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Rockhampton Regional CouncilCommunity profile

In Rockhampton in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (22.0% of all people), while 37.2% of people had no religion and 8.6% did not answer the question on religion.

Rockhampton'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.

Rockhampton'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
Rockhampton - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Regional QLD %Number%Regional QLD %2016 to 2021
Christian total41,59150.747.251,48064.658.4-9,889
Non Christian total2,4273.03.12,2322.82.7+195
Non-classifiable religious belief3450.40.64000.50.6-55
No Religion/secular beliefs30,51637.240.318,32423.028.2+12,192
Not stated7,0838.68.87,2929.110.1-209
Total Population81,962100.0100.079,728100.0100.0+2,234
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
Rockhampton - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Regional QLD %Number%Regional QLD %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic17,99222.018.720,99326.322.0-3,001
Anglican10,28512.512.813,92517.517.1-3,640
Uniting Church4,1155.04.05,4856.95.6-1,370
Presbyterian and Reformed2,3032.82.33,2434.13.2-940
Christian,nfd2,0732.53.02,1802.73.0-107
Baptist1,6392.01.41,8762.41.6-237
Pentecostal1,1271.41.41,2301.51.5-103
Hinduism8571.00.76010.80.5+256
Buddhism6500.81.06750.81.1-25
Lutheran4660.61.15640.71.3-98
Show all (31 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 Rockhampton in 2021 compared to Regional QLD shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 53.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 37.2% said they had no religion, compared with 50.2% and 40.3% respectively for Regional QLD.

The largest single religion in Rockhampton was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 22.0% of the population or 17,992 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Rockhampton and Regional QLD were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (22.0% compared to 18.7%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Uniting Church (5.0% compared to 4.0%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-3,640 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-3,001 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-1,370 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-940 persons)

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