Australia is basically a Christian country, although it has no official state religion.
The first part of that statement is based on the numbers of Australian Residents that consider themselves as Christian.
In 1901 the number that considered themselves as Christian, in the official census, was 96.1%, with 2.5% stating no religion.
100 years later, by 2001, these numbers had become: 68.0% Christian, with 27.1% stating no religion.
Over this 100 years the number who consider themselves as Christian had dropped considerably, from 98.1% to 68.0%.
Those who considered themselves as not religious had grown from 2.5% to 27.1%.
Other religions, during this time frame, had grown from 1.4% to 4.9%.
The actual numbers are shown in this table 1901-2006:
| Year | Christian | Other | No Religion/Not Stated |
| 1901 | 96.1% | 1.4% | 2.5% |
| 1911 | 95.9% | 0.8% | 3.3% |
| 1921 | 96.9% | 0.7% | 2.4% |
| 1933 | 86.4% | 0.4% | 13.2% |
| 1947 | 88.0% | 0.5% | 11.5% |
| 1954 | 89.4% | 0.6% | 10.0% |
| 1961 | 88.3% | 0.7% | 11.0% |
| 1966 | 88.2% | 0.7% | 11.1% |
| 1971 | 86.2% | 0.8% | 13.0% |
| 1976 | 78.6% | 1.0% | 20.4% |
| 1981 | 76.4% | 1.4% | 22.2% |
| 1986 | 73.0% | 2.0% | 25.0% |
| 1991 | 74.0% | 2.6% | 23.4% |
| 1996 | 70.9% | 3.5% | 25.6% |
| 2001 | 68.0% | 4.9% | 27.1% |
| 2006 | 63.9% | 5.6% | 30.5% |
| 2011 | 61.1% | 7.2% | 31.7% |
If this trend continues, the result in 50 years time will be something like this:
| Year | Christian | Other | No Religion/Not Stated |
| 2061 | 33.90% | 13.70% | 52.40% |
In 2006 the breakdown between different religions was:
- 63.9% Christian
- 05.6% Non-Christian
- 18.7% No religion
- 11.2% Not stated
The Christian breakdown was:
63.9% Christian
- 25.8% Catholic
- 18.7% Anglican
- 05.7% Uniting Church
- 03.0% Presbyterian and Reformed
- 02.7% Eastern Orthodox
The Non-Christian breakdown was:
5.6% Non-Christian
- 2.1% Buddhism
- 1.7% Islam
- 0.7% Hinduism
- 0.4% Judaism
The above figures (ex 2011) are sourced from the ABS 1301.0 – Year Book Australia 2006.
Update: Religion in Australia 2011