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Greater Capital Cities

Religion

In Greater Capital Cities in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (20.1% of all people), while 37.3% of people had no religion and 6.1% did not answer the question on religion.

Greater Capital Cities'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 Capital Cities'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 Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%New South Wales %Number%New South Wales %2016 to 2021
Christian total7,068,28442.747.67,545,81449.755.2-477,530
Non Christian total2,227,72413.412.11,691,43211.110.1+536,292
Non-classifiable religious belief90,1920.50.592,9190.60.5-2,727
No Religion/secular beliefs6,175,05137.333.04,538,61129.925.4+1,636,440
Not stated1,004,7946.16.81,309,9888.68.8-305,194
Total Population16,566,045100.0100.015,178,764100.0100.0+1,387,281
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 Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%New South Wales %Number%New South Wales %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic3,330,06320.121.73,434,86722.624.1-104,804
Anglican1,343,6988.111.91,674,63111.015.5-330,933
Islam741,9124.54.3552,0083.63.6+189,904
Hinduism605,3323.73.4396,0692.62.4+209,263
Buddhism530,4913.22.8483,4053.22.8+47,086
Christian,nfd462,9112.82.4403,5692.72.2+59,342
Greek Orthodox354,3472.11.7339,4822.21.7+14,865
Uniting Church335,4542.02.1429,4592.82.9-94,005
Baptist233,1961.41.2226,1601.51.3+7,036
Presbyterian and Reformed224,2241.41.9277,8111.82.5-53,587
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 Capital Cities in 2021 compared to New South Wales shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 56.1% of the population nominated a religion, and 37.3% said they had no religion, compared with 59.7% and 33.0% respectively for New South Wales.

The largest single religion in Greater Capital Cities was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 20.1% of the population or 3,330,063 people as adherents.

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

  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (8.1% compared to 11.9%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (20.1% compared to 21.7%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-330,933 persons)
  • Hinduism (+209,263 persons)
  • Islam (+189,904 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-104,804 persons)

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