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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Sunshine Coast in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% of all people), while 46.4% of people had no religion and 6.7% did not answer the question on religion.
Sunshine Coast'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.
Sunshine Coast'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunshine Coast - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Regional QLD % | Number | % | Regional QLD % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 149,504 | 43.6 | 47.2 | 146,576 | 63.8 | 67.0 | +2,928 |
| Non Christian total | 8,627 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 3,544 | 1.5 | 1.7 | +5,083 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 2,486 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1,885 | 0.8 | 0.7 | +601 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 158,960 | 46.4 | 40.3 | 50,714 | 22.1 | 18.4 | +108,246 |
| Not stated | 22,955 | 6.7 | 8.8 | 27,137 | 11.8 | 12.3 | -4,182 |
| Total Population | 342,532 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 229,856 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +112,676 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunshine Coast - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Regional QLD % | Number | % | Regional QLD % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 53,893 | 15.7 | 18.7 | 44,844 | 19.5 | 23.5 | +9,049 |
| Anglican | 41,405 | 12.1 | 12.8 | 49,422 | 21.5 | 21.7 | -8,017 |
| Uniting Church | 12,751 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 16,826 | 7.3 | 7.5 | -4,075 |
| Christian,nfd | 11,553 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 5,384 | 2.3 | 1.9 | +6,169 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 7,138 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 8,960 | 3.9 | 4.0 | -1,822 |
| Baptist | 6,796 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 5,648 | 2.5 | 1.6 | +1,148 |
| Pentecostal | 5,107 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 4,326 | 1.9 | 1.5 | +781 |
| Buddhism | 3,384 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1,939 | 0.8 | 0.7 | +1,445 |
| Lutheran | 3,274 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 4,464 | 1.9 | 2.1 | -1,190 |
| Hinduism | 2,280 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 256 | 0.1 | 0.2 | +2,024 |
Show all (40 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Sunshine Coast in 2021 compared to Regional QLD shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 46.2% of the population nominated a religion, and 46.4% said they had no religion, compared with 50.2% and 40.3% respectively for Regional QLD.
The largest single religion in Sunshine Coast was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.7% of the population or 53,893 people as adherents.
The major difference between the religious affiliation for the population of Sunshine Coast and Regional QLD was:
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% compared to 18.7%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Sunshine Coast between 2006 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Western (Roman) Catholic (+9,049 persons)
- Anglican (-8,017 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+6,169 persons)
- Uniting Church (-4,075 persons)
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