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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn the City of Perth in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.1% of all people), while 43.8% of people had no religion and 11.2% did not answer the question on religion.
The City of Perth'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 City of Perth'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Perth - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Greater Perth % | Number | % | Greater Perth % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 8,531 | 30.0 | 41.8 | 4,578 | 45.1 | 63.8 | +3,952 |
| Non Christian total | 4,123 | 14.5 | 9.4 | 1,278 | 12.6 | 4.5 | +2,845 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 160 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 275 | 2.7 | 2.4 | -115 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 12,464 | 43.8 | 42.0 | 1,945 | 19.2 | 19.3 | +10,518 |
| Not stated | 3,184 | 11.2 | 6.2 | 2,076 | 20.4 | 10.0 | +1,107 |
| Total Population | 28,462 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 10,154 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +18,307 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Perth - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Greater Perth % | Number | % | Greater Perth % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 4,297 | 15.1 | 19.4 | 1,902 | 18.7 | 25.7 | +2,394 |
| Anglican | 1,602 | 5.6 | 9.9 | 1,325 | 13.1 | 22.4 | +277 |
| Buddhism | 1,287 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 614 | 6.1 | 2.0 | +672 |
| Hinduism | 1,274 | 4.5 | 2.3 | 154 | 1.5 | 0.3 | +1,120 |
| Islam | 1,183 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 347 | 3.4 | 1.3 | +835 |
| Christian,nfd | 804 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 216 | 2.1 | 1.7 | +587 |
| Uniting Church | 297 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 350 | 3.4 | 4.0 | -53 |
| Baptist | 291 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 127 | 1.3 | 1.6 | +164 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 286 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 207 | 2.0 | 2.6 | +78 |
| Greek Orthodox | 208 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 71 | 0.7 | 0.8 | +137 |
Show all (31 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of the City of Perth in 2021 compared to Greater Perth shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 44.5% of the population nominated a religion, and 43.8% said they had no religion, compared with 51.1% and 42.0% respectively for Greater Perth.
The largest single religion in the City of Perth was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.1% of the population or 4,297 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the City of Perth and Greater Perth were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Hinduism (4.5% compared to 2.3%)
- A larger percentage who nominated Buddhism (4.5% compared to 2.5%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.1% compared to 19.4%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (5.6% compared to 9.9%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the City of Perth between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Western (Roman) Catholic (+2,394 persons)
- Hinduism (+1,120 persons)
- Islam (+835 persons)
- Buddhism (+672 persons)
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