More Brits Identify As Lesbian, Gay, Or Bisexual Than Ever Before
May 26, 2022More young adults than ever in the UK are now identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB), new figures show.
The proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds who are LGB has almost doubled in four years and now stands at nearly 1 in 12, according to the Daily Mail.
Some 8% of the age group identified as LGB in 2020, up from 6.6% in 2019 and a jump from 4.1% in 2016.
The rise reflects “an increasing trend for this age group since 2014,” according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Around 1 in 20 (5.3%) of people aged 16-24 identified as bisexual in 2020, along with 2.7% as LGB, 1.3% as other, and 87.3% heterosexual or straight.
A further 3.4% said they didn't know or refused to answer.
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 proportion of all adults identifying as LGB stood at 3.1% in 2020, up from 2.7% in 2019 and nearly double the 1.6% in 2014 when estimates began.
In contrast, the percentage for adults identifying as heterosexual or straight has seen "a decreasing trend" since 2014 when it was 95.3%, and now stands at 93.6%.
London had the highest regional proportion of adults identifying as lesbian or gay (2.9%) or bisexual (1.7%) in 2020, while eastern England had the lowest (1.3% and 1.0% respectively).
The survey focused exclusively on sexual identity and no data was collected for those who identify as transgender or nonbinary.
A similar poll, which did include those who identify as transgender, for Americans found 5.6% of their population – or 18 million people – were LGBTQ+.
The 2020 survey revealed a 24% rise from the last poll in 2017, when 4.5% of adults identified as LGBTQ+, largely driven by Generation Z adults – aged 18 to 23 – 15.9% of whom said they were LGBTQ+.
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