Powered by .id (informed decisions) for Shire of Merredin
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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn the Shire of Merredin in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% of all people), while 43.4% of people had no religion and 12.9% did not answer the question on religion.
The Shire of Merredin'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.
The Shire of Merredin'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shire of Merredin - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Wheatbelt Region (SA4) % | Number | % | Wheatbelt Region (SA4) % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 1,296 | 41.6 | 40.5 | 1,770 | 52.9 | 51.6 | -474 |
| Non Christian total | 48 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 35 | 1.0 | 2.0 | +13 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 14 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 23 | 0.7 | 0.6 | -9 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 1,352 | 43.4 | 45.8 | 1,186 | 35.4 | 34.0 | +166 |
| Not stated | 403 | 12.9 | 11.1 | 333 | 9.9 | 11.8 | +70 |
| Total Population | 3,113 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 3,347 | 100.0 | 100.0 | -234 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shire of Merredin - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Wheatbelt Region (SA4) % | Number | % | Wheatbelt Region (SA4) % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 490 | 15.7 | 12.7 | 680 | 20.3 | 15.5 | -190 |
| Anglican | 359 | 11.5 | 13.8 | 539 | 16.1 | 19.4 | -180 |
| Uniting Church | 128 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 179 | 5.3 | 4.4 | -51 |
| Christian,nfd | 84 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 123 | 3.7 | 3.2 | -39 |
| Seventh Day Adventist | 78 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 72 | 2.1 | 0.4 | +6 |
| Churches of Christ | 50 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 54 | 1.6 | 0.5 | -4 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 31 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 42 | 1.3 | 2.1 | -11 |
| Jehova's Witnesses | 28 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 17 | 0.5 | 0.7 | +11 |
| Buddhism | 15 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 9 | 0.3 | 0.7 | +6 |
| Baptist | 14 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 14 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 0 |
Show all (13 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of the Shire of Merredin in 2021 compared to Wheatbelt Region (SA4) shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 43.2% of the population nominated a religion, and 43.4% said they had no religion, compared with 42.5% and 45.8% respectively for Wheatbelt Region (SA4).
The largest single religion in the Shire of Merredin was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.7% of the population or 490 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the Shire of Merredin and Wheatbelt Region (SA4) were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% compared to 12.7%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Seventh Day Adventist (2.5% compared to 0.5%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (11.5% compared to 13.8%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Baptist (0.4% compared to 2.4%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the Shire of Merredin between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-190 persons)
- Anglican (-180 persons)
- Uniting Church (-51 persons)
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