Powered by .id (informed decisions) for Penrith City Council
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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Penrith City in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (28.2% of all people), while 29.2% of people had no religion and 7.0% did not answer the question on religion.
Penrith City'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.
Penrith City'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith City - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 118,119 | 54.3 | 45.8 | 132,066 | 76.6 | 68.1 | -13,947 |
| Non Christian total | 19,820 | 9.1 | 17.0 | 6,058 | 3.5 | 9.5 | +13,762 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 966 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 2,226 | 1.3 | 1.6 | -1,260 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 63,504 | 29.2 | 30.5 | 16,900 | 9.8 | 11.9 | +46,604 |
| Not stated | 15,264 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 15,105 | 8.8 | 9.0 | +159 |
| Total Population | 217,673 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 172,355 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +45,318 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith City - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | Number | % | Greater Sydney % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 61,384 | 28.2 | 22.1 | 59,062 | 34.3 | 29.1 | +2,322 |
| Anglican | 28,607 | 13.1 | 9.2 | 44,976 | 26.1 | 20.2 | -16,369 |
| Hinduism | 7,248 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 1,522 | 0.9 | 1.2 | +5,726 |
| Islam | 6,656 | 3.1 | 6.3 | 2,380 | 1.4 | 3.4 | +4,276 |
| Christian,nfd | 6,108 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2,002 | 1.2 | 1.1 | +4,106 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 3,574 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 5,863 | 3.4 | 3.0 | -2,289 |
| Uniting Church | 3,037 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 6,347 | 3.7 | 3.9 | -3,310 |
| Pentecostal | 2,868 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 2,262 | 1.3 | 0.9 | +606 |
| Sikhism | 2,681 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 472 | 0.3 | 0.2 | +2,209 |
| Greek Orthodox | 2,500 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 2,238 | 1.3 | 2.9 | +262 |
Show all (41 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Penrith City in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 63.4% of the population nominated a religion, and 29.2% said they had no religion, compared with 62.8% and 30.5% respectively for Greater Sydney.
The largest single religion in Penrith City was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 28.2% of the population or 61,384 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Penrith City and Greater Sydney were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (28.2% compared to 22.1%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (13.1% compared to 9.2%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (3.1% compared to 6.3%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.1% compared to 3.8%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Penrith City between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-16,369 persons)
- Hinduism (+5,726 persons)
- Islam (+4,276 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+4,106 persons)
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