Christianity is on the decline and the number of people claiming no religious affiliation is on the rise in New Westminster.
Statistics Canada has released new data around religion from the 2021 census — and it shows New Westminster following a nationwide trend when it comes to the decline in religious affiliation.
In 2021, 46.9 per cent of New West residents reported “no religion or secular perspectives,” as the data shows. That’s a large jump from a decade earlier; in the 2011 National Household Survey, just 38.9 per cent of people in New Westminster reported no religious affiliation.
That increase goes hand in hand with a decrease in those identifying as Christian. In 2021, 38.9 per cent of local residents identified as Christian, down from 48.7 per cent a decade before.
The census data breaks down the “Christian” category into sub-categories, the largest of which remains those identifying as Catholic. The number of Catholics actually grew slightly between 2011 and 2021 (from 13,115 to 13,255), but the percentage of New Westminster’s population dropped steeply: from 24.8 per cent of residents in 2011 to just 17 per cent in 2021.
The same trend is true for Protestant denominations, with declines seen among those identifying as United Church (4.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent), Anglican (4.4 per cent to 1.9 per cent), Lutheran (1.6 per cent to 0.8 per cent) and Presbyterian (1.3 per cent to 0.7 per cent). Similar declines were also experienced among those identifying as Baptist (1.8 per cent to 0.9 per cent) and Pentecostal (1.3 per cent to 0.7 per cent). All those categories saw the number of people claiming affiliation drop, even as the population of the city has grown.
Among Christians, there was just one category that showed an increase. The number of residents identifying as Christian Orthodox rose from 1,995 (3.1 per cent) in 2011, to 2,655 (3.4 per cent) in 2021.
More Hindus, Sikhs in New Westminster
Non-Christian religions didn’t show the same declines.
Buddhism remained consistent, accounting for 1.8 per cent of the population in 2011 and 1.9 per cent in 2021, as did Judaism (0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent).
The number of people identifying as Hindu grew considerably, from 995 in 2011 to 2,000 in 2021 (1.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent of the population).
The number of residents identifying as Sikh grew from 2,920 in 2011 to 3,750 in 2021 (4.5 per cent to 4.8 per cent).
The number of those identifying as Muslim also grew, from 2,430 to 2,655, though the percentage of the population actually dropped slightly (from 3.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent).
— data from Canada's 2021 Census of Population, Statistics Canada; and 2011 National Household Survey, Statistics Canada
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca
