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In Greater Brisbane in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.5% of all people), while 41.7% of people had no religion and 6.3% did not answer the question on religion.

Greater Brisbane'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.

Greater Brisbane'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
Greater Brisbane - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Christian total1,119,58844.343.91,218,14053.652.1-98,552
Non Christian total178,2617.110.0135,7276.08.2+42,534
Non-classifiable religious belief15,8720.60.616,0020.70.6-130
No Religion/secular beliefs1,053,74441.738.7702,91031.029.9+350,834
Not stated158,7646.36.9198,0248.79.1-39,260
Total Population2,526,229100.0100.02,270,803100.0100.0+255,426
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
Greater Brisbane - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic467,92618.519.6486,70321.422.3-18,777
Anglican245,8529.79.8303,08313.313.3-57,231
Uniting Church81,7353.22.6103,3324.63.7-21,597
Christian,nfd80,0653.22.769,5633.12.6+10,502
Baptist50,6592.01.449,3402.21.5+1,319
Hinduism50,5642.02.733,4851.51.9+17,079
Presbyterian and Reformed48,8851.91.660,0992.62.3-11,214
Buddhism47,6871.92.444,4762.02.4+3,211
Islam46,6041.83.233,8261.52.6+12,778
Pentecostal34,4291.41.035,1471.51.1-718
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 Greater Brisbane 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, 51.4% of the population nominated a religion, and 41.7% said they had no religion, compared with 53.8% and 38.7% respectively for Australia.

The largest single religion in Greater Brisbane was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.5% of the population or 467,926 people as adherents.

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

  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (1.8% compared to 3.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (18.5% compared to 19.6%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-57,231 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-21,597 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-18,777 persons)
  • Hinduism (+17,079 persons)

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