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In Regional WA in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% of all people), while 45.8% of people had no religion and 12.1% did not answer the question on religion.

Regional WA'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.

Regional WA'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
Regional WA - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Regional Australia %Number%Regional Australia %2016 to 2021
Christian total207,85338.946.7263,20750.257.3-55,354
Non Christian total14,2212.73.013,5612.62.5+660
Non-classifiable religious belief3,2150.60.63,4760.70.6-261
No Religion/secular beliefs244,74745.841.3178,72434.129.6+66,023
Not stated64,76812.18.465,19712.410.0-429
Total Population534,804100.0100.0524,165100.0100.0+10,639
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
Regional WA - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Regional Australia %Number%Regional Australia %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic84,09215.718.8101,00119.321.9-16,909
Anglican60,30211.313.385,75516.417.7-25,453
Christian,nfd16,8563.22.617,4863.32.6-630
Uniting Church11,3792.13.916,7783.25.5-5,399
Baptist8,6981.61.39,2881.81.5-590
Presbyterian and Reformed6,0731.12.28,8491.73.1-2,776
Buddhism4,5660.90.95,0621.00.9-496
Islam3,7960.70.73,1990.60.5+597
Pentecostal3,5930.71.04,4890.91.1-896
Other Protestant3,4080.60.44,0450.80.4-637
Show all (39 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 Regional WA in 2021 compared to Regional Australia shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 41.5% of the population nominated a religion, and 45.8% said they had no religion, compared with 49.7% and 41.3% respectively for Regional Australia.

The largest single religion in Regional WA was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.7% of the population or 84,092 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Regional WA and Regional Australia were:

  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% compared to 18.8%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (11.3% compared to 13.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Uniting Church (2.1% compared to 3.9%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Presbyterian and Reformed (1.1% compared to 2.2%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-25,453 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-16,909 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-5,399 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-2,776 persons)

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