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In South Australia in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.4% of all people), while 45.6% of people had no religion and 6.0% did not answer the question on religion.

South 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.

South 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
South Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Christian total712,98340.043.9823,42949.152.1-110,446
Non Christian total139,4627.810.0100,2886.08.2+39,174
Non-classifiable religious belief10,2280.60.611,1380.70.6-910
No Religion/secular beliefs811,64945.638.7599,75235.829.9+211,897
Not stated107,1896.06.9142,0448.59.1-34,855
Total Population1,781,511100.0100.01,676,651100.0100.0+104,860
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
South Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic273,88215.419.6299,39617.922.3-25,514
Anglican127,9707.29.8167,65810.013.3-39,688
Uniting Church84,7974.82.6118,2297.13.7-33,432
Christian,nfd47,1122.62.746,5312.82.6+581
Lutheran43,3052.40.651,7053.10.7-8,400
Islam40,3022.33.228,5471.72.6+11,755
Hinduism38,1052.12.722,9221.41.9+15,183
Greek Orthodox36,1492.01.534,9992.11.6+1,150
Buddhism33,7881.92.431,2891.92.4+2,499
Baptist26,2261.51.426,4761.61.5-250
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 South 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, 47.8% of the population nominated a religion, and 45.6% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in South Australia was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.4% of the population or 273,882 people as adherents.

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

  • A larger percentage who nominated Uniting Church (4.8% compared to 2.6%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Lutheran (2.4% compared to 0.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.4% compared to 19.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (7.2% compared to 9.8%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-39,688 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-33,432 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-25,514 persons)
  • Hinduism (+15,183 persons)

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