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City of Canterbury BankstownCommunity profile

Cooks River Catchment area

Religion

In Cooks River Catchment area in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.8% of all people), while 31.8% of people had no religion and 7.0% did not answer the question on religion.

Cooks River Catchment area'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.

Cooks River Catchment area'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
Cooks River Catchment area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%City of Canterbury Bankstown %Number%City of Canterbury Bankstown %2016 to 2021
Christian total209,28639.841.8211,50943.146.8-2,224
Non Christian total110,29921.032.497,01319.829.5+13,285
Non-classifiable religious belief2,4600.50.32,6580.50.3-198
No Religion/secular beliefs167,31331.817.6133,32127.215.1+33,991
Not stated36,7957.08.045,8669.48.4-9,072
Total Population526,153100.0100.0490,369100.0100.0+35,783
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
Cooks River Catchment area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%City of Canterbury Bankstown %Number%City of Canterbury Bankstown %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic99,07218.818.197,97720.020.4+1,095
Islam58,91511.223.652,07410.620.8+6,841
Greek Orthodox34,4276.56.634,0786.97.1+349
Buddhism24,9204.76.123,7154.86.1+1,204
Hinduism20,8464.02.116,5523.41.9+4,293
Anglican19,9593.84.024,3325.05.7-4,373
Christian,nfd12,0462.32.310,4522.12.2+1,593
Maronite Catholic8,4731.63.16,6261.42.8+1,847
Presbyterian and Reformed5,5731.11.06,6431.41.4-1,070
Macedonian Orthodox5,0081.00.85,1241.00.9-116
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 Cooks River Catchment area in 2021 compared to the City of Canterbury Bankstown shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 60.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 31.8% said they had no religion, compared with 74.1% and 17.6% respectively for the City of Canterbury Bankstown.

The largest single religion in Cooks River Catchment area was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.8% of the population or 99,072 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Cooks River Catchment area and the City of Canterbury Bankstown were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (4.0% compared to 2.1%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (11.2% compared to 23.6%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Maronite Catholic (1.6% compared to 3.1%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (4.7% compared to 6.1%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Cooks River Catchment area between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Islam (+6,841 persons)
  • Anglican (-4,373 persons)
  • Hinduism (+4,293 persons)
  • Maronite Catholic (+1,847 persons)

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