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In Blacktown City in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (24.0% of all people), while 18.3% of people had no religion and 6.7% did not answer the question on religion.

Blacktown City'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.

Blacktown City'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
Blacktown City - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Western Sydney (LGA) %Number%Western Sydney (LGA) %2016 to 2021
Christian total184,74546.646.7189,86056.353.4-5,115
Non Christian total111,55428.124.370,07620.820.6+41,478
Non-classifiable religious belief1,5380.40.41,2990.40.4+239
No Religion/secular beliefs72,55118.322.051,07315.217.8+21,478
Not stated26,4096.76.724,6567.37.8+1,753
Total Population396,797100.0100.0336,964100.0100.0+59,833
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
Blacktown City - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Western Sydney (LGA) %Number%Western Sydney (LGA) %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic95,24024.022.696,10428.525.4-864
Hinduism51,80113.16.828,7818.54.9+23,020
Islam31,7598.010.722,6456.79.1+9,114
Anglican28,9717.37.835,86410.610.8-6,893
Sikhism18,1344.61.311,3803.41.0+6,754
Christian,nfd13,6403.43.010,6813.22.6+2,959
Buddhism7,5911.94.75,7311.74.8+1,860
Pentecostal7,1521.81.27,5632.21.4-411
Presbyterian and Reformed5,3771.41.45,9871.81.8-610
Uniting Church5,3141.31.36,2781.91.8-964
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 Blacktown City in 2021 compared to Western Sydney (LGA) shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 74.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 18.3% said they had no religion, compared with 70.9% and 22.0% respectively for Western Sydney (LGA).

The largest single religion in Blacktown City was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 24.0% of the population or 95,240 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Blacktown City and Western Sydney (LGA) were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (13.1% compared to 6.8%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Sikhism (4.6% compared to 1.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.9% compared to 4.7%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (8.0% compared to 10.7%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Hinduism (+23,020 persons)
  • Islam (+9,114 persons)
  • Anglican (-6,893 persons)
  • Sikhism (+6,754 persons)

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