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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn South East Queensland in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.1% of all people), while 42.5% of people had no religion and 6.6% did not answer the question on religion.
South East Queensland'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.
South East Queensland'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East Queensland - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Western Australia % | Number | % | Western Australia % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 1,583,825 | 44.2 | 41.1 | 1,752,466 | 65.4 | 59.4 | -168,641 |
| Non Christian total | 217,747 | 6.1 | 8.0 | 88,521 | 3.3 | 4.3 | +129,226 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 23,221 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 18,810 | 0.7 | 0.7 | +4,411 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 1,525,724 | 42.5 | 42.8 | 512,363 | 19.1 | 22.9 | +1,013,361 |
| Not stated | 235,239 | 6.6 | 7.5 | 308,373 | 11.5 | 12.8 | -73,134 |
| Total Population | 3,585,756 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,680,533 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +905,223 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East Queensland - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Western Australia % | Number | % | Western Australia % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 649,597 | 18.1 | 18.6 | 636,119 | 23.7 | 23.7 | +13,478 |
| Anglican | 373,346 | 10.4 | 10.1 | 532,587 | 19.9 | 20.5 | -159,241 |
| Uniting Church | 115,478 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 179,826 | 6.7 | 3.8 | -64,348 |
| Christian,nfd | 113,946 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 55,262 | 2.1 | 2.1 | +58,684 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 70,194 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 95,351 | 3.6 | 2.2 | -25,157 |
| Baptist | 65,482 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 55,862 | 2.1 | 1.7 | +9,620 |
| Buddhism | 61,092 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 41,123 | 1.5 | 1.8 | +19,969 |
| Hinduism | 60,036 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 12,589 | 0.5 | 0.4 | +47,447 |
| Islam | 54,051 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 18,199 | 0.7 | 1.2 | +35,852 |
| Pentecostal | 48,719 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 42,287 | 1.6 | 0.9 | +6,432 |
Show all (41 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of South East Queensland in 2021 compared to Western Australia shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a similar proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 50.2% of the population nominated a religion, and 42.5% said they had no religion, compared with 49.1% and 42.8% respectively for Western Australia.
The largest single religion in South East Queensland was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.1% of the population or 649,597 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of South East Queensland and Western Australia were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Uniting Church (3.2% compared to 1.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (1.5% compared to 2.5%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in South East Queensland between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-159,241 persons)
- Uniting Church (-64,348 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+58,684 persons)
- Hinduism (+47,447 persons)
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