Round 3% of individuals in England and Wales aged 16 or over determine as lesbian, homosexual or bisexual, based on 2021 census information launched on Friday.

The census in 2021 was the primary in Britain to ask about folks’s sexual orientation, and the outcomes are broadly in keeping with earlier, smaller-scale surveys.

The census, performed by Britain’s Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS), additionally requested about folks’s gender id for the primary time. About 262,000 folks – 0.5% of these aged 16 or over – replied that the gender they recognized with was completely different from their intercourse registered at beginning, the ONS mentioned.

The questions on sexual orientation and gender id had been voluntary, and seven.5% of individuals declined to reply about their sexual orientation, whereas 6.0% didn’t reply the query on gender id.

General, 43.4 million folks in England and Wales mentioned they had been “straight or heterosexual”, whereas 1.5 million – 3.2% of the inhabitants aged 16 or over – recognized as homosexual or lesbian, bisexual, or different.

Some 1.5% of individuals mentioned they had been homosexual or lesbian and 1.3% had been bisexual. One other 0.3% ticked a field for “different sexual orientation”, two thirds of whom known as themselves pansexual.

On gender id, 262,000 folks aged 16 or over answered that they had been a distinct gender to the intercourse they had been registered as at beginning, the ONS mentioned.

Of these, 48,000 mentioned they now recognized as a trans man, 48,000 recognized as a trans lady, 30,000 mentioned they had been non-binary and 18,000 mentioned that they had one other gender id, the ONS added.

The ONS defines a trans man as somebody who identifies as a person however was registered feminine at beginning, whereas trans ladies had been registered as male at beginning, however now determine as ladies.

Census figures for Britain as a complete should not but obtainable, as Scotland delayed finishing up its census for a yr as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

A earlier, annual UK-wide survey performed by the ONS confirmed that in 2020 3.8% of individuals recognized as homosexual or lesbian, bisexual or different, up from 1.9% in 2014 when same-sex marriage was first allowed in England and Wales.

That survey additionally gave breakdowns of sexual orientation by age, gender and ethnicity – displaying, amongst different issues, that youthful persons are more likely to determine as lesbian, homosexual or bisexual.

Intercourse between males aged 21 or over was legalised in England and Wales in 1967. The age of consent was lowered to 18 in 1994 and diminished to 16 – the identical as for heterosexual relationships – in 2000.

Census information on sexual orientation by age can be printed on Jan. 25, and additional particulars will come later within the yr.