The mining and resources boom preserved religion in WA

The overriding trend in Australia is away from religion, especially among the more highly educated. But those drawn to WA of highly religious South-East Asian and Sub-Saharan African ancestries diluted the traditionally non-religious ancestries of North-West Europe, Oceania and interestingly, North-East Asia.

Building on a previous post about WA’s increasing multiculturalism in the wake of the mining and resources boom, the Census gives us the chance to see how the boom may have affected other factors – in this case, religiosity.

The boom slowed the march towards non-religiosity

In 2006, before the mining and resources boom, WA was a notably less religious state than Australia as a whole – 26% no religion vs. 21% for Australia. The majority of WA residents still identified as Christians (69%), but this was lower than Australia as a whole at 73%.

But even though both WA and Australia became less religious over the decade, Australia’s trend towards non-religiosity was faster. The gap between WA and Australia’s non-religious shares declined from 5.3% to 3.5%. Now, 36% of WA residents are non-religious, compared to 33% for Australia.

Share of No Religion vs. Christianity and Other Religions, WA and Australia, 2006-2016

Multiculturalism dilutes extremes

Consequently, the faster pace of increased multiculturalism in WA over the mining and resources boom seems to have slowed down the trend towards non-religiosity locally, allowing the rest of Australia to catch up slightly. And this pace of convergence was fastest between 2006 and 2011, during the mining and resources upswing.

And it also reveals what may be obvious. When a place (like Australia) starts relatively more religious (vs WA), multiculturalism tends to reduce that religiosity. This makes sense – extremes get diluted by diversity.

But by the same token, when a place starts relatively less religious (like WA), multiculturalism can increase that religiosity (or at least slow down the trend towards non-religiosity).

North-East Asians are the least religious

In the case of Australia, our bias towards those of North West European and Oceanic ancestry may also be relevant. As illustrated in my previous blog, WA is more biased towards these ‘traditional’ ancestries than Australia. And even though both WA and Australia increased their shares of ‘non-traditional’ ancestries over the decade, and Australia remained more multicultural than WA, WA still seemed to catch up to Australia in terms of non-traditional ancestries.

This is consistent with the above findings of WA remaining less religious than Australia, but by a smaller margin, and suggests that those of North-Western and Oceanic ancestry are less susceptible to religious belief than other ancestries.

The graph below illustrates this. But what is interesting is that Australians of North-East Asian ancestry by far are the least religious, followed by Oceanian, North-West European and Peoples of the Americas (especially excluding strongly-Catholic South America[1]). So Australia’s strong growth in North-East Asian ancestry could also be driving the downward trend in our religiosity. And WA, with its stronger growth in highly-religious South-East Asian and Sub-Saharan African ancestry associated with the mining and resources boom, slowed down its trend towards non-religiosity.

Non-Religiosity, by Ancestry, Australia, 2016

Everyone is becoming less religious

It is worth noting though, as illustrated below, that all ancestries in Australia have become less religious over time. For example, of those with North East Asian ancestry, the share of the non-religious increased from 39% in 2006 to 56% in 2016. Even the highly-religious North African and Middle Eastern ancestry increased from 5.3% to 11.5%.

Non-Religiosity, by Ancestry, Australia, 2006-2016

Australia has become less religious across all educational attainment levels too. The trend seems to be that non-religiosity rises with educational attainment, with 38% of those with postgraduate educations being non-religious in 2016, compared to 22% for those with a 9^th grade education or less. But the most significant jump in non-religiosity occurs early, as people progress beyond 9^th grade, potentially suggesting that the longer a belief system is held, the harder it is to undo with further education.

Non-Religiosity, by Highest Level of Educational Attainment, Australia, 2016

It’s interesting to see just how much individual religions are products of geography, history and education, as well as religiosity in general. But even one’s history can be discarded over time as we evolve and learn new perspectives on the world. And with data like this, we can see it happening.

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[1] 55% of all Australians of South American ancestry are Catholic.