Number Of People Identifying As LGB Rise In The UK
The number of people identifying as LGB in the UK has increased in the past four years, new figures show.
The increase is more than a third in the last four years from 1.6% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2018, according to data collected from the annual population survey (APS), which gathers information on self-perceived sexual identity from people over 16 years old, as ‘The Guardian’ reports.
In 2018, the people aged 16 years and over who identified as LGB in the UK reached 1.2 million people.
Sophie Sanders, from the Office for National Statistics population statistics division, said: “People in their late teens and early 20s are more likely to identify as LGB than older age groups.
“Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the LGB population are single and have never married or entered into a civil partnership.
“This reflects the younger age structure of this population, the changing attitudes of the general population to marriage and the fact that legal unions have only been recently available for same-sex couples.”
Laura Russell, director of campaigns, strategy and research at Stonewall, said about the raise that “This is likely because more and more people feel comfortable to be open about who they are.
“But we know these figures still won’t be an entirely accurate representation of the number of lesbian, gay and bi people in the UK.
“If we want to live in a world where everyone is accepted without exception, we need every person who believes in equality to stand up and support their LGBT friends, family and the wider community.”
The overall population of the UK that identify as heterosexual has seen a decrease from 95.3% in 2014 to 94.6% in 2018.
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