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Byron ShireCommunity profile

In Byron Bay in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (12.0% of all people), while 58.1% of people had no religion and 11.0% did not answer the question on religion.

Byron Bay'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.

Byron Bay'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
Byron Bay - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Religion totalsNumber%Byron Shire %Number%Byron Shire %2016 to 2021
Christian total1,55224.623.51,61328.731.0-62
Non Christian total3064.84.72394.34.9+67
Non-classifiable religious belief961.51.81051.91.8-9
No Religion/secular beliefs3,67058.158.12,40742.946.7+1,263
Not stated69611.011.91,24822.215.6-552
Total Population6,320100.0100.05,613100.0100.0+706
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
Byron Bay - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
ReligionNumber%Byron Shire %Number%Byron Shire %2016 to 2021
Western (Roman) Catholic75712.010.466511.912.5+91
Anglican4437.06.85309.59.7-87
Buddhism1502.42.11392.52.5+11
Uniting Church1021.61.71312.32.8-29
Judaism791.31.2400.70.9+39
Christian,nfd751.21.1641.21.3+11
Presbyterian and Reformed611.01.21152.12.2-55
Hinduism300.50.4160.30.2+14
Greek Orthodox280.40.380.10.3+20
Pentecostal240.40.5220.40.7+2
Show all (14 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 Byron Bay in 2021 compared to Byron Shire shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a similar proportion who stated they had no religion.

Overall, 29.4% of the population nominated a religion, and 58.1% said they had no religion, compared with 28.2% and 58.1% respectively for Byron Shire.

The largest single religion in Byron Bay was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 12.0% of the population or 757 people as adherents.

The major difference between the religious affiliation for the population of Byron Bay and Byron Shire was:

  • A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (12.0% compared to 10.4%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Western (Roman) Catholic (+91 persons)
  • Anglican (-87 persons)
  • Presbyterian and Reformed (-55 persons)

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