Census reveals sexual orientation and gender identity figures for the first time
New census figures have included data on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time.
People aged 16 and over were asked to provide the information on a voluntary basis to help build a snapshot of society.
The census, is carried out every 10 years and the data showed very few differences between Wales and England with respect to sexual orientation.
Analysis showing sexual orientation revealed 89,4% of people in Wales aged 16 and above were straight or heterosexual.
1.5% of the Welsh population described themselves as gay or lesbian and 1.2% described themselves as bisexual, which was slightly lower than the 1.3% in England.
0.18% of people in Wales described themselves as pansexual, whilst 0.6% said they were asexual and 0.2% described themselves as queer.
7.6% of people in Wales who took part in the census did not provide an answer which was similar to England, at 7.5%.
The Welsh local authorities with the largest LGB+ populations were Cardiff at 5.3%, Ceredigion with 4.9% and Swansea at 3.4%.
More detailed understanding
Data showing sexual orientation by age and by sex will be published on 25 January, enabling a more detailed understanding of different identities.
The percentage of the population aged 16 years and over who reported that their gender identity was different from their sex at birth was slightly lower in Wales at 0.40% compared to England 0.55%.
0.06% of people in Wales identified as non-binary.
Ceredigion was one of the five local authorities in the UK to have the highest proportion of the population identifying as non-binary at 0.23%.
Joining Ceredigion was Brighton and Hove who had the highest percentage at 0.35% followed by Norwich at 0.33% and Cambridge with 0.26% of the population identifying as non-binary.
Data analysis
In Wales, the local authorities with the largest proportion of the population aged 16 years and over whose gender identity was different from their sex at birth were recorded in Cardiff at 0.71% and Ceredigion at 0.70%.
In Wales, Cardiff had the highest percentage of people who identified as a trans man at 0.12% along with the highest percentage of people who identified as a trans woman at 0.13%.
More detailed data and analysis on gender identity will be published in the coming months
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I always figured the numbers were likely incredibly small percentage of the populace. The real question for me has always been, why have these issues arisen to prominence in public discourse so starkly, so concertedly, so rapidly? It does seem to be some kind of agenda by those with agenda-forming powers, to steer things in the direction of identity politics. In other words, an effort to have us spend a decade or two debating the issues, rather than economics, following the crash of 2007, and the subsequent rise of groups like Zeitgeist and the various alternative banking campaigns. Just a… Read more »
It is definitely a distraction, but from what is the big Q that I can’t figure out. And the very small minority banging on about “rights” can’t bring themselves to acknowledge that there exists a hard core of trans people just getting on with their individual transitions aided by family and friends who just don’t want or need their lives turned into a circus or a panto by the militant fringe.
Interesting interpretation of Scottish gender statistics. https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-suggestion-of-blueberries/
Well Cathy, despite your vitriol on this it is not about TW going into the cubicles which is a problem, it is about the fact that self ID allows any old Tom Dick and Harry to call themselves women and go right on in. Your use of the slur against women indicates that you probably haven’t thought this through, but predatory males can and do and will make use of any loophole which gets them closer to their goal. It is those males that the women I know are concerned about, and with good reason. Women and girls do have… Read more »
What’s surprising in these figures is just how few people are gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans. It’s not the 10% or more of the population that has been claimed. Instead, from what I can see, only a maximum of 3% of the entire population falls into one of these categories. Given the attention that issues about these groups receive, it does make you wonder, given that there are – rightly – robust laws already in place to protect these groups from discrimination, just why so much attention is given to their specific interests? Women on the other hand are 50%… Read more »
You don’t get it, do you?
Trans people are not the issue and never have been, self-ID is.
It is extremely naïve to believe that many males who prey on women and girls won’t make use of self-ID to access women and girls.
The proportion of predatory males in our society is much higher than 0.40%, I can assure you.