City of Townsville
Religion
In the City of Townsville in 2016, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (26.4% of all people), while 28.7% of people had no religion and 9.8% did not answer the question on religion.
The City of Townsville'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 Townsville'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.
Derived from the Census question:
'What is the person's religion?'
Total population
| Religion - Summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Townsville - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2016 | 2011 | Change | |||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Regional QLD % | Number | % | Regional QLD % | 2011 to 2016 | |
 Christian total | 109,023 | 58.4 | 58.4 | 35500 | 113,805 | 65.2 | 65.7 | -4,782 |
| Non Christian total | 4,534 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 35501 | 3,562 | 2.0 | 2.4 | +972 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 1,280 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 35502 | 1,509 | 0.9 | 0.8 | -229 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 53,682 | 28.7 | 28.2 | 35503 | 38,203 | 21.9 | 21.3 | +15,479 |
| Not stated | 18,231 | 9.8 | 10.1 | 35504 | 17,379 | 10.0 | 9.8 | +852 |
| Total Population | 186,750 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 174,458 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +12,292 | |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (opens a new window) 2011 and 2016. Compiled and presented by .id (opens a new window)(informed decisions).
(Usual residence data)
| Religion - Ranked by size | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Townsville - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2016 | 2011 | Change | |||||
| Religion | Number | % | Regional QLD % | Number | % | Regional QLD % | 2011 to 2016 | |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 49,326 | 26.4 | 22.0 | 35044 | 48,956 | 28.1 | 23.6 | +370 |
| Anglican | 28,442 | 15.2 | 17.1 | 35000 | 31,844 | 18.3 | 20.5 | -3,402 |
| Uniting Church | 9,514 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 35043 | 11,281 | 6.5 | 6.7 | -1,767 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 5,861 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 35036 | 6,322 | 3.6 | 3.8 | -461 |
| Christian,nfd | 4,379 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 35011 | 4,069 | 2.3 | 2.9 | +310 |
| Pentecostal | 2,906 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 35033 | 2,666 | 1.5 | 1.5 | +240 |
| Baptist | 2,384 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 35006 | 2,402 | 1.4 | 1.7 | -18 |
| Buddhism | 1,580 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 35008 | 1,515 | 0.9 | 1.0 | +65 |
| Lutheran | 1,167 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 35021 | 1,644 | 0.9 | 2.0 | -477 |
| Hinduism | 1,015 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 35016 | 668 | 0.4 | 0.3 | +347 |
| Islam | 963 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 35017 | 553 | 0.3 | 0.4 | +410 |
| Greek Orthodox | 954 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 35015 | 1,010 | 0.6 | 0.3 | -56 |
| Other Protestant | 820 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 35034 | 510 | 0.3 | 0.3 | +310 |
| Salvation Army | 782 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 35038 | 765 | 0.4 | 0.3 | +17 |
| Seventh Day Adventist | 659 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 35040 | 590 | 0.3 | 0.4 | +69 |
| Jehova's Witnesses | 644 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 35018 | 650 | 0.4 | 0.7 | -6 |
| Latter Day Saints (Mormons) | 366 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 35020 | 356 | 0.2 | 0.3 | +10 |
| Sikhism | 255 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 35041 | 129 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +126 |
| Other Eastern Catholic | 181 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 35028 | 13 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +168 |
| Paganism | 169 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 35035 | 172 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -3 |
| Other Christian | 155 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 35027 | 184 | 0.1 | 0.2 | -29 |
| Churches of Christ | 110 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 35013 | 122 | 0.1 | 0.3 | -12 |
| Other Non-Christian Religions | 85 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35031 | 90 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -5 |
| Christadelphian | 84 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35010 | 71 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +13 |
| Wiccan/Witchcraft | 81 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35045 | 103 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -22 |
| Judaism | 79 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35019 | 64 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +15 |
| Russian Orthodox | 71 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35037 | 74 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -3 |
| Other Oriental Orthodox | 69 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35032 | 27 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +42 |
| Other Nature Religions | 68 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35030 | 55 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +13 |
| Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions | 66 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35004 | 23 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +43 |
| Baha'i | 65 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35005 | 67 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -2 |
| Coptic Orthodox | 55 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35014 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +34 |
| Spiritualism | 54 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35042 | 89 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -35 |
| Chinese and Japanese Religions | 49 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35009 | 34 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +15 |
| Brethren | 40 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35007 | 105 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -65 |
| Serbian Orthodox | 30 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35039 | 23 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +7 |
| Other Eastern Orthodox | 12 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35029 | 68 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -56 |
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Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (opens a new window) 2011 and 2016. Compiled and presented by .id (opens a new window)(informed decisions).
Excludes religions with fewer than 10 adherents.
Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of the City of Townsville in 2016 compared to Regional QLD shows that there was a similar proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 60.8% of the population nominated a religion, and 28.7% said they had no religion, compared with 61.1% and 28.2% respectively for Regional QLD.
The largest single religion in the City of Townsville was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 26.4% of the population or 49,326 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the City of Townsville and Regional QLD were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (26.4% compared to 22.0%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (15.2% compared to 17.1%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the City of Townsville between 2011 and 2016 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-3,402 persons)
- Uniting Church (-1,767 persons)
- Lutheran (-477 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-461 persons)