By Emily-Rose Toohey

Most of the 2021 census results were released at the end of June and highlighted population growth in the Southern Downs and Australia since 2016, the year of the last census.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the 2021 census counted 25,422,788 people living in Australia, an increase of 8.6% since the 2016 census.

49.3% of the population were men with a median age of 37 years and 50.7% of the population were women with a median age of 39 years.

In the Southern Downs, the ABS found that last year’s census had a population of 36,290 and a median age of 48.

Men made up 49.2% of the population while women made up 50.8%.

Specific to postcode, 19,195 people lived under 4370 and 8,093 people comprised 4380.

The ABS also said the census revealed growing diversity in the religions identified by Australians, reflecting changes in social attitudes and belief systems.

Christianity was the most common religion in Australia, with more than 43.9% identifying as such, up from 52.1% in 2016.

In the Southern Downs, 11,398 people (31.4%) identified as non-religious and the highest religion was Catholicism, with 7,893 people identifying as such (21.7%).

The ABS also cited being Anglican as the second most common religious denomination in the region – 6,276 people (17.3%).

Australian statistician Dr David Gruen AO said religion was one of the few topics that appeared in all 18 Australian censuses.

“It’s also the only question that’s voluntary,” Mr. Gruen said.

In terms of marital status, 14,697 people (48.9%) reported being married, 3,164 people (10.5%) were divorced and 8,923 people (29.7%) were never married.

Further topics will be released in October this year, including job and location-based variables, and from early to mid-2023 more complex topics will be released.

For the full list of Southern Downs data from the 2021 census follow the link: https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/LGA36660