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In Regional QLD in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.7% of all people), while 40.3% of people had no religion and 8.8% did not answer the question on religion.

Regional QLD'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.

Regional QLD'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
Regional QLD - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Christian total1,233,49747.243.91,411,95858.452.1-178,461
Non Christian total80,4733.110.065,5972.78.2+14,876
Non-classifiable religious belief15,9630.60.615,6700.60.6+293
No Religion/secular beliefs1,055,15340.338.7682,19228.229.9+372,961
Not stated229,9618.86.9244,30710.19.1-14,346
Total Population2,615,047100.0100.02,419,724100.0100.0+195,323
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
Regional QLD - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic488,87318.719.6531,76422.022.3-42,891
Anglican334,26812.89.8414,96817.113.3-80,700
Uniting Church104,2494.02.6134,5145.63.7-30,265
Christian,nfd79,4833.02.773,4033.02.6+6,080
Presbyterian and Reformed59,5062.31.678,1813.22.3-18,675
Baptist36,0931.41.438,1481.61.5-2,055
Pentecostal35,3291.41.037,2101.51.1-1,881
Lutheran27,4921.10.632,5441.30.7-5,052
Buddhism25,8811.02.426,1351.12.4-254
Hinduism18,9140.72.712,4050.51.9+6,509
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 Regional QLD 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 40.3% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in Regional QLD was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.7% of the population or 488,873 people as adherents.

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

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (12.8% compared to 9.8%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.5% compared to 3.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (0.7% compared to 2.7%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.0% compared to 2.4%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-80,700 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-42,891 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-30,265 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-18,675 persons)

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