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City of MeltonCommunity profile

In Harkness in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (25.2% of all people), while 31.6% of people had no religion and 8.0% did not answer the question on religion.

Harkness'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.

Harkness'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
Harkness - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%City of Melton %Number%City of Melton %2016 to 2021
Christian total5,66945.548.04,83354.756.8+836
Non Christian total1,78214.319.95796.611.6+1,202
Non-classifiable religious belief740.60.5460.50.5+28
No Religion/secular beliefs3,94731.624.22,53528.722.1+1,412
Not stated1,0008.07.48419.59.0+159
Total Population12,472100.0100.08,836100.0100.0+3,636
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
Harkness - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%City of Melton %Number%City of Melton %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic3,14725.227.32,73331.032.7+414
Anglican6395.13.97408.46.5-101
Christian,nfd5644.54.33954.53.7+169
Sikhism5644.55.31141.31.9+450
Hinduism5024.05.21411.62.7+360
Islam4883.96.41491.74.0+338
Uniting Church1951.61.22472.81.9-53
Buddhism1871.52.81341.52.7+52
Pentecostal1811.51.41651.91.5+16
Greek Orthodox1681.32.41411.62.7+26
Show all (26 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 Harkness in 2021 compared to the City of Melton shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 59.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 31.6% said they had no religion, compared with 67.9% and 24.2% respectively for the City of Melton.

The largest single religion in Harkness was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 25.2% of the population or 3,147 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Harkness and the City of Melton were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (5.1% compared to 3.9%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (3.9% compared to 6.4%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (25.2% compared to 27.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.5% compared to 2.8%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Sikhism (+450 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (+414 persons)
  • Hinduism (+360 persons)
  • Islam (+338 persons)

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