93 per cent of respondents still gave an answer.

Since the 2016 census, more than one million migrants arrived in Australia. More than 80 per cent of them arrived before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

While more than 850,000 migrants arrived in 2017, 2018 and 2019, 165,000 came to Australia in the subsequent pandemic-impacted period.

COVID-19 restrictions also led to a more than 80 per cent decrease in the number of overseas visitors in Australia at the time of the census.

There were 315,000 international visitors in 2016, but in 2021, that figure was 61,860.

Australian statistician David Gruen said the data provided from the census came during the height of pandemic restrictions.

"The census was conducted at an unprecedented time in Australia's history, and provides a unique snapshot of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Australian Associated Press