Census: losing our religion
ATHEISM is on the rise throughout the Gympie region, a trend that is reflected in most districts and indeed throughout Queensland and the nation.
The number of people identifying as having no religious affiliation rose 3.6% throughout Australia.
People reporting "no religion" increased significantly from 18.7% of the population in 2006 to 22.3% in 2011. Hinduism experienced the fastest growth of all religions in Australia, increasing from 148,130 in 2006 to 275,534 in 2011.
And Christianity remained the most commonly reported religion: at 61.1% of the population, it was down 2.8% since the 2006 Census.
There was an increase in the number of people not reporting a Christian faith from 36.1% in 2006 to 38.9% in 2011. The most common non-Christian religions in 2011 were Buddhism (2.5% of the population), Islam (2.2%) and Hinduism (1.3%).
Almost a quarter of Gympie region's residents listed "no religion" as their affiliation on the 2011 Census form (24%), up from 21% at the 2006 Census.
Anglicans made up the next biggest group in the Gympie region (18.8%), Catholics (17.5%), Uniting Church (10.8%) and non-denominational Christians (3.6%).
In Kilkivan, it was a different story, with the largest "religious affiliation" Anglican (22.7%), followed by no religion and then Catholic.
But almost 29% of the Imbil population listed "no religion" as their affiliation, followed by Anglican (21%) and Uniting Church (13.4%).
The trend at Cooloola Cove was the same, with more than 24% listing "no religion" and the next biggest group Anglican (21.7%).
Almost 58% of the population at Cooloola Cove is married but almost 22% have never married.
