Demographics of sexual orientation

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The demographics of sexual orientation are difficult to establish for a variety of reasons.

One of the major reasons for the difference in statistical findings regarding homosexuality and bisexuality has to do with the nature of the research questions. Major research studies on sexual orientation are discussed. Most of the studies listed below rely on self-report data, which poses challenges to researchers inquiring into sensitive subject matter. More importantly, the studies tend to pose two sets of questions. One set examines self-report data of same-sex sexual experiences and attractions while the other set examines self-report data of personal identification as homosexual or bisexual. Fewer research subjects identify as homosexual or bisexual than report having sexual experiences or attraction to a person of the same sex. Several studies of sexual orientation in countries provide comparative perspectives. Tables comparing several U.S. cities' population numbers are also included. However, since many individuals may fail to report outside the heterosexual norm define their sexuality in their own unique terms, it is difficult to fully grasp the size of the LGBT population.

The type of survey being used and the type of setting a subject is in while being surveyed may affect the answer that the subject gives.

Incidence versus prevalence

Another significant distinction can be made between what medical statisticians call incidence and prevalence. For example, even if two studies agree on a common criterion for defining a sexual orientation, one study might regard this as applying to any person who has ever met this criterion, whereas another might only regard him/her as being so if they had done so during the year of the survey. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation refers to an "enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes", as well as to "a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." Therefore, a person can be celibate and still identify as being bisexual or homosexual based on romantic proclivities.

Western perception of homosexuality versus the rest of the world

The population that has come to be referred to as "gay" in the West is not a descriptive term that would be recognized by all men who have sex with men (MSM) as known in the rest of the world. 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. "Gay" is generally used to describe a sexual orientation, while "MSM" describes a behavior.

Some men who have sex with other men will not relate to the term "gay" or homosexual, and do not regard sex with other men as sexual activity, a term they reserve for sexual relations with women. This is particularly true among individuals from non-Western cultures. Nevertheless, it is common in the US. Terms such as MSM or "same gender loving" are often used in place of the word gay. Men in Africa and Latin America engage in sexual relationships with other men while still referring to themselves as "heterosexual", which is known as being on the "down-low". The same is true of men who engage in homosexual activities in the military, gender-segregated schools and universities, or prison; most of them do not consider themselves gay but still engage sexually with members of their own sex in order to fulfill their desires, exercise power, gain favors, or for other reasons.

There is a lack of information on sexual behaviour in most developing countries. The limited sources that are available indicate that although homosexual self-identification might occur relatively infrequently, the prevalence of homosexual behaviour is higher. These men are not taken into consideration in some sexual identity surveys which may lead to under-reporting and inaccuracies.

Importance of having reliable demographics

Reliable data on the size of the gay and lesbian population would be valuable for informing public policy. For example, demographics would help calculate the costs and benefits of domestic partnership benefits, of the impact of legalizing gay adoption. 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."

The Kinsey Reports

Main article: Kinsey Reports

Two of the most famous studies of the demographics of human sexual orientation were Dr. Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953). These studies used a seven-point spectrum to define sexual behavior, from 0 for completely heterosexual to 6 for completely homosexual. Kinsey concluded that a small percentage of the population were to one degree or another bisexual (falling on the scale from 1 to 6). He also reported that 37% of men in the U.S. had achieved orgasm through contact with another male after adolescence and 13% of women had achieved orgasm through contact with another woman.

His results, however, have been disputed, especially in 1954 by a team consisting of John Tukey, Frederick Mosteller and William G. Cochran, who stated much of Kinsey's work was based on convenience samples rather than random samples, and thus would have been vulnerable to bias.

Paul Gebhard, Kinsey's former colleague and successor as director of the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research, dedicated years to reviewing the Kinsey data and culling what he claimed were its purported contaminants. In 1979, Gebhard (with Alan B. Johnson) concluded that none of Kinsey's original estimates were significantly affected by the perceived bias, finding that 36.4% of men had engaged in both heterosexual and homosexual activities, as opposed to Kinsey's 37%.

Modern survey results

Recent critiques of these studies have suggested that, because of their dependence on self-identification, they may have undercounted the true prevalence of people with a history of same-sex behavior or desire.

Australia

2001-2002

The then largest and most thorough survey in Australia was conducted by telephone interview with 19,307 respondents between the ages of 16 and 59 in 2001/2002. The study found that 97.4% of men identified as heterosexual, 1.6% as homosexual and 0.9% as bisexual. For women 97.7% identified as heterosexual, 0.8% as lesbian and 1.4% as bisexual. Nevertheless, 8.6% of men and 15.1% of women reported either feelings of attraction to the same gender or some sexual experience with the same gender. Overall, 8.6% of women and 5.9% of men reported some homosexual experience in their lives; these figures fell to 5.7% and 5.0% respectively when non-genital sexual experience was excluded. Half the men and two thirds of the women who had same-sex sexual experience regarded themselves as heterosexual rather than homosexual.

2012-2013

An update on the above study; it employs the same methodology, has a larger sample (20,055 respondents), and a broader respondent age range (16-69). The study found that 96.5% of the entire sample (or 96.7% of the men and 96.3% of the women) identified as heterosexual, a drop from the 2003 findings (97.5%). Homosexuals accounted for 1.9% of the male population and 1.2% of the female population, a non-significant difference between the sexes. Bisexuals accounted for 1.3% of the male population and 2.2% of the female population. Women were significantly more likely than men to identify as bisexual, and less likely to report exclusively other-sex or same-sex attraction and experience. Similarly, more women reported same-sex experience and same-sex attraction. Nine percent of men and 19% of women had some history of same-sex attraction or experience. More women identified as lesbian or bisexual than in 2001–02. Homosexual/gay identity was more common among men with university education and living in cities, and much less common among men with blue-collar jobs. Both male and female bisexuality were more common among respondents under the age of 20. Male bisexuality was also overrepresented among men in their sixties.

Canada

1988

A study of 5,514 college and university students under the age of 25 found 1% who were homosexual and 1% who were bisexual.

2012

In an interactive voice response telephone survey of around 2,700 Canadians, 5.3% identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Canadians aged 18–34 were much more likely to identify as LGBT (11.1%) than those in older brackets (2.6-3.4%).

2003-2014 — The Canadian Community Health Survey

	Gay/lesbian	Bisexual	Total
2003	1%	0.7%	1.7%
2005	1.1%	0.8%	1.9%
2007	—	—	2.1%
2009	1.1%	0.9%	—
2012	1.3%	1.1%	—
2014	1.7%	1.3%	—

Denmark

1992

A random survey found that 2.7% of the 1,373 men who responded to their questionnaire had homosexual experience (intercourse).

France

1992

A study of 20,055 people found that 4.1% of the men and 2.6% (reverify) of the women had at least one occurrence of sexual relations with person of the same sex during their lifetime.

2011

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. Compared to the heterosexual population, the homosexual population was much more likely to be male, single, and younger than 65, and as well as to be living alone, to be economically active but have a smaller household income, and to be residing in big cities, especially in the region of Paris. The bisexual population had fewer statistically significant deviations from the heterosexual population, resembling the heterosexuals on some measures, homosexuals on others, or being at a midpoint on still some others. However, they were more likely to be aged 18–24 than the other two groups, and like homosexuals, they were also more likely to be single.

In another IFOP survey of 9,515 French adults conducted later that same year, 6.5% of the sample identified as homosexual (3%) or bisexual (3.5%). Among LGBs, men outnumbered women by more than 2 to 1.

Ireland

2006

A study of the responses of 7,441 individuals, conducted by the ESRI, found that 2.7% of men and 1.2% of women self-identified as homosexual or bisexual. A question based on a variant of the Kinsey scale found that 5.3% of men and 5.8% of women reported some same-sex attraction. Of those surveyed, 7.1% of men and 4.7% of women reported a homosexual experience some time in their life so far. It also found that 4.4% of men and 1.4% of women reported a "genital same-sex experience" (oral or anal sex, or any other genital contact) in their life so far. The study was commissioned and published by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in partnership with the Department of Health and Children.

Israel

2012

In a sample representative of the population aged 18 to 44, it was found that, among Israeli Jews, 11.3% of men and 15.2% of women self-reported attraction to the same-gender, 10.2 and 8.7% reported lifetime same-gender encounters, while 8.2 and 4.8% self-identified as gay or bisexual men and lesbian or bisexual women, respectively.

2015

According to a survey employing the Kinsey scale, 4.5% of non-religious Israelis place themselves on points 5 or 6 on the scale, indicating a homosexual orientation with minor or non-existent opposite-sex attraction, and 91.5% placed themselves on points 0 or 1, which indicates a heterosexual orientation, with minor or non-existent same-sex attraction. In the category of young adults, aged 18 to 24, 7.4% placed themselves on Kinsey points 5 or 6, and 80% on points 0 or 1.

Italy

2011

A random survey of 7,725 Italians (18–74 years old) conducted by ISTAT between June and December 2011 with CAPI technique found that about 2.4% of the population declared to be homo- or bisexual, 77% heterosexual, 0.1% transsexual, 4% reported to be "other", 15.6% didn't answer. An extended survey including all the people that during their lives fell or are in love with a same-sex individual, or that had sexual intercourse with a same-sex individual, increases the percentage to 6.7% of the population. More men than women, more northerners than southerners, more younger than older people identified themselfes as homosexuals.

The Netherlands

2001

In a face-to-face survey carried out by the Dutch National Survey of General Practice, of the 4,229 men with a valid answer to the sexual orientation question, 1.5% self-identified as gay, 0.6% as bisexual and 97.9% as heterosexual. Of the 5,282 women, 1.5% self-identified as gay, 1.2% as bisexual, and 97.3% as heterosexual.

2009

In a nationally representative, online sample of 3145 men and 3283 women, 3.6% of the men and 1.4% of the women identified as gay. A further 5.5% of the men and 7.4% of the women identified as bisexual. Self-identification was assessed on a 5-point scale and all three non-exclusive options were combined for bisexual self-identification. Same-sex attraction is more prevalent than homo- or bisexual orientation. Of the men, 9.9% reported at least some same-sex attraction (4.2% exclusively). Among women, this was 10.9% (1.5% exclusively), of which a large group reported mainly heterosexual attraction. Of the men, 3.6% had had sex with men in the past six months and a further 2.0% with both men and women. For women, these percentages were 1.6% and 0.8% respectively. Gay or bisexual self-identification without same-sex attraction was almost non-existent. However, not all men and women who felt attracted to their own gender identified as gay or bisexual. Same-sex sexual behavior did occur among men and women who neither reported any same-sex attraction or a gay or bisexual identification, especially when lifelong sexual behavior was considered.

New Zealand

2007

In an anonymous survey of 8,000 New Zealand secondary school students conducted by the University of Auckland, 0.9% of those surveyed reported exclusive attraction to the same sex, 3.3% to both sexes and 1.8% to neither.

1993-2011

The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study is a prospective study that looked at changes in sexual behavior, attraction, and identity among around 1,000 New Zealanders born in 1972 or 1973. Samples were first interviewed in 1993, when they were 21, and again at ages 26, 32, and 38, in 2010/2011. The study found a strong decrease in the share of women who self-reported exclusive heterosexual attraction from age 21 (88.3%) to age 26 (82.5%), but a small increase at age 32 (84.2%) and again at 38 (87.6%). By contrast, among men, the share self-reporting exclusive heterosexual attraction remained largely stable between ages 21 (94.9%) and 32 (94.2%), with a small decrease at age 38 (92.9%). Sexual identity was only assessed at ages 32 and 38. At age 32, 0.9% of women and 1.3% of men self-identified as gay, and 2.9% of women and 1.7% of men as bisexual. Additionally, 1.5% of women and 2.2% of men identified as "other". At age 38, 1.1% of women and 1.7% of men self-identified as gay, and 2.6% of women and 3% of men as bisexual, with 1.1% of women and 0.2% of men identifying as "other". While sexual attraction changed more for women than for men, changes among men were more consistently to greater homosexuality, while changes among women past age 26 occurred equally in both directions (i.e., to both more and less heterosexual attraction). Researchers discussed several factors behind the changes, from age effects to cultural effects, with homosexuality, especially female homosexuality, becoming more socially acceptable in the West in the 1990s and 2000s.

Norway

1988

In a random survey of 6,300 Norwegians, 3.5% of the men and 3% of the women reported that they had a homosexual experience sometime in their life.

2003

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.

Poland

A volunteer-based research of adult Poles showed that differences in the mode of survey produce also significant differences in the share of people who will admit homosexual attraction. In paper-based surveys, 6% of respondents self-reported same-sex attraction, compared to 12% of online respondents. 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.

Sweden

2003

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). Those who marked the number 5 made up 4% of the sample and those who marked the numbers 3 or 4, presented by researchers as self-reporting "some" same-sex attraction, 7%.

United Kingdom

Sexual identity in the UK, 2012.

1992

A study of 8,337 British men found that 6.1% have had a "homosexual experience" and 3.6% had "1+ homosexual partner ever."

2005

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). They concluded that there were 3.6 m gay people in Britain—around 6% of the total population or 1 in 16.66 people.

2008

In a survey of around 1,000 Britons using a self-completed questionnaire, 2% of the total sample identified as bisexual, 4% as homosexual, and 92% as heterosexual.

2009

In an online survey carried out among over 75,000 Yougov panel participants 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. The sample was recruited to closely match the overall British population on demographic variables such as age, gender, employment status and socio-economic classification. Ethnic minorities were less likely to identify as gay or lesbian than Whites (1.4% vs. 3.5%) but were more likely to prefer not to disclose their sexual orientation (7.5% vs 0.9%). More LGB than heterosexual respondents indicated they would be less likely to disclose their true sexual orientation in a face-to-face interview than in a self-administered, online survey.

2010

A representative survey of 238,206 Britons, exclusive to their categories, found 1% identified as gay or lesbian and 0.5% said they were bisexual. A further 0.5% self-identified as "other", and 3% responded as "do not know" or refused to answer. In total this adds up to 5% of people who do not identify as heterosexual, or alternatively 98.5% who do not identify as either gay, lesbian or bisexual. Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay equality charity Stonewall stated: "This is the first time that people were asked and data collection happened on doorsteps or over the phone, which may deter people from giving accurate responses – particularly if someone isn't openly gay at home." Stonewall worked with 600 major employers and their experience had shown that these statistics increased when people were regularly asked about sexual orientation as part of general monitoring information.

2014

In an anonymous online sex survey carried out by The Observer on the sex lives of the British, 4% of the 1,052 samples surveyed identified as gay or lesbian, and another 4% as bisexual.

2011—2015 Integrated Household Survey

	Heterosexual	Gay/lesbian	Bisexual	Other	Don't know/Refuse/No response
2011	93.9%	1.1%	0.4%	0.3%	4.2%
2012	94.4%	1.1%	0.5%	0.3%	3.8%
2013	93.6%	1.1%	0.5%	0.3%	4.5%
2014	93.8%	1.1%	0.5%	0.3%	4.3%
2015	93.7%	1.1%	0.6%	0.4%	4.1%

In all years, it was observed that an LGB identity is most common among London residents and those aged under 35. Homosexual identity is twice more common among men than among women, whereas bisexual identity is twice more common among women than men.

2015

In a Yougov survey of 1,632 adults, 5.5% identified as gay, 2.1% as bisexual, and 88.7% as heterosexual. Asked to place themselves on the Kinsey scale, 72% of all adults, and 46% of adults aged 18–24 years, picked a score of zero, meaning that they identify as totally heterosexual. Four percent of the total sample, and 6% of young adults, picked a score of six, meaning a totally homosexual identity.

United States

Main article: LGBT demographics of the United States

Methods

Ratios of proportions

In general, most research agrees that the number of people who have had multiple same-gender sexual experiences is fewer than the number of people who have had a single such experience, and that the number of people who identify themselves as exclusively homosexual is fewer than the number of people who have had multiple homosexual experiences.

Change over time

In addition, shifts can occur in reports of the prevalence of homosexuality. For example, the Hamburg Institute for Sexual Research conducted a survey over the sexual behavior of young people in 1970 and repeated it in 1990. Whereas in 1970 18% of the boys ages 16 and 17 reported to have had at least one same-sex sexual experience, the number had dropped to 2% by 1990.

Data from the General Social Survey shows that the percentage of Americans reporting predominately same-sex partners remained stable between 1991 and 2010. In contrast, the percentage who reported ever having a same-sex partner increased, especially among women. By contrast, the National Survey of Family Growth has found an increase in the share of men and women who self-report a bisexual orientation in their 2011-2013 study compared to previous surveys. 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.

Top cities

Brazil

In 2009, in a survey conducted by University of São Paulo in 10 capitals of Brazil, of the men 7.8% were gay and 2.6% were bisexual, for a total of 10.4%, and of the women 4.9% were lesbian and 1.4% were bisexual, for a total of 6.3%.

Of the men of the city of Rio de Janeiro, 14.3% were gay or bisexual. Of the women of the city of Manaus, 10.2% were lesbian and bisexual.

Rank	City	Percentage of city population	LGB population
			rank
1	Rio de Janeiro	14.30%	1
2	Fortaleza	9.35%	2
3	Manaus	8.35%	3
4	São Paulo	8.20%	4
5	Salvador	8.05%	5
6	Brasília	7.95%	6
7	Belo Horizonte	6.85%	7
8	Curitiba	6.55%	8
9	Porto Alegre	5.95%	9
10	Cuiabá	5.65%	10

United States

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, a sexual orientation law think tank, released a study in April 2011 estimating based on its research that 1.7 percent of American adults identify as gay or lesbian, while another 1.8 percent identify as bisexual. Drawing on information from four recent national and two state-level population-based surveys, the analyses suggest that there are more than 8 million adults in the US who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual, comprising 3.5% of the adult population. Of men, 2.2% identify as gay and an additional 1.4% as bisexual. Of women, 1.1% identify as lesbian and an additional 2.2% as bisexual.

LGBT Adult Percentage by State in 2012.

Cities with the highest percentage of LGBTs in 2006.

See also: Top LGBT populations in U.S. cities and states

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.

Top ranked by percent:

Rank	City	Percentage of city population	GLB population
			population	rank
1	San Francisco	15.4%	94,234	4
2	Seattle	12.9%	57,993	9
3	Atlanta	12.8%	39,805	12
4	Minneapolis	12.5%	34,295	16
5	Boston	12.3%	50,540	10
6	Sacramento	9.8%	32,108	20
7	Portland	8.8%	35,413	14
8	Denver	8.2%	33,698	17
9	Washington	8.1%	32,599	18
10	Orlando	7.7%	12,508	36

Top ranked by total population:

Rank	City	Percentage of city population	GLB population
			population	rank
1	New York City	6%	272,493	1
2	Los Angeles	5.6%	154,270	2
3	Chicago	5.7%	114,449	3
4	San Francisco	15.4%	94,234	4
5	Phoenix	6.4%	63,222	5
6	Houston	4.4%	61,976	6
7	San Diego	6.8%	61,945	7
8	Dallas	7.0%	58,473	8
9	Seattle	12.9%	57,993	9
10	Boston	12.3%	50,540	10
11	Philadelphia	4.2%	43,320	11
12	Atlanta	12.8%	39,085	12
13	San Jose	5.8%	37,260	13

Major metropolitan areas by total population:

Rank	City	GLB	GLB% population
1	New York City – Northern New Jersey – Long Island, NY	568,903	2.6%
2	Los Angeles – Long Beach, CA – Santa Ana, CA	442,211	2.7%
3	Chicago–Naperville–Joliet, IL	288,478	3.1%
4	San Francisco – Oakland – Fremont, CA	256,313	3.6%
5	Boston – Cambridge, MA – Quincy, MA	201,344	3.4%
6	Washington, D.C.	191,959	2.5%
7	Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington, TX	183,718	3.5%
8	Miami – Miami Beach – Fort Lauderdale	183,346	4.7%
9	Atlanta – Marietta, GA – Sandy Springs, GA	180,168	4.3%
10	Philadelphia – Camden, NJ – Wilmington, DE	179,459	2.8%

See also

• Biology and sexual orientation

Further reading

• Diamond M (August 1993). "Homosexuality and bisexuality in different populations". Arch Sex Behav. 22 (4): 291–310. doi:10.1007/BF01542119. PMID 8368913.