MidCoast Council area
Religion
In the MidCoast Council area in 2021, the largest religious group was Anglican (22.6% of all people), while 36.4% of people had no religion and 8.2% did not answer the question on religion.
The MidCoast Council area'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 MidCoast Council area'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 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidCoast Council area - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | |||||
| Religion totals | Number | % | Wingham % | Number | % | Wingham % | 2001 to 2021 | |
 Christian total | 51,405 | 53.2 | 52.2 | 35500 | 61,284 | 78.5 | 80.8 | -9,879 |
| Non Christian total | 1,624 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 35501 | 555 | 0.7 | 0.6 | +1,069 |
| Non-classifiable religious belief | 472 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 35502 | 1,080 | 1.4 | 1.4 | -608 |
| No Religion/secular beliefs | 35,128 | 36.4 | 38.6 | 35503 | 8,753 | 11.2 | 9.6 | +26,375 |
| Not stated | 7,948 | 8.2 | 7.6 | 35504 | 6,349 | 8.1 | 7.6 | +1,599 |
| Total Population | 96,577 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 78,021 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +18,556 | |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (opens a new window) 2001 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (opens a new window)(informed decisions).
(Usual residence data)
| Religion - Ranked by size | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MidCoast Council area - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | |||||
| Religion | Number | % | Wingham % | Number | % | Wingham % | 2001 to 2021 | |
| Anglican | 21,798 | 22.6 | 25.0 | 35000 | 28,617 | 36.7 | 40.8 | -6,819 |
| Western (Roman) Catholic | 16,162 | 16.7 | 13.7 | 35044 | 16,039 | 20.6 | 17.8 | +123 |
| Uniting Church | 3,759 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 35043 | 6,366 | 8.2 | 7.8 | -2,607 |
| Presbyterian and Reformed | 2,873 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 35036 | 4,037 | 5.2 | 7.5 | -1,164 |
| Christian,nfd | 2,132 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 35011 | 1,098 | 1.4 | 1.0 | +1,034 |
| Baptist | 1,628 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 35006 | 1,575 | 2.0 | 1.5 | +53 |
| Buddhism | 658 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 35008 | 286 | 0.4 | 0.2 | +372 |
| Jehova's Witnesses | 635 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 35018 | 539 | 0.7 | 0.5 | +96 |
| Pentecostal | 457 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 35033 | 749 | 1.0 | 0.7 | -292 |
| Other Protestant | 424 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 35034 | 93 | 0.1 | -- | +331 |
| Salvation Army | 388 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 35038 | 640 | 0.8 | 0.7 | -252 |
| Seventh Day Adventist | 328 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 35040 | 295 | 0.4 | 0.6 | +33 |
| Hinduism | 316 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 35016 | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +286 |
| Islam | 211 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 35017 | 35 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +176 |
| Greek Orthodox | 194 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 35015 | 143 | 0.2 | 0.2 | +51 |
| Latter Day Saints (Mormons) | 176 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 35020 | 288 | 0.4 | 0.7 | -112 |
| Lutheran | 176 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 35021 | 227 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -51 |
| Churches of Christ | 86 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 35013 | 408 | 0.5 | 0.8 | -322 |
| Paganism | 75 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 35035 | 40 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +35 |
| Sikhism | 70 | 0.1 | -- | 35041 | 3 | 0.0 | -- | +67 |
| Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions | 68 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 35004 | 9 | 0.0 | -- | +59 |
| Judaism | 66 | 0.1 | -- | 35019 | 51 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +15 |
| Other Non-Christian Religions | 49 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 35031 | 25 | 0.0 | -- | +24 |
| Other Christian | 38 | 0.0 | -- | 35027 | 32 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +6 |
| Other Nature Religions | 30 | 0.0 | -- | 35030 | 19 | 0.0 | -- | +11 |
| Russian Orthodox | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35037 | 9 | 0.0 | -- | +21 |
| Wiccan/Witchcraft | 30 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35045 | 21 | 0.0 | 0.1 | +9 |
| Spiritualism | 29 | 0.0 | -- | 35042 | 36 | 0.0 | -- | -7 |
| Coptic Orthodox | 28 | 0.0 | -- | 35014 | 0 | 0.0 | -- | +28 |
| Christadelphian | 24 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 35010 | 54 | 0.1 | 0.1 | -30 |
| Chinese and Japanese Religions | 19 | 0.0 | -- | 35009 | 0 | 0.0 | -- | +19 |
| Serbian Orthodox | 18 | 0.0 | -- | 35039 | 15 | 0.0 | -- | +3 |
| Other Eastern Orthodox | 15 | 0.0 | -- | 35029 | 31 | 0.0 | -- | -16 |
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Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (opens a new window) 2001 and 2021. 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 MidCoast Council area in 2021 compared to Wingham shows that there was a higher proportion of people who professed a religion and a lower proportion who stated they had no religion.
Overall, 54.9% of the population nominated a religion, and 36.4% said they had no religion, compared with 53.4% and 38.6% respectively for Wingham.
The largest single religion in the MidCoast Council area was Anglican, with 22.6% of the population or 21,798 people as adherents.
The major differences between the religious affiliation for the population of the MidCoast Council area and Wingham were:
- A larger percentage who nominated Western (Roman) Catholic (16.7% compared to 13.7%)
- A smaller percentage who nominated Anglican (22.6% compared to 25.0%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the religious affiliation of the population in the MidCoast Council area between 2001 and 2021 were for those who nominated:
- Anglican (-6,819 persons)
- Uniting Church (-2,607 persons)
- Presbyterian and Reformed (-1,164 persons)
- Christian,nfd (+1,034 persons)