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In Tasmania in 2021, the largest religious group was Anglican (14.4% of all people), while 49.9% of people had no religion and 6.7% did not answer the question on religion.

Tasmania'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.

Tasmania'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
Tasmania - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australian Capital Territory %Number%Australian Capital Territory %2016 to 2021
Christian total213,96238.438.1253,50449.745.4-39,542
Non Christian total25,0914.512.111,7572.38.7+13,334
Non-classifiable religious belief3,0340.50.63,4050.70.8-371
No Religion/secular beliefs278,05549.944.0194,15938.136.6+83,896
Not stated37,4506.75.247,1369.28.5-9,686
Total Population557,592100.0100.0509,961100.0100.0+47,631
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
Tasmania - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Australian Capital Territory %Number%Australian Capital Territory %2016 to 2021
Anglican80,38014.48.2103,83920.410.8-23,459
Western (Roman) Catholic70,97312.719.179,41715.622.1-8,444
Uniting Church14,4472.61.819,3413.82.4-4,894
Christian,nfd13,9862.52.312,7992.52.3+1,187
Hinduism9,7241.74.52,5540.52.6+7,170
Presbyterian and Reformed8,2401.51.410,1542.01.9-1,914
Baptist6,5181.20.97,5731.51.0-1,055
Buddhism5,6051.02.84,0490.82.5+1,556
Islam4,9470.93.22,4980.52.5+2,449
Pentecostal4,8040.90.95,3311.01.0-527
Show all (40 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 Tasmania in 2021 compared to Australian Capital Territory shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 42.9% of the population nominated a religion, and 49.9% said they had no religion, compared with 50.2% and 44.0% respectively for Australian Capital Territory.

The largest single religion in Tasmania was Anglican, with 14.4% of the population or 80,380 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Tasmania and Australian Capital Territory were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (14.4% compared to 8.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (12.7% compared to 19.1%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (1.7% compared to 4.5%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.9% compared to 3.2%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-23,459 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-8,444 persons)
  • Hinduism (+7,170 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-4,894 persons)

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