In the 2024 Australian Community Survey we asked a sample of Australians how they identify themselves religiously or spiritually. Then we delved deeper into how different generations responded, particularly young adults.
Four clusters identified in previous research were highlighted. When looking at younger Australians, we found that higher proportions of Gen Z identify as non-practising religious and spiritual and lower proportions identify as practising religious and spiritual.
Spiritual and religious: Four clusters of Australians
How do spiritual and religious identities intersect? Our analysis has found four groups of people, which are indicative of four general approaches to religion and spirituality in contemporary Australia.
- Religious and spiritual: “Practising religious and spiritual”
- Moderately religious and spiritual: “Non-practising religious and spiritual”
- Spiritual but not religious: “SBNR”
- Neither religious nor spiritual: “Neither”
These four groups have been identified in a series of Australian Community Surveys using an empirical technique called cluster analysis on the responses to both the religious and spiritual self-perception questions.
More Gen Z are non-practising
Results from the 2024 ACS show that higher proportions of Gen Z identify as moderately religious and spiritual i.e. "non-practising religious and spiritual". Some 33% of Gen Z identify this way, compared to 26% of all Australians.
In addition, lower proportions of Gen Z identify as religious and spiritual i.e. "practising religious and spiritual". Only 21% of Gen Z identify this way, compared to 27% of all Australians.
Spiritual but not religious
Some 15% of Gen Z say they are spiritual but not religious "SBNR", showing slightly higher levels of this identity than the whole population at 12%.
Fewer Gen Z are neither religious nor spiritual
The remaining category is "Neither" (neither religious nor spiritual). Slightly fewer Gen Z see themselves as not spiritual or religious (32%), compared with all Australians (35%).
Overall there is a leaning towards religion and spirituality in Gen Z that is not seen in all Australians, with fewer of them saying I'm neither religious nor spiritual. However they see themselves moreso as non-practising, moderately religious and spiritual. There is also a stronger trend for this age group of under 29's to identify as spiritual but not religious.
