Roy Morgan’s Single Source is the nation’s largest and longest-running survey of Australians, covering values, beliefs, behaviours, concerns, aspirations and almost every other facet of life. For close to two decades, this extensive survey has included questions about religion and in 2003, almost three-quarters of the population (73.2%) nominated a religion to which they belonged. By the end of 2020, that figure had fallen to just over half (53.4%).
Respondents are free to nominate any religion. In 2003, 68.1% of the population described themselves as Christian. As of 2020, that was down to 44.0%.
Meanwhile the proportion of Australians who describe themselves as having no religion has risen from 26.0% in 2003 to 45.5% in 2020.
Yet despite these significant changes, the percentage of Australians who say they regularly attend a church or other place of worship has changed very little, from 18.8% in 2003 to 17.4% in 2020.
The information is drawn from large-scale surveys, with a yearly average of more than 17,000 respondents over the 18-year period covered by this data.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says: