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Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC)Community profile

Waverley Council Area

Religion

In Waverley Council Area in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.7% of all people), while 41.8% of people had no religion and 7.6% did not answer the question on religion.

Waverley Council Area'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.

Waverley Council Area'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
Waverley Council Area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
Religion totalsNumber%SSROC region %Number%SSROC region %2006 to 2021
Christian total21,66431.642.824,66840.658.9-3,004
Non Christian total12,66718.516.511,91219.612.4+755
Non-classifiable religious belief4480.70.56321.00.6-184
No Religion/secular beliefs28,64441.833.510,90918.015.4+17,735
Not stated5,1837.66.712,59120.712.6-7,408
Total Population68,606100.0100.060,712100.0100.0+7,894
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2006 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Religion - Ranked by size
Waverley Council Area - Total persons (Usual residence)20212006Change
ReligionNumber%SSROC region %Number%SSROC region %2006 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic12,85018.721.112,62220.826.7+228
Judaism11,00916.01.710,20816.81.8+801
Anglican4,6016.77.07,11711.713.8-2,516
Greek Orthodox1,3912.04.81,3052.15.7+86
Buddhism8271.24.21,0101.74.0-183
Christian,nfd6681.02.03470.61.0+321
Presbyterian and Reformed4950.71.21,0171.72.3-522
Uniting Church4300.61.18781.42.6-448
Islam3150.57.22760.54.9+39
Hinduism3110.53.01540.31.3+157
Show all (33 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2006 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 Waverley Council Area in 2021 compared to SSROC region shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 50.0% of the population nominated a religion, and 41.8% said they had no religion, compared with 59.4% and 33.5% respectively for SSROC region.

The largest single religion in Waverley Council Area was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.7% of the population or 12,850 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Waverley Council Area and SSROC region were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Judaism (16.0% compared to 1.7%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.5% compared to 7.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.2% compared to 4.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (2.0% compared to 4.8%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Waverley Council Area between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:

  • Anglican (-2,516 persons)
  • Judaism (+801 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-522 persons)
  • Uniting Church (-448 persons)

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