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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Watson Ward in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (17.1% of all people), while 53.7% of people had no religion and 5.0% did not answer the question on religion.
Watson Ward'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.
Watson Ward'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watson Ward - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Hastings % | Number | % | Hastings % | 2011 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 7,092 | 39.5 | 38.7 | 9,949 | 58.7 | 55.0 | -2,857 |
| Non Christian total | 206 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 217 | 1.3 | 1.7 | -11 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 127 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 120 | 0.7 | 1.4 | +6 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 9,647 | 53.7 | 50.2 | 5,143 | 30.4 | 32.5 | +4,504 |
| Not stated | 892 | 5.0 | 8.2 | 1,505 | 8.9 | 9.4 | -613 |
| Total Population | 17,965 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 16,936 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,029 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watson Ward - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Hastings % | Number | % | Hastings % | 2011 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 3,065 | 17.1 | 16.4 | 3,461 | 20.4 | 20.5 | -396 |
| Anglican | 2,161 | 12.0 | 12.4 | 3,742 | 22.1 | 20.7 | -1,581 |
| Uniting Church | 413 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 740 | 4.4 | 3.4 | -327 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 351 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 659 | 3.9 | 3.7 | -308 |
| Christian,nfd | 349 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 445 | 2.6 | 2.0 | -96 |
| Baptist | 252 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 296 | 1.8 | 1.6 | -45 |
| Pentecostal | 160 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 199 | 1.2 | 1.1 | -39 |
| Greek Orthodox | 93 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 108 | 0.6 | 0.4 | -14 |
| Buddhism | 88 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 101 | 0.6 | 0.6 | -13 |
| Latter Day Saints (Mormons) | 56 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 47 | 0.3 | 0.1 | +9 |
Show all (20 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Watson Ward in 2021 compared to Hastings shows that there was a similar proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 40.6% of the population nominated a religion, and 53.7% said they had no religion, compared with 40.7% and 50.2% respectively for Hastings.
The largest single religion in Watson Ward was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 17.1% of the population or 3,065 people as adherents.
There were no major differences between Watson Ward and Hastings in 2021.
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Watson Ward between 2011 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-1,581 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-396 persons)
- Uniting Church (-327 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-308 persons)
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