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In Greater Sydney in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (22.1% of all people), while 30.5% of people had no religion and 6.2% did not answer the question on religion.

Greater Sydney'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.

Greater Sydney'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
Greater Sydney - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%New South Wales %Number%New South Wales %2016 to 2021
Christian total2,394,62245.847.62,496,02651.755.2-101,404
Non Christian total888,78317.012.1695,64614.410.1+193,137
Non-classifiable religious belief23,8030.50.523,5900.50.5+213
No Religion/secular beliefs1,597,46730.533.01,200,46624.925.4+397,001
Not stated326,4696.26.8408,2628.58.8-81,793
Total Population5,231,144100.0100.04,823,990100.0100.0+407,154
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
Greater Sydney - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%New South Wales %Number%New South Wales %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic1,154,14822.121.71,169,59424.224.1-15,446
Anglican478,7779.211.9580,34112.015.5-101,564
Islam329,5666.34.3253,4365.33.6+76,130
Hinduism253,2104.83.4170,1613.52.4+83,049
Buddhism200,5473.82.8186,0373.92.8+14,510
Christian,nfd131,7842.52.4108,2132.22.2+23,571
Greek Orthodox122,1462.31.7117,0322.41.7+5,114
Presbyterian and Reformed80,2731.51.995,2992.02.5-15,026
Uniting Church77,9791.52.197,1502.02.9-19,171
Baptist60,9351.21.259,8451.21.3+1,090
Show all (41 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 Greater Sydney in 2021 compared to New South Wales shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 62.8% of the population nominated a religion, and 30.5% said they had no religion, compared with 59.7% and 33.0% respectively for New South Wales.

The largest single religion in Greater Sydney was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 22.1% of the population or 1,154,148 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Greater Sydney and New South Wales were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Islam (6.3% compared to 4.3%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (4.8% compared to 3.4%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Buddhism (3.8% compared to 2.8%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (9.2% compared to 11.9%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Greater Sydney between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-101,564 persons)
  • Hinduism (+83,049 persons)
  • Islam (+76,130 persons)
  • Christian,nfd (+23,571 persons)

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