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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Wollongong in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (17.9% of all people), while 40.6% of people had no religion and 6.6% did not answer the question on religion.
Wollongong'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.
Wollongong'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wollongong - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Wollongong City % | Number | % | Wollongong City % | 2011 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 8,576 | 42.0 | 50.3 | 9,027 | 55.1 | 68.7 | -452 |
| Non Christian total | 2,053 | 10.0 | 5.2 | 1,546 | 9.4 | 4.4 | +506 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 159 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 181 | 1.1 | 0.8 | -22 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 8,298 | 40.6 | 38.6 | 3,991 | 24.4 | 19.6 | +4,306 |
| Not stated | 1,348 | 6.6 | 5.4 | 1,631 | 10.0 | 6.6 | -284 |
| Total Population | 20,434 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 16,379 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +4,054 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wollongong - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Wollongong City % | Number | % | Wollongong City % | 2011 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 3,666 | 17.9 | 22.6 | 3,557 | 21.7 | 28.1 | +109 |
| Anglican | 1,737 | 8.5 | 12.7 | 2,227 | 13.6 | 20.9 | -491 |
| Islam | 869 | 4.3 | 2.6 | 763 | 4.7 | 2.1 | +106 |
| Christian,nfd | 653 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 246 | 1.5 | 1.7 | +407 |
| Hinduism | 525 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 196 | 1.2 | 0.4 | +329 |
| Buddhism | 473 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 504 | 3.1 | 1.4 | -31 |
| Greek Orthodox | 468 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 450 | 2.8 | 1.8 | +17 |
| Macedonian Orthodox | 442 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 379 | 2.3 | 2.1 | +62 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 312 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 427 | 2.6 | 3.0 | -116 |
| Uniting Church | 290 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 476 | 2.9 | 4.6 | -187 |
Show all (29 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Wollongong in 2021 compared to Wollongong City shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 52.0% of the population nominated a religion, and 40.6% said they had no religion, compared with 55.5% and 38.6% respectively for Wollongong City.
The largest single religion in Wollongong was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 17.9% of the population or 3,666 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Wollongong and Wollongong City were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (2.6% compared to 0.9%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Islam (4.3% compared to 2.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (17.9% compared to 22.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (8.5% compared to 12.7%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Wollongong between 2011 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-491 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+407 persons)
- Hinduism (+329 persons)
- Other Eastern Orthodox (-287 persons)
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