Religion in New Zealand is diverse. The country has no state religion and freedom of religion has been protected since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealand was predominantly Christian from the mid 1800s, but since 2000 has become post-Christian. In the 2023 census 51.6 per cent of New Zealanders stated they had no religion and another 6.9 percent did not state a religion. In the 2023 census 32.3% of the population identified as Christian, making up just over 77.5% of religious people in New Zealand. Other major religions include Hinduism (2.9%), Islam (1.5%), Māori religion (1.3%), Buddhism (1.1%), and Sikhism (1.1%).
Overview The religion of Māori people before European colonisation has been described as polytheistic and animistic. Efforts of Christian missionaries and their churches resulted in most Māori converting to Christianity, though with the development of some significant, distinctly Māori churches or denominations such as the Te Nakahi and Pai Mārire 'movements,' and the Ringatū and Rātana churches. In the 1840s, it is probable that a larger proportion of Māori regularly attended church services than people did in the United Kingdom.
With the vast majority of 19th-century European immigrants coming from the British Isles, three Christian denominations predominated post-colonial New Zealand: Anglicanism, Catholicism and Presbyterianism. The tendency for Scottish immigrants to settle in Otago and Southland saw Presbyterianism predominate in these regions while Anglicanism predominated elsewhere; the effect of this is still seen in religious affiliation statistics today (see the map below).
Immigration since 1991 has led to slight yet steady growth in the number of adherents of south and south-east Asian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, particularly in Auckland. The number and proportion of people affiliating with non-Christian religions has increased to around nine per cent of the population. Hinduism is the second-most popular religion with 2.9 per cent of the population. Sikhism is the fastest-growing faith. While the number and proportion who identify as Christians has fallen in recent years, Sikhism (+31%), Islam (+22%) and Hinduism (+17%) were the fastest growing religions over the 2018-2023 period, fuelled by immigration to New Zealand from Asia.
In addition, there are adherents of many new religious movements like Spiritualism, Theosophy, Druidry, New Age and the Goddess movement branches.
Demographics Religious affiliation
New Zealand censuses have collected data on religious affiliation since 1851. Statistics New Zealand (the state agency that collects statistics on religion and other demographics) state that:
One complication in interpreting religious affiliation data in New Zealand is the large proportion who do not answer the question—roughly 313,000 respondents in 2018. Most reporting of percentages is based on the total number of responses, rather than the total population.
In the early 20th century, New Zealand census data indicates that the vast majority of New Zealanders affiliated with Christianity. The total percentages in the 1921 non-Māori census were: 45% Anglicans, 19.9% Presbyterians, 13.6% Catholics, 9.5% Methodists and 11.2% Others. Statistics for Māori in particular became available only from 1936, with 35.8% Anglicans, 19.9% Rātana, 13.9% Catholics, 7.2% Ringatū, 7.1% Methodists, 6.5% Latter-day Saints, 1.3% Methodists and 8.3% others recorded at this census.
Religious affiliation statistics The table below is based on religious affiliation data recorded at the last four censuses for usually resident people. Figures and percentages may not add to 100 per cent as it is possible for people to state more than one religion. The trend indicators are based on the change in percentage of the population, not the number of adherents.
The 2018 census had an unusually low (83%) response rate. Statistics New Zealand subsequently calculated the 2018 census statistics based on the combination of 2018 census responses (82.9%), 2013 census responses (8.2%) and imputation (8.8%). The reported results are deemed to be high quality, but are not completely reliable. Religion2023 census2018 census 2013 census 2006 census 2001 census Trend (%)Number% Number % Number % Number % Number % 2001–18 Christian1,620,555 1,738,638 37.31 1,858,977 47.65 2,027,418 54.16 2,043,843 58.92 Christian (not further defined) 364,644 307,926 6.61 216,177 5.54 186,234 4.97 192,165 5.54 Roman Catholic 289,788 295,743 6.2 492,105 12.61 508,437 13.58 485,637 14.00 Anglican 245,301 314,913 6.76 459,771 11.79 554,925 14.82 584,793 16.86 Presbyterian, Congregational and Reformed 202,329 242,907 5.21 330,516 8.47 400,839 10.71 431,139 12.43 Catholicism (not further defined) 155,916 173,016 3.71 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Pentecostal 66,213 81,624 1.75 74,256 1.90 79,155 2.11 67,182 1.94 Methodist 62,766 72,747 1.56 102,879 2.64 121,806 3.25 120,546 3.48 Latter-day Saints 54,348 54,123 1.16 40,728 1.04 43,539 1.16 39,915 1.15 Baptist 31,734 39,030 0.84 54,345 1.39 56,913 1.52 51,423 1.48 Evangelical, Born Again and Fundamentalist 33,942 38,127 0.82 15,381 0.39 13,836 0.37 11,016 0.32 Jehovah's Witnesses 18,471 20,061 0.43 17,931 0.46 17,910 0.48 17,829 0.51 Adventist 18,204 18,510 0.40 17,085 0.44 16,191 0.43 14,868 0.43 Brethren 12,363 14,160 0.30 18,624 0.48 19,617 0.52 20,397 0.59 Orthodox 13,785 13,866 0.30 13,806 0.35 13,194 0.35 9,576 0.28 Asian Christian 10,329 10,203 0.22 132 <0.01 195 0.01 195 0.01 Protestant (not further defined) 7,830 8,544 0.18 4,998 0.13 3,954 0.11 2,787 0.08 Salvation Army 6,048 7,929 0.17 9,162 0.23 11,493 0.31 12,618 0.36 Uniting/Union Church and Ecumenical 2,511 3,693 0.08 999 0.03 1,419 0.04 1,389 0.04 Lutheran 2,859 3,585 0.08 3,903 0.10 4,476 0.12 4,314 0.12 Church of Christ and Associated Churches of Christ 4,203 3,258 0.07 2,145 0.05 2,991 0.08 3,270 0.09 Other Christian 11,946 14,673 0.31 3,714 0.10 3,798 0.10 3,558 0.10 Hinduism/Hindu144,771 123,534 2.65 89,319 2.11 64,392 1.72 39,798 1.15 Māori religions, beliefs and philosophies66,051 62,634 1.34 52,947 1.36 65,550 1.75 63,597 1.83 Rātana 43,944 43,821 0.94 40,353 1.03 50,565 1.35 48,975 1.41 Ringatū 11,985 12,336 0.26 13,272 0.34 16,419 0.44 15,291 0.44 Māori religions (not further defined) 6,531 3,699 0.08 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Pai Mārire 1,383 1,194 0.03 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Other Māori religions, beliefs and philosophies 2,208 1,584 0.03 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Māori Christian (not further defined) N/A N/A N/A N/A 222 0.01 219 0.01 237 0.01 Other Māori Christian N/A N/A N/A N/A 333 0.01 360 0.01 426 0.01 Māori Religion N/A N/A N/A N/A 2,595 0.07 2,412 0.06 1,995 0.06 Islam/Muslim75,144 61,455 1.32 46,149 1.18 36,072 0.96 23,631 0.68 Buddhism/Buddhist57,135 52,779 1.13 58,404 1.50 52,362 1.40 41,634 1.20 Sikhism/Sikh53,406 40,908 0.88 19,191 0.49 9,507 0.25 5,199 0.15 Spiritualism and New Age religions 22,623 19,695 0.42 18,285 0.47 19,800 0.53 16,062 0.46 Spiritualist 8,628 8,262 0.18 7,776 0.20 7,743 0.21 5,856 0.17 Nature and Earth based religions 7,986 6,582 0.14 5,943 0.15 7,125 0.19 5,838 0.17 Satanism 1,593 1,149 0.02 840 0.02 1,164 0.03 894 0.03 New Age (not further defined) 255 363 0.01 441 0.01 669 0.02 420 0.01 Church of Scientology 315 321 0.01 318 0.01 357 0.01 282 0.01 Other New Age religions 2,763 3,018 0.06 3,015 0.08 2,871 0.08 2,784 0.08 Judaism/Jewish5,538 5,274 0.11 6,867 0.18 6,858 0.18 6,636 0.19 Other religions 11,715 11,079 0.24 15,054 0.39 14,943 0.40 13,581 0.39 Baháʼí 3,072 2,925 0.06 2,634 0.07 2,772 0.07 2,988 0.09 Theism 3,066 2,607 0.06 1,782 0.05 2,202 0.06 1,491 0.04 Chinese religions 1,695 1,491 0.03 906 0.02 912 0.02 1,269 0.04 Other religion (not further defined) 1,083 1,434 0.03 5,202 0.13 4,830 0.13 4,641 0.13 Zoroastrian 1,020 1,068 0.02 972 0.02 1,071 0.03 486 0.01 Jainism 813 612 0.01 207 0.01 111 <0.01 57 <0.01 Japanese religions 597 588 0.01 423 0.01 384 0.01 303 0.01 Other religions 369 354 0.01 333 0.01 258 0.01 351 0.01 Total people with at least one religious affiliation2,091,9392,083,107 44.70 2,146,167 53.642,271,921 60.69 2,232,564 64.36 No religion2,576,0492,264,601 48.59 1,635,345 41.92 1,297,104 34.65 1,028,049 29.64 Object to answering342,705312,795 6.71 173,034 4.44 242,607 6.48 239,241 6.90 Total people stated4,993,923100.0 4,660,503 100.0 3,901,167 100.00 3,743,655 100.00 3,468,813 100.00 Not elsewhere included 36,084 39,252 347,301 292,974 287,376 Total population5,090,7154,699,755 4,242,048 4,027,947 3,737,277
Significant trends
Christianity—historically the largest religious group since significant European colonisation began in the early 1800s—is declining, while stating no religion and affiliation to other (minority) religions is increasing. Statistics New Zealand report that about 80% of the largest non-Christian religious groups are composed of immigrants, almost half of whom have arrived in New Zealand since 2000. The exceptions to this are traditional Māori religion, Judaism (24% immigrant) and Bahá'í (20% immigrant). Mirroring contemporary trends in immigration to New Zealand, immigrant religions increased fastest between the 2006 and 2013 censuses; Sikh by 102% to 19,191, Hindu by 39% to 89,319, Islam by 28% to 46,149, and Buddhist by 11% to 58,404. Hinduism emerged as the second-largest religious group in New Zealand after Christianity in the 2006 census. Of the major ethnic groups in New Zealand, people belonging to European and Māori ethnicities were the most likely to be irreligious, with 46.9 per cent and 46.3 per cent stating so in the 2013 census. Those belonging to Pacific and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African were least likely to be irreligious at 17.5 per cent and 17.0 per cent respectively.
In May 2018, McCrindle published The Faith and Belief in New Zealand Report. The report was commissioned by the Wilberforce Foundation. The results showed that more than half of New Zealanders (55%) do not identify with any main religion, indicating that New Zealand is a largely secular nation. The related infographic showed that, of the 33% who identified with Christianity, 16% were church-goers (attending at least monthly) and 9% were "Active Practisers" (described as "extremely involved").
Regional trends
Immigration and settlement trends have led to religious differences between the various regions of New Zealand. The 19th-century settlement of Scottish immigrants in Otago (originally under the auspices of the Free Church of Scotland in 1848) and Southland continues to influence the dominance of Presbyterianism in the south of the South Island. The English mainly settled in the North Island and Upper South Island, hence the dominance of Anglicanism in these areas (especially Canterbury, where the Church of England sponsored the 1850 settlement through the Canterbury Association).
Subsequent migration trends have led to clusters of distinct religious practice. Catholics of Polish origin (many connected with the re-settlements from Siberia in 1944) have a presence (for example) in the Wellington region. Filipinos have become a noticeable element in the Roman Catholic communities of Southland.
In the 2013 census, two of New Zealand's sixteen regions had a Christian majority: Southland (51.9 per cent) and Hawke's Bay (50.5 per cent), and two regions had a non-religious majority: Tasman (51.4 per cent) and Nelson (51.0 per cent).