ANGLICANS now constitute just under ten per cent of the Australian population, according to data from the 2021 Census, released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This represents a three-per-cent fall since the 2016 Census. In 1966, Anglicans represented 34 per cent, and the figure had fallen to 20.5 per cent in 2011.

The Anglican Church is the second largest Christian denomination after the Roman Catholic Church, which has fallen from 23 per cent to 20 per cent of the population.

The Census figures show that fewer than half the Australian population, 44 per cent, now identify as Christian; the figure was 52 per cent in 2016, and 61 per cent in 2011. A century earlier, in 1911, 96 per cent of the population said that they were Christian.

Thirty-nine per cent of Australians identified as non-religious — compared with 30 per cent in 2016 and 22 per cent in 2011.

The fastest-growing religions in Australia are Hinduism and Islam, although they still form only small proportions of the population. Almost three per cent follow Hinduism, while 3.2 per cent follow Islam.