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City of AdelaideCommunity profile

In the City of Adelaide in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (12.0% of all people), while 51.3% of people had no religion and 9.9% did not answer the question on religion.

The City of Adelaide's religion statistics provide an indicator of cultural identity and ethnicity when observed in conjunction with other key variables. Religion data reveal the major concentrations of religions as well as revealing the proportion of people with no religious affiliation. There are a number of reasons for different religious compositions across areas including the country of birth and ethnic background of the population, the age of the population (belief in religion is generally stronger, the older the population) and changes in values and belief systems.

The City of Adelaide's religion statistics should be analysed in conjunction with other ethnicity statistics such as Country of Birth data and Language Spoken data to assist in identifying specific cultural and ethnic groups.

Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of individual religion groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's religion?'

Religion - Summary
City of Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence)20211991Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Adelaide %Number%Greater Adelaide %1991 to 2021
Christian total6,90127.639.87,02865.5---127
Non Christian total2,63410.59.52902.7--+2,344
Non-classifiable religious belief1820.70.6480.4--+134
No Religion/secular beliefs12,83951.344.92,47723.1--+10,362
Not stated2,4749.95.28858.2--+1,589
Total Population25,030100.0100.010,728100.0--+14,302
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 1991 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
City of Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence)20211991Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Adelaide %Number%Greater Adelaide %1991 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic2,99312.016.42,25421.0--+739
Anglican1,4075.67.02,23220.8---825
Buddhism1,0344.12.31121.0--+922
Hinduism7082.82.7510.5--+657
Islam6422.62.8390.4--+603
Uniting Church5652.33.91,0099.4---444
Christian,nfd4871.92.7990.9--+388
Greek Orthodox4191.72.43273.0--+92
Lutheran2601.01.64984.6---238
Baptist1870.71.61431.3--+44
Show all (29 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 1991 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Excludes religions with fewer than 10 adherents.

Dominant groups

Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of the City of Adelaide in 2021 compared to Greater Adelaide shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 38.1% of the population nominated a religion, and 51.3% said they had no religion, compared with 49.3% and 44.9% respectively for Greater Adelaide.

The largest single religion in the City of Adelaide was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 12.0% of the population or 2,993 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the City of Adelaide and Greater Adelaide were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Buddhism (4.1% compared to 2.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (12.0% compared to 16.4%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Uniting Church (2.3% compared to 3.9%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (5.6% compared to 7.0%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the City of Adelaide between 1991 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Buddhism (+922 persons)
  • Anglican (-825 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (+739 persons)
  • Hinduism (+657 persons)

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