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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Kimberley in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (20.9% of all people), while 37.8% of people had no religion and 20.1% did not answer the question on religion.
Kimberley'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.
Kimberley'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberley - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Geraldton % | Number | % | Geraldton % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 13,703 | 38.8 | 44.6 | 17,229 | 49.8 | 55.4 | -3,526 |
| Non Christian total | 1,016 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 1,019 | 2.9 | 3.2 | -3 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 177 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 176 | 0.5 | 0.7 | +1 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 13,364 | 37.8 | 41.2 | 10,678 | 30.8 | 30.1 | +2,686 |
| Not stated | 7,088 | 20.1 | 10.4 | 5,515 | 15.9 | 10.6 | +1,573 |
| Total Population | 35,348 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 34,617 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +731 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberley - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Geraldton % | Number | % | Geraldton % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 7,392 | 20.9 | 22.2 | 8,302 | 24.0 | 26.5 | -910 |
| Anglican | 1,620 | 4.6 | 12.0 | 2,565 | 7.4 | 16.6 | -945 |
| Other Protestant | 1,244 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 1,802 | 5.2 | 0.5 | -558 |
| Christian,nfd | 1,230 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 1,519 | 4.4 | 3.2 | -289 |
| Pentecostal | 610 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 755 | 2.2 | 1.1 | -145 |
| Uniting Church | 592 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 852 | 2.5 | 2.6 | -260 |
| Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions | 349 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 327 | 0.9 | 0.0 | +22 |
| Baptist | 316 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 470 | 1.4 | 1.1 | -154 |
| Buddhism | 294 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 374 | 1.1 | 0.9 | -80 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 214 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 336 | 1.0 | 1.4 | -122 |
Show all (27 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Kimberley in 2021 compared to Geraldton shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion as well as a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 41.6% of the population nominated a religion, and 37.8% said they had no religion, compared with 47.8% and 41.2% respectively for Geraldton.
The largest single religion in Kimberley was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 20.9% of the population or 7,392 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Kimberley and Geraldton were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Other Protestant (3.5% compared to 0.4%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (4.6% compared to 12.0%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (20.9% compared to 22.2%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Islam (0.4% compared to 1.4%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Kimberley between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-945 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-910 persons)
- Other Protestant (-558 persons)
- Christian,nfd (-289 persons)
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