Powered by .id (informed decisions) for South East Queensland
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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn South East Queensland in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (18.2% of all people), while 42.1% of people had no religion and 6.6% did not answer the question on religion.
South East Queensland'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.
South East Queensland'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East Queensland - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | City of Ipswich % | Number | % | City of Ipswich % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 1,680,636 | 44.7 | 44.6 | 1,829,091 | 54.3 | 56.5 | -148,455 |
| Non Christian total | 226,331 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 171,703 | 5.1 | 3.7 | +54,628 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 24,283 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 24,112 | 0.7 | 0.7 | +171 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 1,581,014 | 42.1 | 41.7 | 1,041,637 | 30.9 | 30.0 | +539,377 |
| Not stated | 246,692 | 6.6 | 7.5 | 300,335 | 8.9 | 9.2 | -53,643 |
| Total Population | 3,758,956 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 3,366,878 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +392,078 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South East Queensland - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | City of Ipswich % | Number | % | City of Ipswich % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 684,194 | 18.2 | 16.2 | 708,504 | 21.0 | 19.7 | -24,310 |
| Anglican | 399,076 | 10.6 | 9.6 | 486,788 | 14.5 | 14.1 | -87,712 |
| Uniting Church | 122,994 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 154,241 | 4.6 | 5.0 | -31,247 |
| Christian,nfd | 122,582 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 106,961 | 3.2 | 4.0 | +15,621 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 74,744 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 93,338 | 2.8 | 2.7 | -18,594 |
| Baptist | 67,868 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 66,528 | 2.0 | 2.2 | +1,340 |
| Buddhism | 62,619 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 59,190 | 1.8 | 1.3 | +3,429 |
| Hinduism | 62,196 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 40,121 | 1.2 | 1.1 | +22,075 |
| Islam | 55,514 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 40,799 | 1.2 | 0.6 | +14,715 |
| Pentecostal | 51,258 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 52,381 | 1.6 | 2.2 | -1,123 |
Show all (41 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of South East Queensland in 2021 compared to the City of Ipswich shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a similar proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 50.7% of the population nominated a religion, and 42.1% said they had no religion, compared with 50.1% and 41.7% respectively for the City of Ipswich.
The largest single religion in South East Queensland was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 18.2% of the population or 684,194 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of South East Queensland and the City of Ipswich were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (18.2% compared to 16.2%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Anglican (10.6% compared to 9.6%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in South East Queensland between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-87,712 persons)
- Uniting Church (-31,247 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-24,310 persons)
- Hinduism (+22,075 persons)
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