In the 2021 Australian Census, 9,886,957 people (or 38.9% of the population) ticked “no religion.”
The population selecting no religious affiliation grew from roughly 7 million people in 2016 to nearly 9.9 million people in 2021.
Australians identifying as “no religion” rose to 38.9% from 30.1% at the 2016 census and 22.3% in 2011 – an increase of 16.6% in a decade.
The data indicates a massive, multi-generational shift away from Christianity in Australia.
For the first time in Australian Census history, the 2021 results revealed that fewer than half of all Australians (43.9%) identify as Christian, a steep drop from 52.1% in 2016 and 61.1% in 2011.
Fifty years ago, in 1971, that figure was 86.2%.
The implications of this are massive, especially when growing populations who practice expansionist, proselytizing religions such as Islam are filling the void.
We can fully expect to see the Muslim population reach 1.2 million and 4.3% of Australia’s population in this year’s census.
It has been roughly doubling every decade, and Shady Alsuleiman, president of the Australian National Imams Council, has been rejoicing at the trend.
“We as a Muslim community, right now, according to the pattern and the trend, we double every 11-12 years,” he said on a podcast in 2025.
“We need to be a part of the decision making,” he said.
“Halal, for example, hijab, for example, masajid [mosques], for example. We need to plan for the next 50-100 years.”
Conversely, Sydney Catholic Schools’ manager and Network Catholic Identity, Dr. Robert Haddad, said overall the religious affiliation numbers for the 2021 Census make very “disturbing reading.”
He said the huge increase in the number of those describing themselves as “no religion” evidences that we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of upcoming “millennials.”
“For the second census in a row, the number of Catholics has fallen both as a raw number and as a percentage of the Australian population,” he said.
“Unless something dramatic is done, we Catholics and Christians in general, run the risk of becoming an aging and shrinking minority in our own country, putting at further risk our religious freedoms. However, we must resist any temptation to fall back into the ‘bunkerm’ and redouble our efforts to evangelize the culture and emerging generations. We have to promote the faith in ways that are faithful, relevant and joyful all at the same time, which is not an easy task, but definitely a necessary one.”
So what will Australia’s 2026 Census reveal? At this point, the outcome seems painfully predictable.
A further shunning of the foundational pillar of Christianity sounds another death knell for Australia.
40 rounds says
Well certainly Islam will fill that vacuum, to the detriment of civilization and human morality. I blame much of this on how lame and irrelevant many churches have become.
Josh says
Good riddance to Christianity. It’s a weak, pathetic, religion that teaches people to have a slave mentality. It teaches people that self-defense is wrong, condemning all forms of violence, with garbage like “turn the other cheek”. It teaches people that warfare is wrong, contradicting the divinely sanctioned warrior Joshua. The Bible says that everyone, man, woman, child, young, old, tasted the edge of Joshua’s sword in the conquest of Canaan.
To have a second Joshua (the name Jesus comes to English through the Latin translation of the Greek, his name, properly Anglicized would be Josh or Joshua, depending on whether it was Yeshu or Yehoshua) come later and be a complete inversion of the Biblical archetype Conan the Barbarian-esque Joshua, teaching people open borders and absolute pacifism.
It is the slave religion of Christianity that cannot possibly allow people to defend themselves against Islamism.
Most of the people who post in the comment section are self styled Christians, so I’m sure they won’t like to hear this. However, far moreso than humanists and atheists, the ideology of Christianity has turned the West into a wasteland.
Wellington says
I am not a Christian. In fact, I am not religious at all but this doesn’t make me anti-religious. As another skeptic, one Benjamin Franklin, said, if man is bad with religion, imagine what he’d be without it. The history of the past century bitterly proves Franklin’s point. Of course, there are exceptions to this Franklinian rule, such as the extinct Aztec religion which had human sacrifice and cannibalism, Satanism, which is for total losers, and most important, Islam, which is the one major religion which is also a totalitarian ideology as Bertrand Russell noted a century ago in his work, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism.
As for Christianity, yes there is a pacifist element that resides in it as partially testified to by the rise of so many pacifist sects like the Quakers and the Amish, but through the ages there has also been a very muscular Christianity which has condoned “just war” and is dispositive of the fact that Christianity is not a suicide pact. In fact, the irony here in light of what you averred is that many have accused the Christian world of having been too violence prone as exampled by the Crusades, the Spanish conquest of the New World, etc.
Personally, I bemoan the decent of Christianity in the West. It is not a harbinger of good things to come. A vigorous Christian West, sure in the correctness of the Christian faith, especially as seen from my perspective as a solid ethical guide to life, is a total positive. BTW, some of what you wrote about Christianity being a slave religion, et al. sounded exactly like what Hitler said about Christianity but let’s not forget that it was two very powerful overwhelmingly Christian nations, America and Britain, which were keenly instrumental in overthrowing Hitler’s regime. Perhaps you should reconsider things.
somehistory says
I didn’t *hear* your nonsense and lies, but they are not unexpected.
Nearly 2 thousand years ago, the Apostle Peter wrote that people like you would come around telling lies and mocking Christians.
Just as Jesus warned about the persecutions which would come upon His disciples because of hatred for Him, the hatred and persecution of Christians is fully manifest today.
Wellington says
Josh has missed something else, somehistory. For going on two thousand years, Christianity has been the major religion of the greatest and most productive civilization of all time, Western Civilization. Is this a mere coincidence? Was this accomplished by the West in spite of Christianity? I vote no on both these queries. There is a greatness that lies within Christianity that should never be discounted. The Founding Fathers of America certainly did not.
somehistory says
Thank you, Wellington.
I believe that all who bash Christianity, Christians, Jesus Christ, are closing their eyes and minds to a great history; and to a value that would be lost if they got their wish that it disappear..
Westman says
You might think that the weakening of organized Christianity somehow removes its softer attitudes in society but actually it increases them into a disorganized mess of humanism which often degrades to communism where all are forced into behaviors to supposedly bring about an earthly nirvana – which it never does.
Australians will not likely Christian principles of behavior toward each other at the personal interaction level although they are becoming less interactive, not needing the churches to create their social lives and much business is now impersonally conducted on line. However they will become far more liberal than is healthy for society.
Look at Russia, once Communist, now back to Christianity by choice. The Overton Window moved back to what once worked after Communism collapsed. Those of us who live long enough will see a similar revival of Austrailian Christianity when circumstances change.
Life is not regimented with Christianity while it is highly regimented under Islam. These are the two divisions of religion, choice or submission. The first has propelled humanity forward while the second has been a source of blood and terror.
Westman says
Austrailians will not likely abandon Christian…
tgusa says
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Normandy_American_Cemetery.png
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/JGF2D6/cambridge-american-cemetery-and-memorial-coton-england-uk-JGF2D6.jpg
Approximately 1.1 to 1.34 million Americans have died in wars from our founding in 1776 through today 2026. That is a very good record.
Americans care for our own first. Yes we put ourselves first, so what. We Americans are getting tired of the bullshit that is going on in certain countries.all over the West. Do not force us in to a Pearl Harbor moment because whoever they are wont like the USA Christian response.
We didn’t have to do it but we did.
roger says
I know it sounds very unlikely, considering the generally gormless nature of the jibby-jabbed brainwashed Australian population, but regarding irrational and fear-based superstition, they could be getting smarter.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Maybe embrace the native religion(s) of the Aborigines, whatever it is. There is no reason it would have to be islam
Or even Atheism, Deism or Agnosticism would be good
somehistory says
Snowballs gain in size when rolled down a snowy hill.
One can only expect things like the murders on Bondi Beach to increase with the number of muzzlims.in the country.
Like the U.K. and France….look out Australia. Bad things are coming to you. Hide your young girls….or teach them to fight and fight hard.
‘shady”…an appropriate name for a thug, as in ‘shady character.’
Big Dude says
Who cares anymore?’
But i’m sad for the soon-to-be-groomed girls of Australia.
And i really don’t think it’s so bad to wear a hijab or burqa.
My cynicism comes from being Jewish and watching Australia turn anti-Jewish
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I know that England and Britain had a sordid history w/ Jews. First England, under Edward I, expelled all Jews, when they were still a Catholic nation, and then reversed after they turned Protestant. So their history w/ Jews is complicated, to say in the very least
But I wonder what it was in their 3 major outposts – Australia, Canada and New Zealand? Do any of those countries have a history of antisemitism? Of course, talking about after they were colonized by the Brits, not asking about the Inuit or the Aborigines or the Maoris
tgusa says
Islam is the second-largest religion in Australia and that was in 2021. Put a shrimp on the barbie and celebrate Aussies!
More than one threat says
Christianity in the West, including Australia, has been under sustained attack by the Leftist and Muslim alliance for many decades.
Leftist concepts like social justice, liberation theory, feminism, DEI, and wokeism, have all played a part in the decline in Christianity.
The prevalence of paedophilia by Christian clergy and laity also destroyed the credibility of Christian institutions.
And allowing Muslim immigration into Western countries, especially by the Left (who perceived a future voting constituency), allowed for an increased Muslim demographic.
But there is a backlash emerging in Australia.
The Bondi Beach massacre of Jews by two Muslims in December 2025 caused many to say “enough is enough”.
Political Parties, such as the One Nation Party, who want to tackle the Muslim problem, are increasing in the polls.
Australia is unlikely to return to past levels of Christianity any time soon. But there is no certainty it will become more Islamic either.
tgusa says
The decline of Christianity in the West is mostly attributed the organized Christianity and their embrace of leftist concepts like social justice, liberation theory, feminism, DEI, and wokeism. Organized Christianity is the cowards choice of spirituality. Christians do not require nor need organization. The only thing Christians need is a Bible. Only the Bible even if they are completely alone on a desert island.
somehistory says
There was a Christian imprisoned in china for over two decades. He had no Bible, but wrote on his walls Scriptures he could recall and talked to himself as if speaking with other people. When finally released, he carried his faith along with him.
tgusa says
To Christians it is a book called the Bible. However, if i was not a Christian and I was stranded on a desert isle I cant think of a book that I could read over and over again, for years or more, without getting bored.
tgusa says
The primary difference between the Christian Bible and the islamic koran very simply is… the Bible makes you think while the koran tells you how to think.
somehistory says
I have read the entire Bible several times (you can’t really hurry through it) and some of the verses many, many times.
It’s the one book that I can always find some things written which I seem to never have read…even though I know I have…and learn something new.
As you say, reading other books multiple times is a boring chore.
Tim gallagher says
I would say that Australia, where i live, is not much different to other western societies and this is the post Christian era. I am a Christian and still attend a Catholic church but I have thought that I should become an Anglican since I strongly oppose the obligatory celibacy for priests and I support having women priests as well. I looked a few things up. In Australia only 8 to 12 percent of Catholics go to mass every week in Australia. People aren’t buying a lot of the old bullshit anymore. 50 per cent never go to confession. For the Anglican church, around 5 percent go to a service every week in Australia. In the UK it is 2 per cent
On the pacifism in Christianity, these days it is there but not for me. Christians, including my father, went war and beat the shit out of the Nazis and Japanese. I think we should wake up and have another crusade against evil islam. In Australia the highest number of migrants are from India these days. No doubt many Muslims but I’d say Hinduism will be a growing creed out here
dumbledoresarmy says
The challenge is this: in every generation Christianity – because it is a personal choice – can end.
Because you cannot *force* your children to believe. You cannot force them to practise. Once they become adults, gain jobs, leave home, you cannot drag them to church against their will. You can present the faith to them, but you cannot *make* them believe it. In the end, it is about them and God, not them and you.
You can teach them when they are children; you can attempt to set an example; you can pray; but .. they may still choose to leave. And whereas a Muslim will kill or disown one who leaves, Christians do not.. because (parable of the prodigal son) there is always the hope that the one who walked away, will return. (There were Christians, in the medieval and renaissance past, who sought to compel belief; but they should not have done so; they were going against the example of Christ himself).
I am one of eight children, born into a Christian household: a very devout mother, a father who doubted but did not reject the faith.
Four chose to actively practise Christianity into their adult lives.
Four .. did not.
All we can do, we who believe, in these darkening times, is to go on steadfastly praying for all those in our lives – siblings, children, neighbours – who have turned their backs on God.