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City of BrimbankCommunity profile

In the City of Brimbank in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (29.2% of all people), while 21.1% of people had no religion and 7.1% did not answer the question on religion.

The City of Brimbank'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 City of Brimbank'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
City of Brimbank - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Melbourne %Number%Greater Melbourne %2016 to 2021
Christian total93,95948.340.1100,83951.946.3-6,880
Non Christian total44,79423.016.343,42422.313.2+1,370
Non-classifiable religious belief8070.40.69080.50.7-101
No Religion/secular beliefs41,14121.137.232,89516.931.3+8,246
Not stated13,8937.15.816,2468.48.6-2,353
Total Population194,594100.0100.0194,312100.0100.0+282
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
City of Brimbank - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Melbourne %Number%Greater Melbourne %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic56,75129.220.560,34731.123.2-3,596
Buddhism21,60211.13.920,96410.83.8+638
Islam13,0316.75.311,3215.84.2+1,710
Greek Orthodox7,6773.93.38,3214.33.5-644
Christian,nfd7,4903.82.76,8183.52.6+672
Hinduism6,0703.14.15,6532.92.9+417
Anglican4,6062.45.55,9723.17.6-1,366
Sikhism3,5681.81.74,9622.61.1-1,394
Baptist3,1001.61.32,9421.51.3+158
Macedonian Orthodox2,6461.40.42,8621.50.4-216
Show all (38 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 City of Brimbank in 2021 compared to Greater Melbourne shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 71.3% of the population nominated a religion, and 21.1% said they had no religion, compared with 56.4% and 37.2% respectively for Greater Melbourne.

The largest single religion in the City of Brimbank was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 29.2% of the population or 56,751 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the City of Brimbank and Greater Melbourne were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (29.2% compared to 20.5%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Buddhism (11.1% compared to 3.9%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Islam (6.7% compared to 5.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (2.4% compared to 5.5%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-3,596 persons)
  • Islam (+1,710 persons)
  • Sikhism (-1,394 persons)
  • Anglican (-1,366 persons)

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