For the first time, more Australians adhere to no religion than to any other particular denomination, marking a seismic shift in how many of us put our faith in a higher power.
According to the just-released data from the infamous 2016 Census, a massive 30.1% of respondents claimed not to subscribe to an organised religion. That’s a 7.8% increase since 2011.
It also means that No Religion has leapfrogged Catholicism on 22.6% as the single-most selected option.
That doesn’t mean the majority of us are godless, though. 52% of respondents claimed to follow a Christian faith, followed by followers of Islam on 2.8%, and Buddhism on 2.4%.
While Catholicism, Anglicanism and Presbyterianism continue to make strong showings, the hyphen-loving, coffee-avoiding Latter-Day Saints and Seventh-Day Adventists accounted for 0.4% and 0.3% of respondents, respectively.
Followers of the Oriental Orthodox faith are the 20th-most populous group, with 0.2% of Aussies subscribing to the faith.
You better believe young Aussies are still the most faithless in the nation, with 38.7% of those aged between 18 and 34 reporting that they go through life without religion. Unsurprisingly, that percentage dips to just 16.1% for those aged over 65.
Notably, the official ABS release includes not a single mention of Jedis. Make of that what you will.
If you want to have a geeze at the stats, you can do so right HERE.
Source: Australian Bureau Of Statistics.
Photo: Please Like Me / ABC.
