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Armidale Regional CouncilCommunity profile

Armidale Regional Council area

Religion

In Armidale Regional Council area in 2021, the largest religious group was Anglican (17.7% of all people), while 35.4% of people had no religion and 10.9% did not answer the question on religion.

Armidale Regional Council area'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.

Armidale Regional Council area'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
Armidale Regional Council area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Regional NSW %Number%Regional NSW %2016 to 2021
Christian total13,55446.551.116,39857.461.5-2,845
Non Christian total1,9126.63.01,2164.32.3+696
Non-classifiable religious belief1690.60.51740.60.6-5
No Religion/secular beliefs10,30535.437.67,98127.926.3+2,324
Not stated3,18910.97.72,7939.89.3+396
Total Population29,129100.0100.028,563100.0100.0+566
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Armidale Regional Council area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Regional NSW %Number%Regional NSW %2016 to 2021
Anglican5,14717.717.06,42322.521.9-1,277
Western (Roman) Catholic4,92516.921.05,84720.523.8-923
Presbyterian and Reformed1,0043.42.61,2784.53.5-274
Uniting Church6972.43.38683.04.5-171
Christian,nfd5681.92.25501.92.2+17
Other Non-Christian Religions5481.90.160.00.0+542
Hinduism4351.50.72731.00.4+162
Islam3701.30.74561.60.5-86
Buddhism3081.10.83111.10.8-3
Baptist2480.91.22660.91.3-19
Show all (29 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 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 Armidale Regional Council area in 2021 compared to Regional NSW shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion as well as a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 53.1% of the population nominated a religion, and 35.4% said they had no religion, compared with 54.1% and 37.6% respectively for Regional NSW.

The largest single religion in Armidale Regional Council area was Anglican, with 17.7% of the population or 5,147 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Armidale Regional Council area and Regional NSW were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Other Non-Christian Religions (1.9% compared to 0.1%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (16.9% compared to 21.0%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Armidale Regional Council area between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-1,277 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-923 persons)
  • Other Non-Christian Religions (+542 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-274 persons)

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