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The Hills Shire CouncilCommunity profile

In The Hills Shire in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (24.4% of all people), while 27.0% of people had no religion and 3.7% did not answer the question on religion.

The Hills Shire'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.

The Hills Shire'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
The Hills Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Christian total98,64951.445.895,86661.051.7+2,783
Non Christian total33,77417.617.018,22411.614.4+15,550
Non-classifiable religious belief5880.30.55510.40.5+37
No Religion/secular beliefs51,72027.030.533,70921.424.9+18,011
Not stated7,1433.76.28,8905.78.5-1,747
Total Population191,874100.0100.0157,240100.0100.0+34,634
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
The Hills Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic46,83124.422.144,03928.024.2+2,792
Anglican20,89210.99.223,48714.912.0-2,595
Hinduism15,0647.94.87,0664.53.5+7,998
Islam8,5044.46.34,0442.65.3+4,460
Buddhism5,9183.13.84,5702.93.9+1,348
Christian,nfd5,2292.72.53,6102.32.2+1,619
Pentecostal4,0052.10.94,0552.61.1-50
Presbyterian and Reformed3,9732.11.54,0962.62.0-123
Uniting Church3,9642.11.54,6002.92.0-636
Baptist3,1311.61.22,7871.81.2+344
Show all (40 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 The Hills Shire 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, 69.0% of the population nominated a religion, and 27.0% said they had no religion, compared with 62.8% and 30.5% respectively for Greater Sydney.

The largest single religion in The Hills Shire was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 24.4% of the population or 46,831 people as adherents.

The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of The Hills Shire and Greater Sydney were:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (7.9% compared to 4.8%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (24.4% compared to 22.1%)
  • A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (10.9% compared to 9.2%)
  • A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (4.4% compared to 6.3%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Hinduism (+7,998 persons)
  • Islam (+4,460 persons)
  • Western (Roman) Catholic (+2,792 persons)
  • Anglican (-2,595 persons)

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