The Australian 2026 Census: What I’m choosing and why I want witches to be counted

The next Australian census is coming up on August 11th, and I’ve already decided how I’m answering the religion question. You can even fill it out now early online if you’re super keen and most people should have received the letter in the mail with details about how to do this. There are a number of categories relevant to Nature Religions and I wanted to write a wee blog post to share about how I’m going to answer this question. Firstly, let’s cover off what the categories are, and what are some of the general trends around this for the Australian public.  

A few years ago, an academic from University of Queensland, Brendan Walsh, covered off some awesome points about the growth and changes around Nature Religions in Australia. The eagle-eyed amongst us will noticed that amongst ‘nature religions’, witchcraft and wicca pretty must always get a mention in the media every time a census is completed. 

Here is the historical breakdown (according to Wikipedia – take that as a grain of salt if you will) 

• In the 2011 census, 32,083 Australians identified their religion as a pagan religion including 8,413 people who identified their religion as Wicca or Neopagan witchcraft.^[112]
• In the 2016 census, 27,194 Australians identified as pagan or other affiliated “nature religions” including 6,616 people who identified their religion as Wicca or Neopagan witchcraft.^[113]
• In the 2021 census, 33,142 Australians identified their religion as nature religion including 18,630 people who identified their religion as pagan religion and 7,785 people who identified their religion as Wicca or Neopagan witchcraft.^[114]

For this census here is the current religious category breakdown available (released 21/07/2026)

8516 Nature Religions

•   851600 Nature Religions, nfd
•   851611 Animism
•   851612 Druidism
•   851613 Paganism
•   851614 Wiccan (Witchcraft)
•   851699 Nature Religions, nec

Explanation here

Nec = not elsewhere classified, Not elsewhere classified (nec) categories are used for responses where there isn’t a specific category in the classification.

Nfd – not further defined. This means Not further defined (nfd) categories are used when enough information exists to partially code a response, but we do not have enough to code it to the most detailed category in the classification.

Personally, I’m going with Witchcraft which will be categorised as 851614 Wiccan (Witchcraft) anyway Why? Isn’t this a ‘pagan’ page (it’s the paganfringe afterall) and not specifically a Wiccan/Witchcraft page? Well, yes, however pagan is an umbrella term and I want to be personally specfic when it comes to the census. Also, I’m sharing a personal view here too.

In practice when you complete the census, it will list the main religions and then give an ‘Other’ option and a blank space to fill out the form. It’s up to you to enter what you want, but this is how the information will be broken down and categorised as per the list above. If you write something with corresponds with the list, how you choose to express yourself will be counted in a meaningful way. More about that below.

Alot of folks online are saying – ‘But I practise witchcraft, but I’m not wiccan. I don’t want to be lumped in with Wicca. This bothers me‘

I can understand the disgruntled feeling, but I think it’s worth pausing on it to think about it further. I want to reframe it. 

Witches practising witchcraft deserve to be counted. Not erased. We’ve spent decades hiding, and some would suggest hundreds of years being eradicated. Why continue this trend in 2026?

The census is anonymous in the sense that once you fill out all the personal info, you can choose to have it all wiped out and not saved or referred to for the next 99yrs. No one sees your form as it relates to you as an individual identifying you as a person in perpetuity. No one at the ABS, no future employer, no coven etc Ticking a box next to “Wicca” doesn’t make you Wiccan, it doesn’t put your name on a register, doesn’t require you to adopt the label anywhere else in your life.

Don’t forget that numbers are the entire point. Census data drives resource allocation, policy planning, attention, and recognition. A granular subcategory that only captures self-identified witches and wiccans contributes to a louder voice when it comes to contemporary witchcraft practice in Australia. Remember what I said about journalists always picking up on this point about how many witches there are in Australia? They LIKE to make a point of this ongoing everytime there is a census.  If everyone practicing some form of witchcraft (wiccan or not) selects this category built to capture that data, the cohort is bigger, harder to dismiss, and more likely to get looked at seriously down the track. Splintering off or winding up to avoid the ‘wiccan’ association doesn’t grow anything; it just changes the data that represents everyone practicing witchcraft. Religious or not.

Does it mean you have to identify as Wiccan? Not at all. Not unless you really want to. It’s just a data category on a form, not a spiritual affiliation. But you can select it for accuracy of counting and go back to disagreeing with wicca in every other part of your life as soon as you finish completing the census form on census night.

So which matters more to you? Having your witchcraft practice accurately counted, acknowledged, and possibly resourced better at a national level, or protecting yourself from a temporary but slightly inaccurate partial label of ‘wicca’ on an anonymous census form?

And if you’re Wiccan, and practice Wicca, this is all a bonus to you and yours. Stand up and be counted.

What/how are you answering the religion question?