The changing face of Australia: Three key findings from the latest census

The data from the 2021 census has been released.

Here are three key findings to come from the data:

MILLENNIALS CATCH UP TO BABY BOOMERS

Tom Elliott says the big thing he took from the latest census was that there are now almost as many millennials as there are baby boomers in Australia.

Social researcher and founder of McCrindle Research, Mark McCrindle, says millennials now make up almost a third of the workforce.

“They’re certainly making a big contribution to Australia,” he told Tom Elliott.

Mr McCrindle says the generation may well become more conservative as they age.

“They’re now being faced with these rising interest rates because they’re right at that point where they’re wanting to do that nesting,” he said.

WE’RE BECOMING LESS RELIGIOUS

Almost 40 per cent of Australians now say they don’t follow any religion. That’s up from 30 per cent in 2016, and 22 per cent in 2011.

The number of Australians who identify as Christian has also fallen below 50 per cent for the first time ever, with just 44 per cent of census 2021 respondents saying they follow the religion, an eight per cent drop since 2016.

“It’s a big drop,” Mr McCrindle said.

“The identification with Christianity as a cultural identification is dropping off.

“They say ‘Look, if I’m not attending church, if I’m not active in the faith … I’m not going to tick it any more’.”

CHANGING MIGRATION

In the past five years, India has moved past China and New Zealand to become the third-largest country of birth for Australian residents, behind Australia and England.

There were 220,000 additional people born in India counted in the 2021 census.

The third-most spoken language other than English, after Chinese and Arabic, is now Punjabi.

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The changing face of Australia: Three key findings from the latest census