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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn the Regional District in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% of all people), while 45.8% of people had no religion and 11.3% did not answer the question on religion.
The Regional District'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 Regional District'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional District - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Geraldton % | Number | % | Geraldton % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 254,464 | 39.6 | 44.6 | 316,072 | 50.9 | 55.4 | -61,608 |
| Non Christian total | 16,811 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 15,857 | 2.6 | 3.2 | +954 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 3,952 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 4,111 | 0.7 | 0.7 | -159 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 294,556 | 45.8 | 41.2 | 210,913 | 34.0 | 30.1 | +83,643 |
| Not stated | 72,718 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 73,891 | 11.9 | 10.6 | -1,173 |
| Total Population | 642,501 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 620,844 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +21,657 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional District - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Geraldton % | Number | % | Geraldton % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 100,592 | 15.7 | 22.2 | 118,811 | 19.1 | 26.5 | -18,219 |
| Anglican | 77,272 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 106,808 | 17.2 | 16.6 | -29,536 |
| Christian,nfd | 20,091 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 19,044 | 3.1 | 3.2 | +1,047 |
| Uniting Church | 13,491 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 19,473 | 3.1 | 2.6 | -5,982 |
| Baptist | 10,801 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 11,221 | 1.8 | 1.1 | -420 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 7,700 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 11,100 | 1.8 | 1.4 | -3,400 |
| Buddhism | 5,530 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 6,116 | 1.0 | 0.9 | -586 |
| Pentecostal | 4,660 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 5,305 | 0.9 | 1.1 | -645 |
| Islam | 4,197 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 3,491 | 0.6 | 1.4 | +706 |
| Other Protestant | 3,962 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 4,527 | 0.7 | 0.5 | -565 |
Show all (39 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of the Regional District in 2021 compared to Geraldton shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 42.2% of the population nominated a religion, and 45.8% said they had no religion, compared with 47.8% and 41.2% respectively for Geraldton.
The largest single religion in the Regional District was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.7% of the population or 100,592 people as adherents.
The major difference between the religious affiliation for the population of the Regional District and Geraldton was:
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.7% compared to 22.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the Regional District between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-29,536 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-18,219 persons)
- Uniting Church (-5,982 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-3,400 persons)
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