The UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the number of young adults identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) doubled between 2016 and 2020, increasing from 4.1 per cent in 2016 to 8 per cent in 2020.
Noting that the rise represents “an increasing trend for this age group since 2014”, the ONS’ figures recording the largest rise in youngsters identifying as bisexual, with more than one in 20 (5.3 per cent) confirming their attraction to two or more genders. A total of 2.7 per cent said they were gay or lesbian, 1.3 per cent as “other”, with the remaining 87.3 per cent identifying as heterosexual. A further 3.4 per cent either refused to answer or said that they didn’t know.
The estimates have been published by the ONS using data from the Annual Population Survey, which collects information on sexual identity from the household population aged 16 and over in the UK.
The ONS also recorded that the proportion of all adults identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual in 2020 was almost double that recorded in 2014, up to 3.1 per cent from 1.4 per cent.
London leads the way with a higher proportion of LGB adults than anywhere else in the country: this is unlikely to be a result of something in Thames water, and more a consequence of LGB people from the regions moving to London because of the capital’s laissez-faire attitude to sexuality. Conversely, the east of England is the most staunchly heterosexual region of the UK, with just 1.3 per cent of respondents identifying as gay or lesbian, and 1 per cent saying they were bisexual.
The survey only asked about sexual orientation, with no data collected on people who identify as trans or non-binary. A 2020 poll using similar methodology in the US, but which also included questions about gender identity, found that 5.6 per cent of Americans identified as lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual or non-binary, representing around 18 million people, or 5.6 per cent of the US population. In terms of the overall population of the UK, that’s double the combined populations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The estimates have been published by the ONS using data from the Annual Population Survey, which collects information on sexual identity from the household population aged 16 and over in the UK.
