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City of Merri-bekCommunity profile

In the City of Merri-bek in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (22.9% of all people), while 41.0% of people had no religion and 5.4% did not answer the question on religion.

The City of Merri-bek'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.

The City of Merri-bek'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
City of Merri-bek - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Victoria %Number%Victoria %2016 to 2021
Christian total62,91236.740.969,20342.647.9-6,291
Non Christian total27,87516.313.125,59915.710.6+2,276
Non-classifiable religious belief1,1810.70.61,2410.80.6-60
No Religion/secular beliefs70,20241.039.152,60132.431.9+17,601
Not stated9,1715.46.313,9178.68.9-4,746
Total Population171,341100.0100.0162,561100.0100.0+8,780
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
City of Merri-bek - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Victoria %Number%Victoria %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic39,22522.920.343,18026.623.0-3,955
Islam16,7489.84.215,8519.83.3+897
Greek Orthodox9,3355.42.69,6195.92.7-284
Hinduism6,1913.63.34,8013.02.3+1,390
Anglican4,5852.76.55,9903.79.0-1,405
Buddhism3,5142.13.13,3872.13.1+127
Christian,nfd2,3741.42.52,2121.42.5+162
Uniting Church1,5320.92.42,0231.23.3-491
Presbyterian and Reformed8150.51.41,2230.82.0-408
Baptist7430.41.37710.51.3-28
Show all (38 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 the City of Merri-bek in 2021 compared to Victoria shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 53.0% of the population nominated a religion, and 41.0% said they had no religion, compared with 54.0% and 39.1% respectively for Victoria.

The largest single religion in the City of Merri-bek was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 22.9% of the population or 39,225 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the City of Merri-bek and Victoria were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Islam (9.8% compared to 4.2%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (5.4% compared to 2.6%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (22.9% compared to 20.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (2.7% compared to 6.5%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-3,955 persons)
  • Anglican (-1,405 persons)
  • Hinduism (+1,390 persons)
  • Islam (+897 persons)

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