Demographics
Population growth in the shire has been limited by approval of residential development. The population increased from 193,000 in 1996 to over 202,000 in 2001. Recent growth has occurred largely in the Barden Ridge and Menai areas (where the new releases of land for urban development have been) and around the main railway stations. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the population of the Shire has been largely static over the past two years, falling slightly by 0.04% in 2003 and 0.07% in 2004. The age structure of the shire is described as being an "urban mix", with a broad range of different age groups.
38.6% of employed residents work within the Shire, whilst 61.4% work outside the Shire, especially in the Sydney Central business district (CBD) (16.8%). Of those employed within the Shire, 74.1% were residents. The largest occupations included clerical, sales and service workers, professionals and tradespersons. The unemployment rate in Sutherland Shire was lower than the Sydney Statistical Division in 2001 (3.5% compared to 6.1%). The reason for the lower rate in Sutherland Shire includes a comparatively smaller share of the population aged 18–24, who often have higher unemployment rates than older workers (25-59).
Sutherland Shire has a smaller proportion of overseas-born residents and less diversity in the range of countries of birth, relative to other parts of Sydney. About 80% of Sutherland Shire residents are born in Australia, followed by those born in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy and South Africa. The percentage of residents claiming Australian ancestry is among the highest in Sydney.
Whilst the overseas population is growing, it is growing at a significantly slower rate than the rest of Sydney. A comparison of the top 5 nationalities in the Sutherland Shire with the Sydney Statistical Division in 2001 shows the major difference was a lower share of the population of Chinese ancestry. Sutherland Shire is older and less ethnically diverse than other areas in Sydney. The Shire is known colloquially as the “insular peninsula”, reflecting its reputation for insular localism. It has a high conservative vote and is Sydney’s second largest “bible belt”.
The Sutherland Shire has the highest proportion of Christians in Sydney. While there is a sizeable proportion of non-religious people, the proportion of those with non-Christian religious beliefs is very low in comparison to the rest of Sydney. According to the 2011 census, 74.9% of the population of the Sutherland Shire were Christian, 16.1% declared no religion, 1.1% were Buddhist, 0.8% were Muslim, 0.5% were Hindu and 1.0% declared another religion. 5.7% of respondents did not answer the question. The top two Christian denominations in Sutherland Shire were Catholicism (31.0% of total population) and Anglicanism (25.8% of total population), with the next three being Eastern Orthodoxy, the Uniting Church and the Presbyterian Church. Sutherland Shire noted very little change in the share of persons with non-Christian beliefs between 1996 and 2001, which was against the broader pattern of growth.
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