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In Western Australia in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.6% of all people), while 42.8% of people had no religion and 7.5% did not answer the question on religion.

Western Australia'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.

Western Australia'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
Western Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2006 to 2021
Christian total1,093,72941.143.91,159,44959.463.9-65,720
Non Christian total212,5608.010.083,1354.35.6+129,425
Non-classifiable religious belief16,0400.60.614,4380.70.7+1,602
No Religion/secular beliefs1,137,48242.838.7446,64922.918.7+690,833
Not stated200,2107.56.9249,10212.811.2-48,892
Total Population2,660,021100.0100.01,952,773100.0100.0+707,248
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2006 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Western Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2006 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic495,42318.619.6462,64123.725.6+32,782
Anglican269,58310.19.8399,39220.518.7-129,809
Christian,nfd89,9193.42.740,4982.11.6+49,421
Islam66,7642.53.224,1301.21.7+42,634
Buddhism57,6222.22.434,2751.82.1+23,347
Hinduism52,0552.02.78,1100.40.7+43,945
Baptist42,6001.61.432,6611.71.6+9,939
Uniting Church42,5261.62.674,1303.85.7-31,604
Presbyterian and Reformed34,5491.31.643,6352.23.0-9,086
Pentecostal27,4631.01.017,8860.91.1+9,577
Show all (41 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2006 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 Western Australia 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, 49.1% of the population nominated a religion, and 42.8% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in Western Australia was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.6% of the population or 495,423 people as adherents.

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

  • A smaller percentage who nominated Uniting Church (1.6% compared to 2.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (18.6% compared to 19.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (0.5% compared to 1.5%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Western Australia between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-129,809 persons)
  • Christian,nfd (+49,421 persons)
  • Hinduism (+43,945 persons)
  • Islam (+42,634 persons)

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