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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Sutherland Shire in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (27.1% of all people), while 33.7% of people had no religion and 4.3% did not answer the question on religion.
Sutherland Shire'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.
Sutherland Shire'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutherland Shire - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Western Sydney (LGA) % | Number | % | Western Sydney (LGA) % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 134,564 | 58.4 | 46.7 | 156,354 | 76.1 | 65.5 | -21,790 |
| Non Christian total | 7,024 | 3.1 | 24.3 | 4,774 | 2.3 | 14.8 | +2,250 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 1,015 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 962 | 0.5 | 0.4 | +53 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 77,653 | 33.7 | 22.0 | 26,561 | 12.9 | 10.5 | +51,092 |
| Not stated | 9,968 | 4.3 | 6.7 | 16,798 | 8.2 | 8.7 | -6,830 |
| Total Population | 230,224 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 205,449 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +24,775 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutherland Shire - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Western Sydney (LGA) % | Number | % | Western Sydney (LGA) % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 62,382 | 27.1 | 22.6 | 62,670 | 30.5 | 30.4 | -288 |
| Anglican | 37,516 | 16.3 | 7.8 | 55,305 | 26.9 | 16.2 | -17,789 |
| Greek Orthodox | 8,070 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 6,431 | 3.1 | 2.7 | +1,639 |
| Uniting Church | 5,122 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 10,242 | 5.0 | 2.9 | -5,120 |
| Christian,nfd | 4,656 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2,362 | 1.1 | 1.3 | +2,294 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 3,914 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 6,104 | 3.0 | 2.3 | -2,190 |
| Baptist | 3,583 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 4,307 | 2.1 | 1.6 | -724 |
| Buddhism | 2,589 | 1.1 | 4.7 | 1,794 | 0.9 | 5.0 | +795 |
| Pentecostal | 2,081 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1,981 | 1.0 | 1.4 | +100 |
| Islam | 2,068 | 0.9 | 10.7 | 1,410 | 0.7 | 6.5 | +658 |
Show all (40 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Sutherland Shire in 2021 compared to Western Sydney (LGA) shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 61.5% of the population nominated a religion, and 33.7% said they had no religion, compared with 70.9% and 22.0% respectively for Western Sydney (LGA).
The largest single religion in Sutherland Shire was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 27.1% of the population or 62,382 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Sutherland Shire and Western Sydney (LGA) were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (16.3% compared to 7.8%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (27.1% compared to 22.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.9% compared to 10.7%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (0.6% compared to 6.8%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Sutherland Shire between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-17,789 persons)
- Uniting Church (-5,120 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+2,294 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-2,190 persons)
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