A 16 April 2026 survey by YouGov on behalf of the Secular Assn of NSW found that:
Approximately one in twenty (6%) identifying as Catholic said their religious belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 36% of Catholics thought their religion was of equal importance to their citizenship.
16% of people identifying as Other Christian said their religious belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 39% of Other Christians said their religion was of equal importance to their citizenship.
13% of people identifying as Other Religions said their belief was more important than their status as an Australian citizen; a further 44% of Other Religions said their religion was equally important to their citizenship.
Conclusion: These findings come with the qualification that the questions were not graduated to measure degrees of favourable/unfavourable responses.
A further finding was that:
24% of citizens aged 18-24 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor religious belief was important to them; 17% of citizens aged 25-34 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor religious belief was important to them; 21% of citizens aged 35-49 said that neither their Australian citizenship nor their religious belief was important to them;13% of citizens aged 50-64 said that neither Australian citizenship not their religious belief was important to them and 4% over the age of 65 said the same.
Overall Conclusion:
53% of people claimed that their Australian citizenship was the most important to them.
29% claimed that their citizenship and the religious belief were equally important.
15% claimed that neither were important.
6% claimed their religious belief was more important to them than their Australian citizenship.
3% preferred not to reply.
Statement
The Secretary of the Secular Association of NSW, Max Wallace said that the 2021 Australian Census found there was approximately 25.5 million Australians; at the 2026 Australian Census in August that is likely to climb to well over 26M people. He said:
“6% of current Australians who value their religion more than their citizenship, would have amounted to approximately 1.5M citizens in 2021, with the qualification that the survey questions here were not graduated for degree of commitment to a religious belief; 15% of current Australians who declined a religious belief and their citizenship as important would have amounted to approximately 3.8M citizens.
“Those without a religious belief – understandably – were the group that most identified as their Australian citizenship being the most important to them. The findings of this survey will make an interesting comparison to what the August 2026 Census will find about religious belief, or lack of it, in Australia.”
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