The proportion of young women in the UK identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) has more than doubled in five years and now stands at around one in 10, new data suggests.
Some 10.6% of women aged 16 to 24 identified as LGB in 2022, up from 4.8% in 2017, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Among 16 to 24-year-old men the proportion is slightly lower, at 7.9% in 2022 – around one in 13 – up from 3.8% in 2017.
For those people aged 16 to 24 years, 9.2% (630,000 individuals) identified as LGB.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) September 27, 2023
These proportions go down as the age of the population increases, with the proportion of individuals aged 65 years and over identifying as LGB estimated to be 0.7% (85,000). pic.twitter.com/Bqz6bElcki
LGB identification is higher among young adults than in any other age group, the ONS found.
A total of 9.2% of all 16 to 24-year-olds (630,000 individuals) are estimated to identify as LGB, compared with 5.1% of 25 to 34-year-olds, 3% among those aged 35 to 49 and 2% of 50 to 64-year-olds.
The figure dips to 0.7% for people aged 65 and over, though this proportion has remained broadly stable in recent years and is similar to 2017.
Across the whole UK population aged 16 and over, an estimated 3.3% identify as LGB, the equivalent of 1.8 million people.
This is up from 2.1%, or 1.1 million people, in 2017.
The proportion identifying as heterosexual has fallen over the same period, from 95% to 93.4%.
This drop “may be attributed to more people exploring their sexual identity, in combination with changing societal attitudes towards different groups and the expression of these today,” the ONS said.
