In 2023, approximately 85.5 percent of people aged between 16 and 24 in the United Kingdom identified as being heterosexual, the lowest among the provided age groups. In this year, 7.5 percent of people in this age group identified as being Bisexual, compared with just 0.2 percent of people aged 65 or over.

In 2023, approximately 91.2 percent of the population of London identified as being Heterosexual or Straight, which was the lowest among regions of the United Kingdom. As of this year, approximately 3.5 percent of Londoners identified as being Gay or Lesbian, 1.7 percent as Bisexual, 0.9 percent as Other and 2.8 percent who did not know, or refused to answer.

There were estimated to be approximately 2.06 million people in the United Kingdom who identified as being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual in 2023, compared with 843,000 in 2014.

Sexual orientation in the UK by region, sex, age, legal partnership status, and ethnic group. These are official statistics in development.

Sexual identity estimates by occupation 2014. This is presented at a UK level, and broken down by England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In 2022, approximately 93.4 percent of the population of the United Kingdom identified themselves as being straight or heterosexual, compared with 1.8 percent who identified as either Gay or Lesbian, 1.5 percent as Bisexual, 0.6 percent as Other and 2.7 percent who did not know, or refused to answer.

These datasets provide Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales by sexual orientation by sex, sexual orientation by age and sexual orientation by sex and age.

LGB+

An abbreviation used to refer to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other minority sexual orientations (for example, asexual).

_Sexual orientation _

Sexual orientation is an umbrella term covering sexual identity, attraction, and behaviour. For an individual respondent, these may not be the same. For example, someone in an opposite-sex relationship may also experience same-sex attraction, and vice versa. This means the statistics should be interpreted purely as showing how people responded to the question, rather than being about whom they are attracted to or their actual relationships.

We have not provided glossary entries for individual sexual orientation categories. This is because individual respondents may have differing perspectives on the exact meaning.

The question on sexual orientation was new for Census 2021. It was voluntary and was only asked of people aged 16 years and over.

In total, 44.9 million people answered the sexual orientation question (92.5% of the population aged 16 years and over).

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more or had a permanent UK address.

Notes

• To ensure that individuals cannot be identified in the data, population counts have been rounded to the nearest five and counts under 10 have been suppressed.

• Percentages have been calculated using rounded data.

This report presents findings on the health and health-related behaviours of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) population in England. These are analysed by age, sex and ethnicity. The data are based on a representative sample of adults, aged 16 and over, who participated in the Health Survey for England from 2011–2018. 2% of adults surveyed in 2011-2018 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the health, and health related behaviours, of adults and children in England.

In 2023, approximately 93.9 percent of women in the United Kingdom identified as being heterosexual, compared with 95.5 percent in 2014. Since 2014, the share of UK women that identified as Bisexual has increased from 0.7 percent, to 2.2 percent.

According to the census of 2021, approximately 747,805 people aged 16 or over in England and Wales identified with a gay or lesbian sexual orientation, approximately 1.54 percent of the population. A further 623,504 people identified as being bisexual, or 1.28 percent of the population. In the same census there were 112,386 who identified as being pansexual, 28,172 as asexual, 14,511 as queer, and 10,236 as another sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation in the UK from 2012 to 2020 by region.

Data source: Annual Population Survey, ONS

In 2022, a survey of people in Great Britain showed that 53 percent of Gen Z were exclusively attracted to the opposite sex, with ten percent advising they were attracted to both sexes equally, and 14 percent that they were mostly or only attracted to the same sex.

In a global survey conducted in 2023, three percent of respondents declared to be homosexual, gay, or lesbian. In Brazil and the Netherlands, for instance, nine percent, instead, identified as bisexual, representing the largest group of bisexual respondents among the 30 surveyed countries. Moreover, two percent of the interviewees in Switzerland said to be pansexual or omnisexual. Pansexuality describes people who feel attracted to other people regardless of their biological sex, gender, or gender identity, whereas omnisexuality refers to people attracted to people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) have been undertaken decennially since 1990 and provide a key data source underpinning sexual and reproductive health (SRH) policy.

Further information is available from the Natsal website.

The aims of the first National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-1) were to:

• aid understanding of the epidemiology of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases
• provide information to guide health education programmes for sexual health
• provide input for models of HIV and AIDS

The objectives of Natsal-1 were to describe existing patterns and assess temporal changes in sexual behaviour in the general population, and to associate these with demographic characteristics and attitudes to different lifestyles and knowledge of possible associated risks.

In order to preserve respondent confidentiality, the geographic ward variable has been removed from the data file and postcode sector (four digits) has been reduced to postcode district (three digits). If ward or postcode sector level data are required, one of the four principal investigators should be contacted.

A follow-up survey, Discrimination Against Gay Men and Lesbians, 1993 is held at the UKDA under SN 3553. The two datasets may be linked via serial number.


Main Topics:

Topics covered include: general health, family circumstances and learning about sex; past sexual history, including age at first heterosexual and homosexual experience, age at first intercourse and nature of the relationship and timing of subsequent heterosexual experience; nature of current relationship and experience of marriage, cohabitation, divorce and separation; sexual orientation, prevalence and attitude towards different orientations; sexual practices, including past and current experience and frequency of sex; numbers and gender of sexual partners in different time periods; paying for sex (men only); sexual health, knowledge of AIDS and HIV, experience of infertility; abortion and miscarriage (women only); attendance at STD clinics, sources of advice, drug use and HIV antibody testing; risk reduction behaviour, perceived control of sexual health, knowledge and experience of safer sex practices, use of contraception; psychosocial factors influencing sexual behaviour such as source of information about sex (eg. family, friends and school) and attitudes towards different sexual lifestyles; demographic characteristics.

Standard Measures
Coding used: Occupation Code (OPCS, 1980); Socio-economic Group (OPCS, 1980); Standard Industrial Classification (OPCS, 1980).
Measurement scales: Attitude questions (Q.37-39) SCPR British Social Attitudes series.

There were estimated to be 217,000 same-sex couple families in the United Kingdom as of 2022, compared with just 16,000 in 1996.

This statistic illustrates findings of a survey on the share of individuals who are current users of Tinder or used the website in the past in the United Kingdom (UK) in June 2017, by sexual orientation. Tinder is a social search mobile app that allows matched users to chat. Matching is based on Spotify and Facebook profiles. During the survey period it was found, that 38 percent of responding homosexual individuals reported that they used the app in the past. Additionally, it was found that Tinder ranked second in terms of dating app awareness. The name of the app was known to 53 percent of polled individuals.

This survey shows the results of a survey among respondents with a gay, lesbian, bisexual or other sexual orientation on the separation of marriage and Civil Partnership. The survey was conducted in 2012 in the United Kingdom. 47 percent of the respondents thought that insisting on a separation and distinction of marriage and Civil Partnership worsens the attitudes towards gay people.

In 2022, approximately 71 percent of Gen Z in Great Britain identified their sexual orientation as being straight, compared with 82 percent of millennials, 87 percent of Gen X and 91 percent of Baby Boomers. The next most common sexual orientation for Gen Z was Bi, with ten percent of this generation identifying this way.

Between same-sex marriage being legalized in England and Wales on March 29, 2014 and December 31, 2022, there have been 55,613 same-sex marriages. Of these, 32,240 same-sex marriages were between two women, and 23,,373 were between two men.