- Summary
- Adherents
- Religious Freedom
- Socio-economic
- Public Opinion
Religious Adherents1 |
New Zealand | Australia/New Zealand | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'i | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Buddhist | 2.2% | 2.1% | 5.8% |
| Chinese Universalist | 0.3% | 0.5% | 5.8% |
| Christian | 72.0% | 75.8% | 33.3% |
| Confucianist | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Ethnoreligionist | 0.9% | 0.4% | 4.0% |
| Hindu | 2.0% | 0.8% | 13.6% |
| Jain | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Jewish | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| Muslim | 0.8% | 1.5% | 20.8% |
| Shintoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sikh | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Spiritist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Taoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Zoroastrian | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Other Religions | 0.1% | 0.3% | 1.6% |
| Neo-religions | 0.1% | 0.3% | -- |
| Non-religious | 19.9% | 15.9% | 11.7% |
| Atheist | 1.2% | 1.6% | 2.3% |
Religious Demography
The country is an island nation with an area of 103,000 square miles and a population of 4,180,000. The country is predominantly Christian but is becoming more religiously diverse. According to the 2006 census, approximately 56 percent of citizens identify themselves as Christian, a 5 percent decrease from the 2001 census. The number of people who identified themselves as Anglican and Presbyterian declined between 2001 and 2006, while Roman Catholics and the Methodists showed modest and slight increases, respectively. The Maori Christian churches, which integrate Christian tenets with precolonial Maori beliefs and include Ratana and Ringatu, experienced significant growth. The number of self-identified Pentecostals increased by 17.8 percent between 2001 and 2006, while the number affiliating with "Evangelical, Born Again, and Fundamentalist" Christian groups increased by 25.6 percent. During the same period, non Christian religions continued to show strong growth rates, driven primarily by immigration. According to 2006 census data, percentages of religious affiliation are: Anglican, 14.8 percent; Roman Catholic, 13.6 percent; Presbyterian, 10.7 percent; other Christian, 8.2 percent; Christian (no specific identification), 5 percent; Methodist, 3.3 percent; Buddhist, 1.7 percent; Hindu, 1.7 percent; and Muslim, 1 percent. There were also more than 90 religious groups that together constituted less than 1 percent of the population. In addition, 34.7 percent stated that they had no religious affiliation. The indigenous Maori (estimated at 15 percent of the population) tend to be followers of Presbyterianism, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), or Maori Christian groups such as Ratana and Ringatu. The Auckland statistical area, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of the country's population, exhibited the greatest religious diversity. 2
Sources
Note: All country histories and flags were obtained from The World Factbook, 2008.
1. The World Christian Database (WCD) is based on the 2600-page award-winning World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends, first published in 1982 and revised in 2001. This extensive work on World religion is now completely updated and integrated into the WCD online database. Designed for both the casual user and research scholar, information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demographic statistics. Additional secular data is incorporated on population, health, education, and communications. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
2. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
