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THE Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its report from the 2016 census, showing that more Australians than ever are in same-sex relationships.

The number of same-sex marriages or de facto relationships declared on the census was 47,000 last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.


This is an increase of 81 per cent since a decade earlier, when just 26,000 same-sex couples were identified by the census in 2006.

The census also showed that Melbourne is set to overtake Sydney as our most populated city.

The national population is ageing, with one in six people aged over 65, and half a million people aged over 85.

The number of Indigenous Australians identified by the census has increased by 18 per cent since 2011, and more than a quarter of Australians are now born overseas.

The number of Australians declaring no religion on the census has surged to almost 30 per cent, now making up more of the population than Catholics or Anglicans.

The census also showed rising rents and mortgages are having an effect on Australians. Melbourne, Sydney and Perth have the highest proportion of people spending more than 30 per cent of their income on a mortgage, and 22 per cent of Sydney households spend more than a third of their income on rent.