Demographics of sexual orientation

Obtaining precise numbers on the demographics of sexual orientation is difficult for a variety of reasons, including the nature of the research questions.

[20][21] The 2014 General Social Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, estimated that over half a million people, or 3% of the adult population, identified as gay, lesbian, or 'other'.

[22] A study conducted by BioMed Central estimated that 3.6% of males and 3.4% of females were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or another sexual minority.

[25] In an Ibope survey with a sample of 2,363 Brazilian Internet users weighted for national representativity, 83% declared themselves heterosexual, 7% homosexual, 5% bisexual, 1% other, and 4% refused to disclose their orientation.

[39][40] In a nationally representative online survey of 7,841 French adults carried out by IFOP in early 2011, 6.6% of respondents identified as homosexual (3.6%) or bisexual (3%), and 90.8% as heterosexual.

[46] According to Yougov,[47] the following is how German adults are distributed along the Kinsey scale (by age): In a nationally representative, face-to-face survey with over 2,500 Germans (55% female), it was found that 86% of men and 82% of women identify as exclusively heterosexual, 3% of men and 4% of women are mostly heterosexual, 1% of each sex declared themselves bisexual, and 1.5% as predominantly or exclusively homosexual.

[50][51][52] In 2018, a research called "Forbidden tale" A comprehensive study on lesbian, gay, bisexuals (LGB) in Iran showed that in Iranian laws, for the reason of facing punishment such as flogging and imprisonment, male homosexuals refuse to publicly announce their sexual identity.

[53][54][55] On the other hand, social pressures and the fear of being rejected or judged have caused homosexuals to start a semi-secret life in Iran.

[62] A random survey of 7,725 Italians (18–74 years old) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics between June and December 2011 with CAPI technique[63] found that about 2.4% of the population declared to be homosexual or bisexual, 77% heterosexual, 0.1% transsexual, 4% reported to be "other", 15.6% did not answer.

[67] According to a nationally representative study organized by Kantar TNS, 88% of Mexican men aged 18 to 30 years identify as heterosexual, 6% as homosexual, 5% as bisexual, and 1% as other.

[75] In an anonymous survey of 1,971 male high school students performed in 2003, 1% self-reported having had a boyfriend and 2% having fallen in love with a man.

There were no other significant differences in other aspects of sexual life, and the two sets of volunteers were similar in age, education, and geographical location.

[81] In a 2016 report titled: 'Progressive Prudes: A Survey of Attitudes towards Homosexuality and Gender Non-Conformity in South Africa' produced by the Other Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council, found that 530,000 men and women of all population groups, both rural and urban dwelling, and across age groups, self-identify as either homosexual, bisexual, or gender non-conforming.

[85] In an anonymous survey of 1,978 male high school students performed in 2003, respondents answered a question regarding same-sex attraction by choosing a number in a 5-point Likert scale (1 = no and 5 = strong).

"[87] HM Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry completed a survey to help the government analyse the financial implications of the Civil Partnerships Act (such as pensions, inheritance and tax benefits).

[89] In an online survey with over 75,000 YouGov panelists in Britain, 90.9% identified as heterosexual, 5.8% as gay, lesbian or bisexual, 1.3% opted not to give an answer, and 2.1% gave other reasons.

[90] The sample was recruited to closely match the overall British population on demographic variables such as age, gender, employment status and socio-economic classification.

Sexual minorities tended to concentrate more in certain parts of the country—in London especially, where 27% of gay men and lesbians, as well as 19% of bisexuals, took residence, compared to only 14% of heterosexuals.

[92] In a nationally representative Survation study of 1,003 British women, 92% identified as heterosexual, 1.6% as gay or lesbian, 3.5% as bisexual, 0.3% as other, and 2.6% refused to disclose their sexual orientation.

[95] Sex researcher Simon LeVay criticized this survey as unreliable because the respondents were not randomly sampled from the entire population.

[100] According to a nationally representative study organized by Kantar TNS, 87% of British men aged 18 to 30 years identify as heterosexual, 7% as homosexual, 5% as bisexual, and 2% as other.

[105] The demographics of sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States have been studied in the social sciences in recent decades.

These charts show lists of the cities and the metropolitan areas with the highest LGB population in terms of numbers of total gay, lesbian and bisexual residents, based on estimates published in 2006 by the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law.

Their argument is that methods stronger in anonymity and/or confidentiality, such as online questionnaires and IVR interviews, are better than more traditional survey modes at gauging the size of the non-heterosexual population.

British researchers with the third wave of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) addressed this matter in one of their studies.

The data below were extracted from the same group of 202 men and 325 women who gave out information about same-sex experiences live and then successfully completed the online questionnaire later.

[127][128] Data from the General Social Survey shows that the percentage of Americans reporting predominantly same-sex partners remained stable between 1989 and 2014.

[130] Likewise, in the Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships, whose data was collected in 2012 and 2013, researchers noticed significant growth in the share of women who report bisexual orientation and attraction, and the share of men who report exclusive homosexual attraction, compared to the results of the First Australian Study of Health and Relationships, executed in 2001.

While gay culture is increasingly open and discussed, the world of MSM consists of a diverse population that often may respond differently depending on how communications in clinical settings are framed.

[134] Further, knowledge of the size of the "gay and lesbian population holds promise for helping social scientists understand a wide array of important questions—questions about the general nature of labor market choices, accumulation of human capital, specialization within households, discrimination, and decisions about geographic location.