Churchgoers

What do we know about Australians who attend church worship services?

Church background

Church background refers to the history of involvement in church life. Some are longterm church attenders. Others are recent newcomers without a church background. 'Transfers' have changed churches and 'switchers' have changed denominations.

Church background
Age

The age profile of church attenders has been getting older over time.In the 2001 National Church Life Survey, 21% of Australian church attenders were aged 70 years and over. By 2016 this figure had reached 29%.

Age
Gender

Women are more religious than men across different religions and nations. In Australia, six in ten church attenders identify as female and four in ten as male. This has been a constant trend for decades.

Gender
Ethnicity

Australia is a multicultural country and churchgoers come from many ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Most churchgoers (64%) were born in Australia with 36% born overseas. The proportion of people from non-English speaking backgrounds has increased over time. 

Ethnicity
Education

As well as being more highly educated than the wider community, the levels of Australian university-educated attenders has also increased in recent decades.

Education
Work life

A third of employed church attenders worked in people-focused professions (such as teacher, lawyer, social worker, nurse. Employed churchgoers seek support from churches to explore the role their Christian faith can take in matters relating to their work.

Work life
Values and Attitudes

What do church attenders value? What are their attitudes to various issues? And how do these values and attitudes vary and compare with other Australians?

Values and Attitudes

Browse Findings

Care of earth as part of mission of the Church: attenders' views

Attenders' views on whether caring for the earth is part of the mission of the Church

See more
Changing diet to reduce environmental impact

Attenders who changed their diet to reduce environmental impact

See more

No videos found