Census data shows New Zealand Catholics to overtake Anglicans by 2011

Published: 2006-10-05

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNS) -- Catholics will overtake Anglicans as the largest group of religious adherents in New Zealand by 2011, according to an expert in religious history. Peter Lineham, head of social and cultural studies at Massey University's Albany campus and author of "New Zealand Religious History: A Bibliography," made the prediction based on recent trends collected from census data. New Zealand censuses are held every five years. Every five years for the past 20 years, the number of Anglicans in the country has dropped by an average of 66,000, while the number of Presbyterians has dropped on average by almost 30,000. Catholics have had minimal gains of about 1,500 per census. Lineham said that based on this information Catholics outnumbered Presbyterians in 1996 and will outnumber Anglicans in 2011.

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