Australia is a religiously diverse country and it has no official religion.
Christianity is the predominant faith of Australia, though this is diminishing. In the 2011 census, 61.1% of the population classified themselves as being affiliated with a Christian faith, down from 67.3% ten years earlier at the 2001 census.[37] The largest religious denomination was Roman Catholicism, with 25.3% of the population. The next largest Christian denomination was Anglican at 17.1%, and all other Christian denominations accounted for a further 18.7% of the population.[38]
The second-largest group, and the one which had grown the fastest, was the 22.3% who claimed to have no religion. Over the ten years since the 2001 census, this group grew from 15.3% to 22.3% of the population; an increase of 7%, which was the largest change of any religious classification in that period.[38][37]
Minority religions practised in Australia include Buddhism (2.5% of the population), Islam (2.2%), Hinduism (1.3%) and Judaism (0.5%). The Census question about religion is optional, and 8.6% of people did not respond in the 2011 census.[38]
The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 Census Dictionary statement on religious affiliation states the purpose for gathering such information:
Data on religious affiliation are used for such purposes as planning educational facilities, aged persons' care and other social services provided by religion-based organisations; the location of church buildings; the assigning of chaplains to hospitals, prisons, armed services and universities; the allocation of time on public radio and other media; and sociological research.
As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in religious services is lower than would be indicated by the proportion of the population identifying themselves as affiliated with a religion; weekly attendance at Christian church services is about 1.5 million, or about 7.5% of the population.[39] Christian charitable organisations, hospitals and schools play a prominent role in welfare and education services. The Catholic education system is the second biggest sector after government schools, with more than 650,000 students (and around 21 per cent of all secondary school enrolments).