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Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC)Community profile

In SSROC region in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (21.1% of all people), while 33.5% of people had no religion and 6.7% did not answer the question on religion.

SSROC region'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.

SSROC region'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
SSROC region - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Christian total751,61742.845.8786,79246.751.7-35,175
Non Christian total290,14916.517.0252,41515.014.4+37,734
Non-classifiable religious belief8,4680.50.59,0430.50.5-575
No Religion/secular beliefs587,14133.530.5473,43928.124.9+113,702
Not stated117,1296.76.2163,2459.78.5-46,116
Total Population1,754,504100.0100.01,684,934100.0100.0+69,570
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
SSROC region - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic370,89421.122.1379,28822.524.2-8,394
Islam125,6477.26.3104,8286.25.3+20,819
Anglican122,3737.09.2148,0428.812.0-25,669
Greek Orthodox83,6474.82.380,8944.82.4+2,753
Buddhism73,3704.23.870,9184.23.9+2,452
Hinduism53,4423.04.842,1252.53.5+11,317
Christian,nfd35,8412.02.531,2021.92.2+4,639
Judaism29,4891.70.726,7571.60.7+2,732
Presbyterian and Reformed21,8071.21.527,4381.62.0-5,631
Uniting Church19,2911.11.524,9041.52.0-5,613
Show all (41 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 SSROC region in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 59.4% of the population nominated a religion, and 33.5% said they had no religion, compared with 62.8% and 30.5% respectively for Greater Sydney.

The largest single religion in SSROC region was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 21.1% of the population or 370,894 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of SSROC region and Greater Sydney were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Greek Orthodox (4.8% compared to 2.3%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (7.0% compared to 9.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (3.0% compared to 4.8%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Anglican (-25,669 persons)
  • Islam (+20,819 persons)
  • Hinduism (+11,317 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (-8,394 persons)

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