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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Yarra Ranges Council in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.2% of all people), while 53.6% of people had no religion and 5.2% did not answer the question on religion.
Yarra Ranges Council'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.
Yarra Ranges Council'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarra Ranges Council - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Greater Melbourne % | Number | % | Greater Melbourne % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 59,069 | 37.8 | 40.1 | 68,535 | 45.8 | 46.3 | -9,466 |
| Non Christian total | 3,985 | 2.6 | 16.3 | 3,349 | 2.2 | 13.2 | +636 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 1,249 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1,407 | 0.9 | 0.7 | -158 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 83,673 | 53.6 | 37.2 | 63,989 | 42.8 | 31.3 | +19,684 |
| Not stated | 8,111 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 12,258 | 8.2 | 8.6 | -4,147 |
| Total Population | 156,087 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 149,538 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +6,549 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarra Ranges Council - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Greater Melbourne % | Number | % | Greater Melbourne % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 23,717 | 15.2 | 20.5 | 27,010 | 18.1 | 23.2 | -3,293 |
| Anglican | 12,120 | 7.8 | 5.5 | 16,247 | 10.9 | 7.6 | -4,127 |
| Christian,nfd | 5,779 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 5,774 | 3.9 | 2.6 | +5 |
| Uniting Church | 3,868 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 5,161 | 3.5 | 2.3 | -1,293 |
| Baptist | 3,835 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 3,416 | 2.3 | 1.3 | +419 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 2,361 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 3,444 | 2.3 | 1.6 | -1,083 |
| Buddhism | 1,564 | 1.0 | 3.9 | 1,489 | 1.0 | 3.8 | +75 |
| Pentecostal | 1,495 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1,682 | 1.1 | 0.9 | -187 |
| Seventh Day Adventist | 939 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 902 | 0.6 | 0.2 | +37 |
| Greek Orthodox | 923 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 820 | 0.5 | 3.5 | +103 |
Show all (38 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Yarra Ranges Council in 2021 compared to Greater Melbourne shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 40.4% of the population nominated a religion, and 53.6% said they had no religion, compared with 56.4% and 37.2% respectively for Greater Melbourne.
The largest single religion in Yarra Ranges Council was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.2% of the population or 23,717 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Yarra Ranges Council and Greater Melbourne were:
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.2% compared to 20.5%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.3% compared to 5.3%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Hinduism (0.5% compared to 4.1%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.0% compared to 3.9%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Yarra Ranges Council between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-4,127 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-3,293 persons)
- Uniting Church (-1,293 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-1,083 persons)
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