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City of BrimbankCommunity profile

In the Sunshine District in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (24.7% of all people), while 25.4% of people had no religion and 7.5% did not answer the question on religion.

The Sunshine District'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.

The Sunshine District'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
Sunshine District - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Deer Park District %Number%Deer Park District %2016 to 2021
Christian total19,56141.246.221,83445.649.0-2,273
Non Christian total12,08025.426.812,44926.025.2-369
Non-classifiable religious belief2400.50.42340.50.5+6
No Religion/secular beliefs12,08725.419.89,34319.517.0+2,744
Not stated3,5617.56.84,0418.48.3-480
Total Population47,529100.0100.047,901100.0100.0-372
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
Sunshine District - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Deer Park District %Number%Deer Park District %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic11,73424.727.612,75926.629.6-1,025
Buddhism6,15312.912.96,35313.312.3-200
Islam3,4207.28.63,3196.97.1+101
Hinduism1,9384.13.31,8403.83.2+98
Greek Orthodox1,7663.72.42,0284.22.8-262
Christian,nfd1,4623.14.51,2732.73.6+189
Anglican9822.11.81,2722.72.5-290
Baptist9342.02.11,2182.51.5-284
Sikhism3970.81.87771.62.3-380
Pentecostal3850.81.46401.31.8-255
Show all (32 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 the Sunshine District in 2021 compared to the Deer Park District shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 66.6% of the population nominated a religion, and 25.4% said they had no religion, compared with 73.0% and 19.8% respectively for the Deer Park District.

The largest single religion in the Sunshine District was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 24.7% of the population or 11,734 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the Sunshine District and the Deer Park District were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (3.7% compared to 2.4%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (24.7% compared to 27.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (7.2% compared to 8.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Christian,nfd (3.1% compared to 4.5%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-1,025 persons)
  • Sikhism (-380 persons)
  • Anglican (-290 persons)
  • Baptist (-284 persons)

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