More Australians shun marriage, God - census

CANBERRA, June 27 (Reuters) Australians are increasingly turning away from marriage and religion, and more people are living alone, according to the latest snapshot of Australian life released today.

The nation's census, taken every five years, found that while Australia was currently enjoying a baby boom, the proportion of adults getting married was at its lowest in almost 100 years.

Results of the 2006 national census, released today, found that Australia's population was set to hit 21 million by the end of June, but the population was getting older, with the average age climbing in the past decade from 34 to 37 years.

Latest figures show a baby boom in 2006, with the highest number of births since 1971, which Treasurer Peter Costello said would help the country cope with a lower proportion of people in the workforce in future years.

''This baby boom of recent years would help rebalance our demographic profile and begin the task of setting us up to address the ageing of population,'' Costello said.

The census found only 49.6 per cent of Australians aged 15 or older were married, down from 53.3 per cent 10 years ago and the lowest proportion since 1911.

It found one in eight Australians, or about 1.8 million people, lived alone, a sharp rise from the 1.4 million recorded 10 years previously. About 4.6 million Australians aged 20 or more said they were single.

While turning away from marriage, increasing numbers of Australians were also shunning religion. About 3.7 million people, or 19 per cent of the population, said they had no religion, up from 2.9 million or 17 per cent a decade ago.

While Christian denominations still prevail, the census found Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam to be the fastest growing religions in this nation of immigrants over the past decade.

The number of Buddhists and Hindus more than doubled in the 10 years to 2006, to 418,000 and 150,000 respectively, but they continue to make up only a small proportion of Australia's religious affiliations.

The number of Muslims rose almost 70 per cent in the decade to 340,000, but the Catholic church remained Australia's biggest, with 5.1 million followers, up 0.8 per cent over 10 years, followed by 3.7 million Anglicans, down 4.7 per cent.

Women continued to outnumber men overall, with only 97 males for every 100 females.

REUTERS LPB DS1235