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In Canberra 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.

Canberra'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.

Canberra'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
Canberra - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2001 to 2021
Christian total173,09338.143.9198,18864.168.0-25,095
Non Christian total54,74712.110.014,1784.64.8+40,569
Non-classifiable religious belief2,8940.60.66,0452.01.9-3,151
No Religion/secular beliefs199,60544.038.760,69919.615.5+138,906
Not stated23,5575.26.930,0679.79.8-6,510
Total Population453,896100.0100.0309,177100.0100.0+144,719
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Canberra - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2001 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic86,74419.119.689,73929.026.4-2,995
Anglican37,1138.29.857,18718.520.7-20,074
Hinduism20,4984.52.72,2950.70.5+18,203
Islam14,6023.23.23,4861.11.5+11,116
Buddhism12,6852.82.46,3062.01.9+6,379
Christian,nfd10,6182.32.75,4491.81.3+5,169
Uniting Church7,9951.82.614,1264.66.7-6,131
Presbyterian and Reformed6,2421.41.69,5943.13.4-3,352
Greek Orthodox4,4841.01.54,0461.31.9+438
Sikhism4,3231.00.82490.10.1+4,074
Show all (41 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001 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 Canberra 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 Canberra 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 Canberra 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 Canberra between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-20,074 persons)
  • Hinduism (+18,203 persons)
  • Islam (+11,116 persons)
  • Buddhism (+6,379 persons)

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