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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Oak Park in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (27.9% of all people), while 33.9% of people had no religion and 5.2% did not answer the question on religion.
Oak Park'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.
Oak Park'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Park - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | City of Merri-bek % | Number | % | City of Merri-bek % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 2,956 | 43.9 | 36.7 | 3,137 | 49.7 | 42.6 | -181 |
| Non Christian total | 1,122 | 16.7 | 16.3 | 888 | 14.1 | 15.7 | +234 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 26 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 31 | 0.5 | 0.8 | -5 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 2,280 | 33.9 | 41.0 | 1,722 | 27.3 | 32.4 | +557 |
| Not stated | 347 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 530 | 8.4 | 8.6 | -184 |
| Total Population | 6,731 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 6,310 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +421 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Park - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | City of Merri-bek % | Number | % | City of Merri-bek % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 1,880 | 27.9 | 22.9 | 1,893 | 30.1 | 26.6 | -13 |
| Hinduism | 446 | 6.6 | 3.6 | 291 | 4.6 | 3.0 | +155 |
| Islam | 437 | 6.5 | 9.8 | 336 | 5.3 | 9.8 | +101 |
| Anglican | 276 | 4.1 | 2.7 | 370 | 5.9 | 3.7 | -95 |
| Buddhism | 198 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 168 | 2.7 | 2.1 | +29 |
| Greek Orthodox | 194 | 2.9 | 5.4 | 202 | 3.2 | 5.9 | -9 |
| Christian,nfd | 164 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 137 | 2.2 | 1.4 | +26 |
| Uniting Church | 97 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 144 | 2.3 | 1.2 | -48 |
| Baptist | 58 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 71 | 1.1 | 0.5 | -14 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 51 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 88 | 1.4 | 0.8 | -37 |
Show all (24 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Oak Park in 2021 compared to the City of Merri-bek shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 60.6% of the population nominated a religion, and 33.9% said they had no religion, compared with 53.0% and 41.0% respectively for the City of Merri-bek.
The largest single religion in Oak Park was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 27.9% of the population or 1,880 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Oak Park and the City of Merri-bek were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (27.9% compared to 22.9%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (6.6% compared to 3.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (6.5% compared to 9.8%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (2.9% compared to 5.4%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Oak Park between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Hinduism (+155 persons)
- Islam (+101 persons)
- Anglican (-95 persons)
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