How many lgbt people are there

All are population-based surveys of adults, though some have age restrictions as noted. The lowest overall percentage comes from the Norwegian Living Conditions Survey at 1. In general, the non-US surveys, which vary from 1. In six of the surveys, lesbian- and gay-identified individuals outnumbered bisexuals.

Women are substantially more likely than men to identify as bisexual. Bisexuals comprise more than half of the lesbian and bisexual population among women in eight of the nine surveys considered see Figure 3.

Conversely, gay men comprise substantially more than half of gay and bisexual men in seven of the nine surveys. Four of the surveys analyzed also asked questions about either sexual behavior or attraction. Within these surveys, a larger fraction of adults report same-sex attractions and behaviors than self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual see Figure 4.

With the exception of the Norwegian survey, these differences are substantial. The two US surveys and the Australian survey all suggest that adults are two to three times more likely to say that they are attracted to individuals of the same-sex or have had same-sex sexual experiences than they are to self-identify as LGB.

Population-based data sources that estimate the percentage of adults who are transgender are very rare. The Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey represents one of the few population-based surveys that include a question designed to identify the transgender population.

Analyses of the and surveys suggest that 0. Recall that the California Health Interview Survey estimates that 3. If both of these estimates are true, it implies that approximately 0. Several studies have reviewed multiple sources to construct estimates of a variety of dimensions of gender identity. Conway suggests that between 0. Researchers in the United Kingdom Reed, et al. Notably, the estimates of those who have transitioned are consistent with the survey-based estimates from California and Massachusetts.

Those surveys both used questions that implied a transition or at least discordance between sex at birth and current gender presentation. How many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are there in the United States? Federal data sources designed to provide population estimates in the United States e.

The findings shown in Figure 1 suggest that no single survey offers a definitive estimate for the size of the LGBT community in the United States. However, combining information from the population-based surveys considered in this brief offers a mechanism to produce credible estimates for the size of the LGBT community. Specifically, estimates for sexual orientation identity will be derived by averaging results from the five US surveys identified in Figure 1.

Separate averages are calculated for lesbian and bisexual women along with gay and bisexual men. An estimate for the transgender population is derived by averaging the findings from the Massachusetts and California surveys cited earlier. It should be noted that some transgender individuals may identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

So it is not possible to make a precise combined LGBT estimate. Instead, Figure 5 presents separate estimates for the number of LGB adults and the number of transgender adults. But has there really been a change, or are women simply more willing to report what they get up to?

Using some neat cross-checking, Natsal reckons that the change between and was partly due to more honest reporting, but the rise in and was all real.

And it is clear that there is a lot of experimental activity — roughly, for each woman who has had a recent same-sex partner there are two more of the same age who have had some same-sex contact in their lives, but no partner in the past five years.

Men show a different pattern. However, the picture shows a clear peak of lifetime same-sex experience for men aged around 60, and then a dramatic drop in those around 70, a pattern not seen in women.

History might provide some explanation: men now aged around 60 were teenagers in the liberating 60s, when homosexuality was legalised, while men who are now around 70 grew up when same-sex male behaviour in men was illegal and frequently prosecuted.

Much younger men, meanwhile, would have come to adulthood in the more sober era of HIV. Overall the proportion of people with same-sex experience is far higher than the proportion who identify themselves as gay and bisexual.

This must mean that many same-sex contacts are by people who do not consider themselves gay or bisexual. And there is one characteristic that unites female and male same-sex experience: the rates are two to three times higher among those with further education than those with no qualifications. He died aged 59 in of an Aids-related illness in California. Yet his legacy lives on. California has the highest percent of transgender individuals at 0. Nebraska has the lowest percent of transgender individuals at 0.

LGBT youth statistics are difficult to measure under the age of 18, so these youth statistics are based on the ages of This is more than twice the amount of the entire adult population. When it comes to identifying as transgender, there is also a noticeable increase in identification.

When it comes to generations, Millennials individuals age have a large amount of LGBT identification. LGBT statistics vary based on population demographics, including age, race, and gender.

As discussed in the previous section, the population of youth has an increased LGBT identification. When it comes to race, the majority of LGBT individuals are white. This makes sense, as the majority of individuals in the United States are white. However, whites are somewhat less likely 3.

Women are also more likely to identify as LGBT among the population as 5. Though the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender populations have previously not been researched, this community is a sizable amount of the population, with 4.