Sexuality in the UK

• In 2016, just over 1 million (2.0%) of the UK population aged 16 and over identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB).
• The population aged 16 to 24 were the age group most likely to identify as LGB in 2016 (4.1%).
• More males (2.3%) than females (1.6%) identified themselves as LGB in 2016.
• The population who identified as LGB in 2016 were most likely to be single, never married or civil partnered, at 70.7%.

“In 2016, around 2% of the population identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). This has increased from 1.7% in 2015 (a statistically significant increase). London had the largest proportion of the population who identified as LGB (2.7%), which could be associated with a relatively young and diverse population.”

The majority of the UK population identifies as heterosexual or straight

In 2016, estimates from the Annual Population Survey (APS) showed that 93.4% of the UK population identified as heterosexual or straight and 2.0% of the population identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). This comprised of:

• 1.2% identifying as gay or lesbian
• 0.8% identifying as bisexual

A further 0.5% of the population identified themselves as “Other”, which means that they did not consider themselves to fit into the heterosexual or straight, bisexual, gay or lesbian categories. A further 4.1% refused, or did not know how to identify themselves.

Information discovered:

• One million people in the UK are lesbian, gay or bisexual
• 16-24 year olds are more likely to identify at LGBT
• Men are more likely to identify then women
• The majority of the LGBT community is single (70%)
• London has the largest proportion of LGBT members in the UK