In a global survey conducted in 2023, three percent of respondents from 30 countries identified themselves as transgender, non-binary/non-conforming/gender-fluid, or in another way. In Switzerland, around six percent of the respondents stated to identify themselves with one of the listed genders.

Most transgender people realize that the gender they were assigned at birth did not match their own gender identity in their childhood and adolescence in all European countries. On average, 73 percent realized before the age of 18, with this being highest in Luxembourg, at 90 percent, and lowest in Hungary, at 62 percent.

Worldwide, Brazil reported the highest number of transgender people murdered in 2023, reaching 100 victims. Most of the murders that year were reported in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is assumed that only a minority of the cases actually are reported, and the actual number is estimated to be significantly higher.

Germany and the Netherlands are the two countries in Europe with the greatest share of transgender people indicating that they have changed or are in the process of changing their legal gender, with 39 percent of respondents in both countries. Changing their gender on legal documents can be a huge milestone for many trans people, as it makes it easier for them to be identified identified according to their gender identity.

Trans people may experience great difficulties when going through the process of changing their legal gender, as many countries require medical and psychological evaluations before proceeding with the process. In such cases, where trans people do not trust public authorities to treat them in a non-discriminatory manner, very few transgender people go through the process to legally change gender, such as in Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Croatia, where less than five percent of respondents indicate they have done or are doing so.

This statistics shows the results of a survey about the global attitude towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or intersex (LGBTI) community in 2016. When asked whether they personally knew someone who did not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth or someone who identified themselves as transgender, more than 55 percent of Jamaican respondents stated that they did not personally know anyone like that.

A research project developed by the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) revealed that at least 235 trans or gender-diverse people were murdered in Latin America from October 2022 to September 2023. The highest number of victims was reported in Brazil, with 100 homicides. Mexico was the second deadliest country for trans people in Latin America, having registered 52 murders in the same period.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The EU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Survey (EU LGBT) was conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). It is the first ever EU-wide online survey to establish an overview concerning the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (18 years or older) and their experiences with regard to fundamental rights in the 28 EU Member States. Up until now, there has been very little comparable data collected across the EU about the everyday experiences of LGBT people with respect to discrimination, and lot of the available information is limited to occasional news reports and court judgements. As the first EU-wide survey of its kind, the results support the development of equal treatment policies for LGBT people in the European Union and set the agenda for years to come. Based on the survey results, national and European policy makers, as well as non-governmental organisations, are able to better target their advocacy strategies and activities to support LGBT communities to live and express themselves freely in a non-discriminatory environment. The survey was completely anonymous (no additional data on the participants and their sessions were logged in any way). The survey data collection operated by Gallup Europe, a professional survey and consultancy firm. In order to ensure that the survey delivers evidence needed for policy making, the EU LGBT Survey counted on the participation of a large and diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people from each country. Hence, it was vitally important for the success of the survey that FRA and Gallup worked together with civil society organisations to reach a wide audience and raise awareness concerning the survey, including participants emailing the survey, sharing it through social media or simply inviting LGBT friends to take part.

More information can be found on the FRA website

According to survey conducted in eight countries, Spain is the country where people are more likely to identify themselves part of the LGBTQ+ community. It is also the country in which respondents stated more often to have a close friend or relative who is part of the LGBTQ+ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-binary, among others). Sweden, Germany, Italy, and Denmark, on the other hand, record the highest share of respondents who were neither part of the LGBTQ community nor knew anyone who is part of it.

As of February 10, 2025, the majority of the transgender population aged 13 and over in the United States were living in a state with no ban on transgender people's use of bathrooms or facilities. However, 10 percent of the transgender population were living in a state which banned transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity in K-12 schools only, while eight percent were living in a state which banned transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities corresponding to their gender identity in all government-owned buildings and spaces, including schools, colleges, and more. A further seven percent were living in a state which restricted transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity in K-12 schools and at least some government-owned buildings as well. Anti-education legislation Statewide legislation affecting LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. has been on the rise recently, especially in K-12 schools. Many states have taken legal action to restrict schools from teaching topics of racism, sexism, gender identity, sexual orientation, and systemic inequality to students. However, studies show that Americans typically remain politically divided over how these topics should be taught; in 2022, the majority of Democratic parents were found to believe that children should be taught that the legacy of slavery still affects the position of Black people in American society today while the majority of Republican parents thought that children should be taught that slavery is a part of American history but does not affect the position of Black people in American society today. Book bans Censorship of these topics has also been seen in K-12 libraries, with book bans occurring in multiple states throughout the country. As of 2022, Texas had the highest number of books banned in the U.S., followed by Florida. Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, which is often referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" law, has been particularly controversial as it aims to prevent discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation and remove books featuring LGBTQ+ characters in K-12 schools and libraries. Along with potentially harming LGBTQ+ students, K-12 teachers have also highlighted how these laws and debates over what topics should be taught in the classroom may negatively impact their ability to do their job.

The EU LGBTI II survey was carried out by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in 2019. It is a large-scale survey into experiences and views of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) individuals. The survey provides comparative evidence on how LGBTI persons in the EU experience discrimination, violence and harassment in different areas of life, including employment, education, healthcare, housing and other services.

The EU LGBTI II survey is a follow-up of the first–ever major international survey on LGBT people, which the Agency conducted in 2012. The EU LGBTI II survey is a follow-up to the first major international survey of LGBT people conducted by the Agency in 2012. The EU LGBTI II survey is a web-based opt-in survey using an anonymous online questionnaire. The survey is based on a self-selective sample. The survey was conducted between 27 May and 22 July 2019 via the website www.lgbtisurvey.eu and collected valid responses from 139,799 respondents from the Member States of the European Union (EU), Northern Macedonia and Serbia (in this context, the United Kingdom is included in the group of EU Member States, reflecting the situation at the time of data collection in 2019). Following an EU-wide open call for tenders, the FRA contracted a consortium of Agilis SA (http://www.agilis-sa.gr/) and Homoevolution (https://homoevolution.com/), based in Greece, to carry out the survey according to the FRA´s technical specifications and under the supervision of FRA staff who monitored compliance with strict quality control procedures.

The EU LGBTI II survey asked a number of questions about the experiences of LGBTI people in the following areas: (1) Perceived increase or decrease in intolerance, prejudice and violence against LGBTI people; (2) Discrimination at work, looking for work and in several other areas of life; (3) Safe environment; (4) Physical or sexual victimisation; (5) Harassment; (6) Social context of being LGBTI; (7) Background information (age, education, income, civil status); (8) Specific sections dedicated to issues related to the life of trans as well as intersex persons.

1. Sexual orientation and sexual behaviour: to whom is the respondent sexually attracted; sex of sexual partners in the last five years; country of current residence and length of stay; citizen of the country; citizenship; country of birth; age at realisation of sexual orientation; age at first outing.

2. Trans respondents: Age at realisation that feelings about one´s own sex do not match the sex assigned at birth; age at first outing; measures taken to change body to better match one´s own sex identity and age at first intervention; reasons why no measures were taken to change body; medical treatment abroad to change one´s appearance, including buying hormones via the internet; avoiding expressing one´s own sex (or desired sex) by means of appearance and clothing for fear of being attacked, threatened or harassed; changing one´s legal sex; reasons for not changing one´s legal sex so far.

3. Intersexual respondents: type of existing variants of sexual characteristics or treatment for them; diagnosis of variants of sexual characteristics by health professionals; time of diagnosis (before birth, at birth, in childhood, adolescence or at a later age); time of first diagnosis in adolescence or at a later age; age at first realisation of variants of one´s own sexual characteristics; age at first outing; medical treatment to change sexual characteristics; age at first medical treatment; age at first medical treatment; consent given to treatment; type of treatment; informing the interviewee or his/her parents about possible positive or negative consequences; difficulties in registering civil status or sex in public documents; nature of difficulties; greatest difficulties encountered by intersexuals in the country.

4. Developments and responses to homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and intersex phobia: perceived increase or decrease in intolerance, prejudice and violence against LGBTI persons in the country over the last five years; main reasons for decrease or increase in prejudice and intolerance or violence; effectiveness of government action in combating prejudice and intolerance

5. Discrimination at work, when looking for work and in various other areas of life: Experience of discrimination in different spheres of life; situation at the time of the most recent discrimination; reasons for discrimination other than LGBTI; reporting of the incident by the respondent or another person; organisation or institution to which the incident was reported; reasons why the incident was not reported; paid employment during the last five years; personal contact and experiences of LGBTI during employment: openness towards others, silence, negative comments towards oneself or one´s own person general; experienced or perceived support in the professional environment; experience of LGBTI during schooling;...

Much stigma-related research focuses on marginalized populations, including men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people. The importance of research in this area is widely recognized, however methodologies and measures vary between studies. This scoping review will collate existing information about how stigma-related research has been conducted in low/middle income countries (LMICs) within the Asia Pacific region, and will compare research designs, sampling frameworks, and measures. Strengths and limitations of these studies will inform recommendations for future stigma-related health research. A methodological framework for scoping studies was applied. Searches of Psych INFO, Scopus, ProQuest, Global Health and PubMed were used to identify articles. Stigma-related research amongst MSM and transgender communities, published between 2010 and 2019 in LMICs within the Asia Pacific region were included. A total of 129 articles based on 123 different studies were included. Of the 129 articles 51.19% (n = 66) were quantitative; 44.96% (n = 57) were qualitative and 3.88% (n = 5) were mixed methods studies. The majority of studies (n = 57; 86.36%) implemented a cross sectional survey. In-depth interviews (n = 20, 34.48%) were also common. Only 3.88% of studies utilized mixed-methods design. Non-probabilistic and probabilistic sampling methods were employed in 99.22 and 0.78% of studies respectively. The most common measures used in quantitative studies were the Center for Epidemiological Study on Depression (CES-D) (n = 18) and the Self Stigma Scale (SSS) (n = 6). Strengths and limitations proposed by researchers included in this review are summarized as lesson learnt and best practices in stigma-related research.

No country in Europe had a majority of transgender people saying that they had undergone gender affirming or gender reassignment surgery in 2019, with the Netherlands having the greatest share of any country, at 48 percent. On average only a quarter of trans people in the EU had undergone surgery to alter their appearance in line with their gender identity.

This statistic displays the share of individuals in India who agree that their country is becoming more tolerant of transgender people as of November 2017. When asked whether they believed country is becoming more tolerant of transgender people, roughly 19 percent of the respondents taking part in Ipsos survey strongly agree with the statement. On the other hand, six percent of the respondents strongly disagree.

This statistic displays the opinion on whether Malaysia is becoming more tolerant when it comes to people who dress and live as one sex even though they were born another in 2017. When asked whether they believed their country is becoming more tolerant when it comes to people who dress and live as one sex even though they were born another about nine percent of the respondents taking part in the Ipsos survey said they strongly agree with the statement. On the other hand, 22 percent of the respondents reported to strongly disagree.

Transgender people, often referred to as the Hijras in the Indian subcontinent, are an officially recognized third gender in the country and consider themselves neither male nor female. As per the latest census in 2011, India recorded over 487 thousand people who identified as the third gender, most of whom came from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Socioeconomics of Hijras 

Hijras are associated by several terms, depending on culture and linguistics. In various Indian languages, Hijras are called Napunsakudu (Telugu), Thiru Nangai (Tamil), Khwaja Sara (Urdu), Khusra (Punjabi) and Mangalamukhi (Kannada) among others. The third gender is inherent to Indian mythology.

Socio-economically, Hijras live in well-defined communities, led by a Guru or teacher. They consist of generations of the third gender who were rejected by or fled from their birth-families. Apart from sex-work, performing at auspicious social gatherings or plain extortion was how most survived. This was due to the lack of education and employment due to their low status in their society’s hierarchy. This also meant that they underwent brutal violence with little or no opportunity for justice.

 Indian law and the third gender  

When the country’s Supreme Court re-criminalized homosexuality in 2013, there was a sharp increase in violence against the third gender by the Indian Police Service, far from investigating reports of sexual assault. Later in 2014, with the support of activists and NGOs lobbying for human rights, the same highest court ruled the recognition of the third gender community, equal to the socially and economically backward class. This meant that they now had access to proportional representation in education and jobs.

The small island nation of Malta was ranked as the country in Europe which has the most LGBTQ-friendly laws and policies in 2024 by Rainbow Europe. The country has made great progress in recent years in passing laws which protect the rights of its LGBTQ citizens and residents, such as outlawing so-called "conversion therapy", banning genital mutilation for intersex people, promoting anti-discrimination practices in the workplace, allowing transgender people to more easily change their gender legally, and legalizing same-sex marriage. EU states lead the way on LGBTQ rights Other leading countries in Europe for LGBTQ rights include Belgium, Denmark, and Spain, with the countries which performed well being concentrated in southern, western, and northern Europe. Many of the top performing countries are members of the European Union, which has specific provisions about protecting minority rights as a prelude to membership, however, it is notable that several member states in central-eastern and south-eastern Europe perform particularly poorly, notably Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. The poor state of LGBTQ rights in eastern Europe Unfortunately, there are still some countries in Europe where LGBTQ rights are not respected or legally enshrined at all, mostly concentrated among non-EU members in eastern Europe. Azerbaijan, Turkey, Armenia, Russia, and Belarus make up the five worst performing states, with the homophobic stances of their governments intensifying in recent years.

Between October 2022 and September 2023, at least 52 trans or gender-diverse people were murdered in Mexico. Mexico ranked as the second country with the highest number of murders of trans people in Latin America during that same period of time.

According to survey conducted in eight countries, Spain is the country where people are more likely to support a family member of a friend who would come out as transgender or non-binary. Some other more favorable countries are Italy, Great Britain, and Sweden. The least supportive country, among the eight countries surveyed in 2021, is France. In France, 27 percent of respondents said they would not be supportive, while a further 17 percent could not answer how they would react.

This statistics shows a ranking of the friendliness towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Latin America in 2016, broken down by country. In that year, Uruguay and Argentina ranked first on the LGBT friendliness scale, whereas Paraguay came in last with a score of 14.

From the fiscal year of 2016 to the fiscal year of 2024, at least 1,170 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered in Brazil. The highest number of victims was registered in the fiscal year of 2017 when 171 victims were reported. In 2024, there were 106 murders.