A survey in the United Kingdom has found than more than one in 10 young women were comfortable declaring that they identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another non-heterosexual identity.
The results are based on an annual population survey by the Office for National Statistics. The latest figures are for 2020, the survey has been conducted since 2014.
Of women aged between 16-24 11.4% said they were gay, lesbian, bisexual or other. It’s the first time since the survey began that the proportion has been above the 10 per cent mark. When the survey was rolled out for the first time just 3.1 per cent of women put themselves on the queer spectrum.
The increased number of women identifying as queer only applies to the 15-24 year age bracket. Only two per cent of women between 25 to 35 reported identifying as gay, bisexual, lesbian or other, and for women over 35 the rate was less than one per cent.
There were also significant regional differences in the number of women sharing that they identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or other. More women based in London, Yorkshire and the north-west shared they were queer at higher rates than those in Northern Ireland, or the east of England. There were also distinct differences based on ethnicity, with Asian women most likely not to share their sexuality when asked.
Overall across both genders the number of people identifying as LGBTQ+ increased from 2.7 per cent of the British population in 2019, to 3.1 per cent in 2020.
OIP Staff
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