Powered by .id (informed decisions) for Canberra Region Joint Organisation area
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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Canberra Region in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (21.8% of all people), while 37.8% of people had no religion and 7.7% did not answer the question on religion.
Canberra Region'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 Region'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 Region - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Snowy Monaro Regional Council area % | Number | % | Snowy Monaro Regional Council area % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 155,102 | 50.6 | 45.8 | 168,873 | 60.1 | 55.7 | -13,771 |
| Non Christian total | 10,034 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 6,655 | 2.4 | 1.8 | +3,379 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 1,750 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1,745 | 0.6 | 0.9 | +5 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 115,774 | 37.8 | 41.9 | 76,479 | 27.2 | 30.1 | +39,295 |
| Not stated | 23,564 | 7.7 | 9.2 | 27,220 | 9.7 | 11.5 | -3,656 |
| Total Population | 306,224 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 280,972 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +25,252 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canberra Region - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Snowy Monaro Regional Council area % | Number | % | Snowy Monaro Regional Council area % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 66,884 | 21.8 | 20.2 | 69,383 | 24.7 | 23.6 | -2,499 |
| Anglican | 54,229 | 17.7 | 16.0 | 63,478 | 22.6 | 20.4 | -9,249 |
| Uniting Church | 8,261 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 9,953 | 3.5 | 2.7 | -1,692 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 6,190 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 7,656 | 2.7 | 2.6 | -1,466 |
| Christian,nfd | 6,098 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 5,497 | 2.0 | 1.6 | +601 |
| Hinduism | 2,957 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1,316 | 0.5 | 0.1 | +1,641 |
| Baptist | 2,774 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2,939 | 1.0 | 1.7 | -165 |
| Buddhism | 2,431 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 2,239 | 0.8 | 0.9 | +192 |
| Islam | 2,166 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1,330 | 0.5 | 0.3 | +836 |
| Pentecostal | 1,780 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1,594 | 0.6 | 0.5 | +186 |
Show all (39 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Canberra Region in 2021 compared to Snowy Monaro Regional Council area shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 53.9% of the population nominated a religion, and 37.8% said they had no religion, compared with 48.2% and 41.9% respectively for Snowy Monaro Regional Council area.
The largest single religion in Canberra Region was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 21.8% of the population or 66,884 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Canberra Region and Snowy Monaro Regional Council area were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (17.7% compared to 16.0%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (21.8% compared to 20.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Canberra Region between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-9,249 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-2,499 persons)
- Uniting Church (-1,692 persons)
- Hinduism (+1,641 persons)
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