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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn New South Wales in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (21.7% of all people), while 33.0% of people had no religion and 6.8% did not answer the question on religion.
New South Wales'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.
New South Wales'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 3,844,641 | 47.6 | 43.9 | 4,429,322 | 67.7 | 63.9 | -584,681 |
| Non Christian total | 973,513 | 12.1 | 10.0 | 484,147 | 7.4 | 5.6 | +489,366 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 39,319 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 36,814 | 0.6 | 0.7 | +2,505 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 2,666,328 | 33.0 | 38.7 | 931,610 | 14.2 | 18.7 | +1,734,718 |
| Not stated | 548,340 | 6.8 | 6.9 | 657,046 | 10.0 | 11.2 | -108,706 |
| Total Population | 8,072,141 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 6,538,939 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,533,202 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 1,749,270 | 21.7 | 19.6 | 1,811,434 | 27.7 | 25.6 | -62,164 |
| Anglican | 960,305 | 11.9 | 9.8 | 1,423,190 | 21.8 | 18.7 | -462,885 |
| Islam | 349,240 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 168,530 | 2.6 | 1.7 | +180,710 |
| Hinduism | 273,780 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 73,717 | 1.1 | 0.7 | +200,063 |
| Buddhism | 222,770 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 167,798 | 2.6 | 2.1 | +54,972 |
| Christian,nfd | 193,728 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 86,738 | 1.3 | 1.6 | +106,990 |
| Uniting Church | 172,132 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 298,975 | 4.6 | 5.7 | -126,843 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 153,481 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 218,841 | 3.3 | 3.0 | -65,360 |
| Greek Orthodox | 134,326 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 129,875 | 2.0 | 1.9 | +4,451 |
| Baptist | 93,624 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 96,398 | 1.5 | 1.6 | -2,774 |
Show all (41 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of New South Wales in 2021 compared to Australia shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 59.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 33.0% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.
The largest single religion in New South Wales was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 21.7% of the population or 1,749,270 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of New South Wales and Australia were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (11.9% compared to 9.8%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (21.7% compared to 19.6%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Islam (4.3% compared to 3.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in New South Wales between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-462,885 persons)
- Hinduism (+200,063 persons)
- Islam (+180,710 persons)
- Uniting Church (-126,843 persons)
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