The number of Castlegar residents that claim a religious affiliation has decreased by about 10 per cent in the last 10 years.
According to 2021 census data released this month, about 40 per cent of local residents are connected to a faith, compared to 50 per cent in 2011.
The majority of religious residents (2855) practice a form of Christianity. Just over 35 per cent of Castlegar’s residents are Christian, with Catholics topping the list at 850 followed by 355 United Church followers. Analzing numbers for individual denominations within Christianity is a bit blurry however, as 685 people marked Christian on the cenusus, but did not specify a denomination and a further 290 selected the Christian (other) category.
The remaining religious residents include Sikhs (115), Hindus (65), Buddhists (40), Muslims (30) and Jewish (10).
About 60 per cent of the population (4875) reported to have no religion or secular perspectives on the census.
The largest drop from 2011 to 2021 was seen in Catholics, who decreased by 305, or 26 per cent of their total. Christianity as a whole dropped from 47 per cent of the population to 35 per cent, a decrease of about 700 people.
The local trend follows that of British Columbia, which is the least religious province in the country. For the first time ever, there are now more non-religious (52.1%) than religious people in the province. Provincially, 34.3 per cent of residents are Christian, 5.9 per cent are Sikh and 2.6 per cent are Muslim.
Nationally, 65.4 per cent of people still claim a religious affiliation. But that is a substantial decrease over the 83.5 per cent of people that claimed religious affiliations back in 2001.
Regionally, the City of Trail has the most religious population at about 50 per cent. Christians account for 45.5 per cent of Trail’s population.
Nelson and Rossland are the least religious cities in the area with about 30 per cent of their populations claiming religious affiliation.
MORE CENSUS INFO:
New census data shows Castlegar area continues to grow
Castlegar’s Indigenous population growing
Immigration on the rise in Castlegar
Punjabi and Korean are Castlegar’s fastest growing languages
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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