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In Regional QLD in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.7% of all people), while 40.3% of people had no religion and 8.8% did not answer the question on religion.

Regional QLD'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 QLD'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 QLD - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2001 to 2021
Christian total1,233,49747.243.91,302,24071.668.0-68,743
Non Christian total80,4733.110.025,7911.44.8+54,682
Non-classifiable religious belief15,9630.60.634,1391.91.9-18,176
No Religion/secular beliefs1,055,15340.338.7265,48814.615.5+789,665
Not stated229,9618.86.9190,08310.59.8+39,878
Total Population2,615,047100.0100.01,817,741100.0100.0+797,306
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Regional QLD - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2001 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic488,87318.719.6443,67124.426.4+45,202
Anglican334,26812.89.8425,98023.420.7-91,712
Uniting Church104,2494.02.6157,8938.76.7-53,644
Christian,nfd79,4833.02.729,2891.61.3+50,194
Presbyterian and Reformed59,5062.31.682,3444.53.4-22,838
Baptist36,0931.41.430,1641.71.6+5,929
Pentecostal35,3291.41.029,4071.61.0+5,922
Lutheran27,4921.10.641,8692.31.3-14,377
Buddhism25,8811.02.411,4670.61.9+14,414
Hinduism18,9140.72.72,0620.10.5+16,852
Show all (41 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001 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 QLD in 2021 compared to 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, 50.2% of the population nominated a religion, and 40.3% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in Regional QLD was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.7% of the population or 488,873 people as adherents.

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

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (12.8% compared to 9.8%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.5% compared to 3.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (0.7% compared to 2.7%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.0% compared to 2.4%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Regional QLD between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-91,712 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-53,644 persons)
  • Christian,nfd (+50,194 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (+45,202 persons)

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