Increasing number of Australians identify as having 'no religion' as Christianity wanes

The results of Australia's 2016 census has indicated that the number of people who identify as having "no religion" has increased in 2016, while those who identify Christians have dropped significantly.

The survey found that 29.6 percent of Australians claim to have "no religion" in 2016, compared with 22.6 percent in 2011, when the last census was taken. Nineteen percent indicated "no religion" in the survey in 2006, while 16 percent said the same in 2001.

Roman Catholicism is still the largest Church in the country, but the number of Catholics has dropped from 25.3 percent in 2011 to 22.6 percent in 2016.

A total of 13.3 percent identifies as Anglicans, while 3.7 percent said they were members of the Uniting Church.

The survey also indicated that 2.4 percent of the population were Buddhists, and 1.9 percent were Hindus. Only 0.5 percent identified as Sikh, while 0.4 percent identified as Jewish.

The number of people practicing Islam in Australia has grown from 2.2 percent in 2011 to 2.6 percent in 2016, Newsweek reported.

In 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census decided to move the "no religion" category, which includes atheists, agnostics and secularists, to the top of the survey.

In response to the department's decision, Australia's Christian ethics action group, Salt Shakers, sent a countrywide email urging individuals not to mark the "no religion" option, warning that it could lead the growing Islamic population to declare Australia as a Muslim country. The group reportedly advised people to mark the religion they were raised or born into, regardless of whether they were no longer actively practicing.

The number of Australians who self-identified as Christians have fallen from 88.2 percent in 1966 to 52.1 percent in 2016. According to The Guardian, as many as 96 percent recorded themselves as Christian in the 1911 census.

Despite the overall decline in Christianity, membership in the Pentecostal church has steadily increased from nearly 220,000 in 2006 and 238,000 in 2011 to 260,500 last year.

It has grown particularly among the age groups 0–14, 15–24 and 25–34 in each of the surveys from 2006.

"Modern Pentecostal churches are actually very appealing to a wide demographic of young people – they have a very strong social element, and very dynamic and engaging services," said Associate Professor Ann Evans of the Australian National University's school of demography. "They're like going to a concert for young people," she added.

Australia's megachurch Hillsong, one of the best-known Pentecostal church in the world, has expanded to 69 services in 27 locations across Australia. Its weekly church attendance has grown to 37,384 last year and its revenue increased by 16 percent to nearly $131 million, up from about $113 million in 2015, according to its 2016 annual report.