Transgender and non-binary people have been counted for the first time in the 220-year history of the census for England and Wales, which has revealed that 262,000 people identify as a gender different to their sex registered at birth.
The number of people who said they were not the same gender as their birth sex amounted to 0.5% of the population that responded, lower than polling by Ipsos last summer in which 3.1% of people said they were trans, non-binary, gender queer or gender fluid, a gender or another gender that was not male or female.
The tally is, however, similar to Canada, which in 2021 became the first country to apply a census to its transgender and non-binary population aged 15 and over, which found they made up 0.33% of the population.
The England and Wales census also recorded sexuality for the first time, with 1.5 million people aged over 15 – or 3.2% – identifying as gay or lesbian, bisexual or other sexual orientation. The charity Stonewall, which has long called for the inclusion of gender and sexual identity questions, described the results as “a historic step”.
Sexual identity has previously been monitored by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its extensive annual population survey, but not through the fine detail of a census covering millions of people. The 2021 census found 748,000 (1.5%) people who described themselves as gay or lesbian, which was a slightly lower proportion than in the 2020 population survey. Six hundred and twenty-four thousand (1.3%) said they were bisexual, in line with the survey.
In the census, 89.4% of people said they were straight or heterosexual, which is lower than the 93.4% in the annual population survey, while 3.6 million people did not answer the census question on sexuality. One hundred and twelve thousand people described themselves as pansexual, 28,000 as asexual, and 15,000 as queer. Rochford in Essex was the straightest town in England and Wales. Brighton and Hove had the highest non-heterosexual population. Norwich is the bisexual capital of England and Wales.
The figures may also include undercounting as the questions were voluntary and for people aged over 15. Also, 2.9 million people did not answer on gender identity.
Campaigners said the groundbreaking new measures should be used to improve support for LGBTQ+ people at work, in education and including medical help with gender transitioning for which there are NHS waiting lists running into several years.
“For the past two centuries of data gathering through our national census, LGBTQ+ people have been invisible, with the stories of our communities, our diversity, and our lives missing from the national record,” said Nancy Kelley, the chief executive of Stonewall. She added that the figures “finally paint an accurate picture of the diverse ‘Rainbow Britain’ that we now live in, where more and more of us are proud to be who we are”.
The ONS said the figures would “support anti-discrimination duties under the Equality Act 2010 and aid allocation for resources and policy development”.
The age of people identifying as trans or non-binary will be released on 25 January, but if the Canada pattern and UK polling is replicated, generation Z and millennials are several times more likely to identify as such than generation X and baby boomers.
There were 48,000 trans men and a similar number of trans women. Thirty thousand people identified as non-binary and 18,000 gave a different gender identity, while 117,775 said their gender identity was different to the sex registered at birth but gave no specific identity.
After Brighton and Hove, Norwich and Cambridge were the places with local authorities where most people identified as non-binary. Ceredigion had the highest percentage in Wales.
The pioneering census figures come after the UK slid down the latest Rainbow Europe Index, which ranks countries according to the legal and policy human rights situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people, going from 10th to 14th place.
The Europe region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) docked points because there was “widespread political and media anti-trans sentiment”, the government has resisted gender recognition reforms and has yet to ban highly controversial “conversion therapy”, which attempts to teach people not to be homosexual or transgender.
Felix Fern, the co-founder of Trans Activism UK, described the census as “a great step forward” but said: “Trans people are statistically more likely to suffer with mental health issues (likely induced not by dysphoria but by the transphobic climate we live in). We also know that the trans community has an above average likelihood to suffer from poverty and homelessness. We also experience higher volumes of sexual abuse and assault.”
Statisticians asked the public to answer the mandatory “what is your sex?” question based on what was recorded on the respondent’s birth certificate or gender recognition certificate. That followed a legal challenge to their original plan to allow people to also say how their sex was recorded on their passport, which can be changed without legal process. The high court case was brought by Fair Play for Women, which campaigns to ”protect the rights of women and girls”, which said this would allow gender “self-identification through the back door”.
The subsequent voluntary yes/no question for people aged over 15 – “is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?” – included a space to write in a gender identity.
Non-binary genders are not recognised in UK law. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 only enables a person to change the sex recorded on their birth certificate, either from male to female or vice versa.
The government has said it is concerned about “the practical consequences for other areas of law and public-service provision referring to the gender binary, if non-binary genders were to be recognised”.
