The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) has called on Australian Catholics to identify themselves in the forthcoming Census on 11 August.
The Census is a five-yearly national survey which provides an extensive reading on the cultural and social demographics in Australia, and how Australian society has changed over time.
While religious identification is a significant aspect of society which informs research into the demographics of Australian cities and states, the question pertaining to religious identification has always been an optional one.
The question has also been controversial in recent years. In 2024, Catholic bishops expressed concern over religious identification in this year’s Census, after changes were proposed to the question, “What is your religion?” to, “Does this person have a religion?” among other proposals.
ACBC have now launched a campaign two months out from the Census encouraging all Catholics to identify their religion on the survey, enlisting National Centre of Pastoral Research (NCPR) director Dr Trudy Dantis to present the case for ticking ‘Yes.’
“The Census tells us a great deal about the demographics of self-identifying Catholics in particular regions, and for this reason, it is invaluable to pastoral planning,” according to Dr Dantis.
“It is also an important aspect of planning for our Catholic organisations, since many Australians seek assistance from these institutions in times of personal crisis, and for services such as school, health care facilities and welfare.”
Dr Dantis also noted that particular rites of the Catholic Church may need to tick a different box this year, due to new provisions in the Census which would make the data more accurate.
“While the religion question provides tick-box response categories for the major religious groups, the [Australian Bureau of Statistics] also makes provisions for counting members of religious groups with a small population,” she said.
“This option is extremely important for our Eastern Rite dioceses so that they can obtain more accurate demographic statistics about their own individual communities.
“Catholics from the Syro-Malabar, Chaldean, Ukrainian, Melkite and Maronite communities are therefore encouraged to choose the ‘Other’ option and write the name of their religious groups.”
Research has also indicated that non-practicing Catholics are just as likely to identify as Catholic because of the continued importance of their faith in their life, which makes identifying Catholic on the survey all the more important in 2026, especially for the rites with small populations
“[Writing in the name of your religious group] ensures that they are counted correctly within their own community, rather than assuming them to be Latin-Rite Catholics.”
In the 2021 Census, just over 5 million people identified themselves as Catholic, or roughly 20 per cent of the population at the time of the survey.
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