The UK’s respected Office for National Statistics says that the number of young people (aged 16-24) who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual has almost doubled in just four years. It’s risen from 4.1% in 2016 to 8% in 2020.
The figures come from an analysis of the country’s large-scale Annual Population Survey, which surveys around 320,000 households annually.
Breaking down that 8% figure, 2.7% of 16-24 year-olds identified as gay or lesbian, and 5.3% as bisexual.
Looking more broadly at all age groups, the proportion of all adults identifying as LGB stood at 3.1% in 2020. This is an increase from 2.7% in 2019 and nearly double the 1.6% in 2014 when the UK’s official estimates began.
Clearly, more and more people feel able to be their true selves – especially younger generations.
Related: Kit Connor is “perfectly confident” with his sexuality and he’s not here for anyone’s assumptions
The number of adults identifying as heterosexual was 93.7% (a fall from 95.3% in 2014).
As a region, London had a higher number of people identifying as LGB than anywhere else in the country.
The survey did not ask about trans and non-binary identities.
The figures echo a trend seen elsewhere. An IPSOS survey of 27 countries released for Pride last summer, polled 19,000 people online. It found that 18% of Generation Z (born after 1997), identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual or asexual (compared to 9% overall).
Four percent of Generation Z in that survey also identified as trans, non-binary or genderfluid, compared to just 1% of those over 40.
Related: Olly Alexander refuses to be anything other than his authentic queer self
In the US, in a Gallup poll conducted in 2020, the proportion of LGBT people in the US was estimated at 5.6%, an increase from 3.5% in 2012. The data drew from 15,000 interviews with Americans aged 18 and older.
The UK figures, produced by a government agency, are significant because they draw from such a large sample size.
Robbie de Santos, Director of Communications and External Affairs at British LGBTQ advocacy charity Stonewall, told Queerty: “It’s wonderful to see that an increasing number of LGBTQ+ people can be their authentic selves. It’s important to remember that the number of LGBTQ+ people has not risen but these statics are a heartening sign that people are freer to be their true selves.
“Over the past decade, we’ve also seen an incredible increase in LGBTQ+ representation on our screens and in our culture – from Drag Race to It’s a Sin. Representation that normalizes being LGBTQ+ matters, and often helps people better understand who they are.”
Donston
I do feel as if “queerness” is genuinely spreading, mostly because folks are a bit more willing to “experiment” at a young age now than they ever were. However, these numbers mostly reflect growth of casual queer acceptance as well as folks thinking it’s trendy to attach to queerness. But I believe at least 25% of adults are not genuinely, traditionally heterosexual or have experienced some degrees of sexual/gender fluidity or are someone in the gender, sexual, affection, romantic attachment, emotional investment, commitment spectrum. So, these numbers don’t really move me much.
cc423
Well put… and let’s remember that the previous generations were punished harshly for coming out and being their true selves. So many of us hid behind sham marriages and “roommates” and had to pretend at work and school to be some sort of straight identifying person in order to avoid violence and arrest. Thus, we were never counted.
gaym50ish
We have always known that the percentage of gay and bi people in society was much higher than many of the estimates, and was closer to the Kinsey estimate of 10 percent — or even higher — than the figures of 1 to 4 percent that were tossed around a generation ago. I even attended a political campaign meeting in the 1990s in which the chairman said the candidate didn’t need to worry about the gay vote because it was only about 1 percent of the electorate.
The wildly varied estimates simply highlight the difficulty of doing this kind of research in a homophobic society. You need honest answers and don’t always get them. In fact, polls in which respondents were only interacting with a computer have shown higher numbers of gays than those where they were face-to-face with an interviewer. Many people will not admit to being gay to a real live person but will admit it if anonymity is guaranteed.
Another problem is defining the terms, and the definitions by researchers have varied widely. Who’s really gay or bi? Only those who are open about it? Someone who’s done it in the past year? Someone who did it once? Someone with “homosexual impulses,” whatever that means? Should the term apply only to the ones I call 7-Up gays (“Never had it, never will,” for those of you who are old enough to remember that old 7-Up commercial referring to caffeine), who have never been intimate with the opposite sex? Do we include someone who’s attracted to the same sex but hasn’t acted on it? And how many sexual encounters does it take, with both men and women, to qualify as “bisexual”?
Inspector 57
Really nicely considered and expressed, gaym50ish. Thank you for that post!
Polaro
Greater acceptance is a part of this, for sure. People are freer to express themselves. I don’t know if there is more to it. There are studies that show chemicals have been affecting males, making them more feminine and reducing fertility. Could this be causing other changes in sexuality? Dunno. I always did think that there were way more gay boys out there and 4% and that Kinsey was a better, more rigorous source.
Mack
It hasn’t doubled, they’re just not hiding in the damn closet any more. We’ve always been there, it just some people (right wing religious dimwits) didn’t accept us.