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AustraliaCommunity profile

Australian Capital Territory

Religion

In Australian Capital Territory in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (19.1% of all people), while 44.0% of people had no religion and 5.2% did not answer the question on religion.

Australian Capital Territory'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.

Australian Capital Territory'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
Australian Capital Territory - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2006 to 2021
Christian total173,09338.143.9194,75860.263.9-21,665
Non Christian total54,74712.110.017,5465.45.6+37,201
Non-classifiable religious belief2,8940.60.62,5200.80.7+374
No Religion/secular beliefs199,60544.038.775,47223.318.7+124,133
Not stated23,5575.26.932,96610.211.2-9,409
Total Population453,896100.0100.0323,262100.0100.0+130,634
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
Australian Capital Territory - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2006 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic86,74419.119.690,62228.025.6-3,878
Anglican37,1138.29.854,10216.718.7-16,989
Hinduism20,4984.52.73,2891.00.7+17,209
Islam14,6023.23.24,3521.31.7+10,250
Buddhism12,6852.82.47,1352.22.1+5,550
Christian,nfd10,6182.32.75,7171.81.6+4,901
Uniting Church7,9951.82.613,0194.05.7-5,024
Presbyterian and Reformed6,2421.41.68,8252.73.0-2,583
Greek Orthodox4,4841.01.54,1181.31.9+366
Sikhism4,3231.00.83610.10.1+3,962
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 Australian Capital Territory 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 44.0% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in Australian Capital Territory was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 19.1% of the population or 86,744 people as adherents.

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

  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (4.5% compared to 2.7%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (8.2% compared to 9.8%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Australian Capital Territory between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Hinduism (+17,209 persons)
  • Anglican (-16,989 persons)
  • Islam (+10,250 persons)
  • Buddhism (+5,550 persons)

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