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Hornsby Shire CouncilCommunity profile

In Hornsby Shire in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.5% of all people), while 36.3% of people had no religion and 4.3% did not answer the question on religion.

Hornsby 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.

Hornsby 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
Hornsby Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Christian total69,32845.745.875,85853.251.7-6,530
Non Christian total20,06013.217.014,58710.214.4+5,473
Non-classifiable religious belief7320.50.57090.50.5+23
No Religion/secular beliefs55,13036.330.541,64729.224.9+13,483
Not stated6,5644.36.29,8646.98.5-3,300
Total Population151,814100.0100.0142,665100.0100.0+9,149
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
Hornsby Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic28,01318.522.129,70520.824.2-1,692
Anglican18,58112.29.222,07015.512.0-3,489
Hinduism10,1906.74.86,5154.63.5+3,675
Buddhism4,9533.33.84,3463.03.9+607
Uniting Church4,3122.81.55,6414.02.0-1,329
Christian,nfd4,1282.72.53,4052.42.2+723
Baptist3,4502.31.23,4062.41.2+44
Presbyterian and Reformed3,3802.21.53,9312.82.0-551
Islam2,9722.06.32,0761.55.3+896
Pentecostal1,4941.00.91,7741.21.1-280
Show all (40 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 Hornsby Shire in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 58.9% of the population nominated a religion, and 36.3% said they had no religion, compared with 62.8% and 30.5% respectively for Greater Sydney.

The largest single religion in Hornsby Shire was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.5% of the population or 28,013 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Hornsby Shire and Greater Sydney were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (12.2% compared to 9.2%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (6.7% compared to 4.8%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (2.0% compared to 6.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (18.5% compared to 22.1%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Hinduism (+3,675 persons)
  • Anglican (-3,489 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-1,692 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-1,329 persons)

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