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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn West Ward in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (21.5% of all people), while 26.6% of people had no religion and 4.1% did not answer the question on religion.
West Ward'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.
West Ward'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Ward - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | New South Wales % | Number | % | New South Wales % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 22,519 | 46.7 | 47.6 | 21,565 | 75.9 | 71.5 | +954 |
| Non Christian total | 10,795 | 22.4 | 12.1 | 2,141 | 7.5 | 6.4 | +8,654 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 140 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 356 | 1.3 | 1.5 | -217 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 12,824 | 26.6 | 33.0 | 2,626 | 9.2 | 11.7 | +10,198 |
| Not stated | 1,978 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 1,728 | 6.1 | 8.9 | +249 |
| Total Population | 48,256 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 28,418 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +19,838 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Ward - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | New South Wales % | Number | % | New South Wales % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 10,381 | 21.5 | 21.7 | 9,520 | 33.5 | 28.3 | +861 |
| Hinduism | 5,458 | 11.3 | 3.4 | 786 | 2.8 | 0.8 | +4,672 |
| Anglican | 4,443 | 9.2 | 11.9 | 6,081 | 21.4 | 23.8 | -1,638 |
| Islam | 2,250 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 528 | 1.9 | 2.2 | +1,722 |
| Buddhism | 1,676 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 521 | 1.8 | 2.3 | +1,155 |
| Christian,nfd | 1,281 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 359 | 1.3 | 1.2 | +922 |
| Pentecostal | 1,189 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 558 | 2.0 | 0.9 | +630 |
| Sikhism | 984 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 142 | 0.5 | 0.1 | +842 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 964 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 911 | 3.2 | 3.8 | +53 |
| Uniting Church | 923 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 1,695 | 6.0 | 5.3 | -773 |
Show all (33 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of West Ward in 2021 compared to New South Wales 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 26.6% said they had no religion, compared with 59.7% and 33.0% respectively for New South Wales.
The largest single religion in West Ward was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 21.5% of the population or 10,381 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of West Ward and New South Wales were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (11.3% compared to 3.4%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Pentecostal (2.5% compared to 0.9%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Sikhism (2.0% compared to 0.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (9.2% compared to 11.9%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in West Ward between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Hinduism (+4,672 persons)
- Islam (+1,722 persons)
- Anglican (-1,638 persons)
- Buddhism (+1,155 persons)
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