It’s not news that young Australians are less religious than their parents and grandparents. Census data has shown a steady decline in religious affiliation for decades, particularly among Christians, who remain Australia’s largest faith group.

Yet over the past few years there have been reports that seemed to point in the opposite direction. As I wrote about religious revival in countries as diverse as Japan, Thailand, China, India, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, a common theme emerged. Some young people appeared to be returning to religion.

More surprising still, in many places the trend seemed increasingly driven by young men rather than young women.

To figure out what was happening in Australia, I crunched the numbers. While Australia is continuing to secularise overall, beneath that trend, gen Z appears to be the first generation where men are more likely than women to identify with a religion.

That divide is closely tied to political ideology and may reflect wider gendered political polarisation.

Using Australian Election Study (AES) data collected between 1987 and 2025, I examined religious affiliation across six generations:

the war generation (born during the 1920s)

the war generation (born during the 1920s)

builders (born 1930–1945)

builders (born 1930–1945)

baby boomers (1946–1960)

baby boomers (1946–1960)

generation X (1961–1979)

generation X (1961–1979)

millennials or gen Y (1980–1994)

millennials or gen Y (1980–1994)

and generation Z (born after 1994).

and generation Z (born after 1994).

Across these cohorts, I analysed responses from 27,478 Australians.

In this analysis, I focus primarily on religious affiliation: whether respondents identify with a religion at........

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