Data collected from the 2021 Census has revealed increasing diversity in the religions Australians identified, with more people in Parramatta now reporting as ‘no religion’.
Although Christianity remains the largest religious group reported overall in the 2021 Census, with 41.7 per cent of those who live in the Parramatta Local Government Area (LGA) identifying as Christian, more people have now reported having no religion.
According to the latest Census, an increased 76,207 people in Parramatta identify as having no religion, compared to only 55,389 in the 2016 Census.
Hinduism in Parramatta has also grown by 1.6 per cent since 2016, whereas Catholicism has dropped by 1.9 per cent.
Australian Statistician Dr David Gruen AO said the religion question holds a “special place” in the Census, as one of the few topics that has been in every one of Australia’s 18 Censuses and the only voluntary question.
“Despite being voluntary, we saw an increase in the proportion of people answering the question, from 91 per cent in 2016 to 93 per cent in 2021,” he said.
“Census religion data shows a characteristic of Australia that has changed significantly over the past two decades.”
Of the 256,729 people now living in Parramatta, 50.1 per cent are male and 49.9 per cent are female, with the median age being 35. The Census also reports 2,079 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people live in Parramatta, a significant increase from 1,694 in 2016.
The median weekly household income in the Parramatta LGA has jumped from $1,759 in 2016 to $2,051 in 2021. However, median weekly rent has also increased to $450, with median monthly mortgage repayments jumping from $2,167 in 2016 to $2,383 in 2021.
The Census once again shows the diversity of Parramatta, with over 50 per cent of its residents born overseas. 29,100 people in Parramatta hail from India, followed by 28,932 people who were born in China.
Chinese ancestry also holds the top position in the Ancestry multi response (ANCP) section of the Census, with a whopping 22.3 per cent of people in the LGA reporting Chinese ancestry, followed by 14.4 per cent reporting English ancestry.
There are 56,930 households in Parramatta where a non-English language is used. Outside of English, the most prominent language in Parramatta continues to be Mandarin, with 31,823 residents using the language at home.
For the first time ever the Census has also collected information on diagnosed long-term health conditions. The results for the whole of Australia show females were more likely to report a long-term health condition than males, with 33.9 per cent of females having one or more long-term health conditions compared with just 29.5 per cent of males.
When it comes to long-term health condition in Parramatta, 13,032 people reported having a mental health condition, including depression or anxiety.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.