In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom was around 68.3 million, with approximately 34.5 million women and 33.1 million men. Since 1953, the male population of the UK has grown by around 9.1 million, while the female population has increased by approximately 8.5 million. Throughout this provided time period, the female population of the UK has consistently outnumbered the male population. UK population one of the largest in Europe As of 2022, the population of the United Kingdom was the largest it has ever been, and with growth expected to continue, the forecasted population of the United Kingdom is expected to reach over 70 million by the 2030s. Despite the relatively small size of its territory, the UK has one of the largest populations among European countries, slightly larger than France but smaller than Russia and Germany. As of 2022, the population density of the UK was approximately 279 people per square kilometer, with London by far the most densely populated area, and Scotland the most sparsely populated. Dominance of London As seen in the data regarding population density, the population of the United Kingdom is not evenly distributed across the country. Within England, London has a population of almost nine million, making it significantly bigger than the next largest cities of Birmingham and Manchester. As of 2022, Scotland's largest city, Glasgow had a population of around 1.7 million, with the largest cities in Northern Ireland, and Wales being Belfast and Cardiff, which had populations of 643,000 and 488,000 respectively.

In January 2025, women made up 55 percent of Instagram's audience in the United Kingdom, with men accounting for the remaining 45 percent. Overall, 96 percent of UK social media users were aware of Meta's Instagram.

As of January 2024, approximately 38.1 percent of X (formerly Twitter) users in the United Kingdom (UK) were women. By comparison, male users on the social network accounted for almost 62 percent of total users.

As of March 2024, smartphone usage was high for women and men in the United Kingdom, with 78 percent of female and 72 percent of male internet users accessing the internet on their mobile devices, respectively. PC or laptop usage was higher for men the women in the UK, with around 17 percent of men and nine percent of women accessing the internet via PC or laptop.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the employment rate for men aged between 16 and 64 in the United Kingdom was 78.2 percent, while for women it was 71.8 percent. The male employment rate has consistently been higher than that of females in this provided time period, although the gap was much greater at the start of this period.

As of February 2025, approximately 50.1 percent of YouTube users in the United Kingdom (UK) were male. By comparison, female UK users on the popular social video platform made up almost 50 percent of the total.

The share of women among internet users in the United Kingdom was higher by two percent than men's. As of July 2023, 51 percent of internet users in the country were women, compared to 49 percent of men.

A February 2023 survey in the United Kingdom (UK) found that around 33 percent of women felt more wary of what they were reading when they knew the website was tracking their personal information, compared to 28 percent of men. A further 24 percent of women said they felt more nervous, while over ten percent of men felt happier knowing their data was being tracked.

As of January 2024, 49.9 percent of social media users in the United Kingdom were women. Overall, the penetration rate of social media in the UK stood at 91.17 percent in 2023, and is expected to rise to over 93 percent by 2027.

In 2024, the difference between average hourly earnings for men and women in the United Kingdom for all workers was 13.1 percent, compared with seven percent for full-time workers, and -3 percent for part-time workers. During the provided time period, the gender pay gap was at its highest in 1997, when it was 27.5 percent for all workers. Compared with 1997, the gender pay gap has fallen by 13.2 percent for all workers, and 9.7 percent for full-time workers. Gender pay gap higher in older age groups Although the gender pay gap among younger age groups was quite small in 2023, the double-digit pay gap evident in older age groups served to keep the overall gap high. The gender pay gap for workers aged between 18 and 21 for example was -0.2 percent, compared with 11.2 percent for people in their 50s. Additionally the gender pay gap for people aged over 60 has changed little since 1997, falling by just 0.5 percent between 1997 and 2023, compared with a 12.8 percent reduction among workers in their 40s. Positions of power As of 2023, women are unfortunately still relatively underrepresented in leadership positions at Britain’s top businesses. Among FTSE 100 companies, for example, just 11 percent of CEOs were female, falling to just four percent for FTSE 250 companies. Representation was better when it came to FTSE 100 boardrooms, with 42.6 percent of positions at this level being filled by women, compared with 41.8 percent at FTSE 250 companies. In the corridors of political power, the proportion of female MPs was estimated to have reached its highest ever level after the 2024 election at 41 percent, compared with just three percent in 1979.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, there were approximately 2.49 million women in the education sector in the UK, compared with just over one million men.

This statistic presents the share of respondents who agree or disagree that gender equality is an important issue to them, in the United Kingdom (UK) as of 2019. According to data published by Ipsos, 62 percent of respondents in the UK agreed that gender equality is an important issue to them, whilst 29 percent disagreed.

As of July 2023, 13 percent of male X (formerly Twitter) users in the United Kingdom reported using the service multiple times per day, compared to six percent of female X/Twitter users in the UK. Overall, 11 percent of male users accessed the platform daily. Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, bought the micro-blogging service in October 2022 and rebranded the platform in the months following the acquisition.

As of March 2024, six perfect of the population the in the United Kingdom who identified as women had used online dating services in the past 12 months, as did six percent of men. Overall, almost a third of trans female respondents reported using dating apps or websites in the past year.

A 2023 survey among internet users in the United Kingdom (UK) found that 59 percent of narrow internet users were female, meaning that they only carried out one to four types of internet activities.

Important notice

The Office for Statistics Regulation confirmed on 12/09/2024 that the gender identity estimates from Census 2021 are no longer accredited official statistics and are classified as official statistics in development.

For further information please see: Sexual orientation and gender identity quality information for Census 2021

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

Gender identity

Gender identity refers to a person's sense of their own gender, whether male, female or another category such as non-binary. This may or may not be the same as their sex registered at birth.

Non-binary

Someone who is non-binary does not identify with the binary categories of man and woman. In these results the category includes people who identified with the specific term "non-binary" or variants thereon. However, those who used other terms to describe an identity that was neither specifically man nor woman have been classed in "All other gender identities".

Sex

This is the sex recorded by the person completing the census. The options were "Female" and "Male".

Trans

An umbrella term used to refer to people whose gender identity is different from their sex registered at birth. This includes people who identify as a trans man, trans woman, non-binary or with another minority gender identity.

Trans man

A trans man is someone who was registered female at birth, but now identifies as a man.

Trans woman

A trans woman is someone who was registered male at birth, but now identifies as a woman.

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 and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

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.

The share of women on boards in the financial services industry in the United Kingdom (UK) showed a slight increase between 2018 and 2023. In 2018, 22.9 percent of the directors in financial services were female, which was below the average of 26 percent among European countries. By 2021, the share of women on boards increased to 33.3 percent, which rose to 37.2 percent by 2023.

During a 2024 survey carried out among marketers from the United Kingdom, it was found that women earned nearly 18 percent less than men. The gap widened in the most recent year by 1.8 percentage points.

According to a survey of social media users conducted in the United Kingdom between April 2023 and March 2024, livestreaming and social video platform for gamers Twitch had a limited engagement among female social users in the country. Overall, less than five percent of female social media users in the UK reported using Twitch. In comparison, 11 percent of men reported using the platform as of March 2024.

From 2016 to 2019, the percentage of women working in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field in the United Kingdom (UK) has increased from 21 to 24 percent, a total of 216,552 more women according to the source. While this is a significant increase in women within the STEM workforce, the percentage still remains disproportionately low, highlighting the gender gap in the STEM field.