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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Swan Hills in 2021, the largest religious group was Western (Roman) Catholic (15.8% of all people), while 45.6% of people had no religion and 9.9% did not answer the question on religion.
Swan Hills'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.
Swan Hills'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swan Hills - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Western Australia % | Number | % | Western Australia % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Christian total | 18,914 | 38.1 | 41.1 | 21,845 | 47.4 | 49.8 | -2,931 |
| Non Christian total | 2,847 | 5.7 | 8.0 | 2,158 | 4.7 | 6.9 | +689 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 342 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 300 | 0.7 | 0.7 | +42 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 22,672 | 45.6 | 42.8 | 15,751 | 34.2 | 32.8 | +6,921 |
| Not stated | 4,914 | 9.9 | 7.5 | 6,032 | 13.1 | 9.9 | -1,118 |
| Total Population | 49,689 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 46,086 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +3,603 |
| Religion - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swan Hills - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Religion | Number | % | Western Australia % | Number | % | Western Australia % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 7,861 | 15.8 | 18.6 | 8,620 | 18.7 | 21.4 | -759 |
| Anglican | 5,363 | 10.8 | 10.1 | 7,243 | 15.7 | 14.3 | -1,880 |
| Christian,nfd | 1,840 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 1,705 | 3.7 | 3.4 | +135 |
| Islam | 786 | 1.6 | 2.5 | 483 | 1.0 | 2.0 | +303 |
| Baptist | 749 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 730 | 1.6 | 1.7 | +19 |
| Hinduism | 705 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 534 | 1.2 | 1.6 | +171 |
| Sikhism | 618 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 393 | 0.9 | 0.5 | +225 |
| Pentecostal | 596 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 600 | 1.3 | 1.1 | -4 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 569 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 752 | 1.6 | 1.8 | -183 |
| Uniting Church | 554 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 779 | 1.7 | 2.3 | -225 |
Show all (33 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the religious affiliation of the population of Swan Hills in 2021 compared to Western Australia shows that there was a lower proportion of people who professed a religion and a higher proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 43.8% of the population nominated a religion, and 45.6% said they had no religion, compared with 49.1% and 42.8% respectively for Western Australia.
The largest single religion in Swan Hills was Western (Roman) Catholic, with 15.8% of the population or 7,861 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of Swan Hills and Western Australia were:
- A smaller percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (15.8% compared to 18.6%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Buddhism (1.1% compared to 2.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in Swan Hills between 2016 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-1,880 persons)
- Western (Roman) Catholic (-759 persons)
- Islam (+303 persons)
- Sikhism (+225 persons)
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