Figures for Anglican identity are available on a colony, later state, and national basis from the earliest census of 1828. In 1871 Anglicans represented 55 percent of the Australian population and until the 1986 census (when Catholics recorded a larger number) Anglicans made up the highest proportion of the population.

From the time of Federation in 1901 to the end of World War II Anglicans were about 40 per cent of the population. The proportion of Anglicans is largely a reflection of the fact that most of the early settlers came from the United Kingdom where the Church of England was the established church.
In 1947 when Australia had a population of 7.5 million, almost three million of them were Anglicans. There were twice as many Anglicans as there were Catholics.

The population has grown to 20 million and more than half that increase can be attributed to immigration and births to immigrant parents. Although British is still the largest nationality among new immigrants, it now makes up less than 20 per cent of the annual intake (Black 1991, p. 160). Immigration, although not the only cause, has had a significant effect on the Anglican proportion of the population. By 1961 Anglicans represented around one third of the population numbering just over 3.5 million. This further declined over the next 20 years, Anglicans representing one quarter of the Australian population in 1981.

The next 10 years saw the Anglicans almost keep pace with population growth at 23.8 per cent and increasing in number to 4 004 768. However, the Anglicans had declined both in number and as a percentage of the population by the 1996 census representing just 22.0 percent of the population. At the time of the 2001 Census they numbered slightly less than 4 million or 20.7 per cent of the population.
This decline, while significant, is not peculiarly Anglican but has been experienced by many other church groups. The addition of a “no religion” category in 1966 and changed immigration patterns may explain decline. Studies have shown that the decline in religious affiliation does not necessarily reflect an abandoning of Christian values but rather a sense that the church is not necessary for the maintenance of such values (Bentley, Blombery and Hughes, 1992). Also, with the declining social necessity for religious labels, many nominal Anglicans have ceased to claim the identity.