How Many People are Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr? - Williams Instute

Contents:

• WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
• HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
• THE ‘GLOBAL CLOSET’ IS HUGE—VAST MAJORY OF WORLD’S LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL POPULATN HI ORIENTATN, YSPH STUDY FDS
• WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?

Dpe major chang laws and norms surroundg the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around the world, public opn on the acceptance of homosexualy society remas sharply divid by untry, regn and enomic velopment. Those Wtern Europe and the Ameris are generally more acceptg of homosexualy than are those Eastern Europe, Rsia, Ukrae, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Ai.

THE ‘GLOBAL CLOSET’ IS HUGE—VAST MAJORY OF WORLD’S LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL POPULATN HI ORIENTATN, YSPH STUDY FDS

In many natns, there has been an creasg acceptance of homosexualy, cludg the Uned Stat, where 72% say should be accepted, pared wh jt 49% as recently as 2007. In many of the untri surveyed, there also are differenc on acceptance of homosexualy by age, tn, e and, some stanc, genr – and several s, the differenc are substantial. For example, some untri, those who are affiliated wh a relig group tend to be ls acceptg of homosexualy than those who are unaffiliated (a group sometim referred to as relig “non”).

For example, Swen, the Netherlands and Germany, all of which have a per-pa gross domtic product over $50, 000, acceptance of homosexualy is among the hight measured across the 34 untri surveyed. By ntrast, Nigeria, Kenya and Ukrae, where per-pa GDP is unr $10, 000, ls than two--ten say that homosexualy should be accepted by society. The study is a follow-up to a 2013 report that found many of the same patterns as seen today, although there has been an crease acceptance of homosexualy across many of the untri surveyed both years.

Central and Eastern Europeans, however, are more divid on the subject, wh a median of 46% who say homosexualy should be accepted and 44% sayg should not be.

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY?

But sub-Saharan Ai, the Middle East, Rsia and Ukrae, few say that society should accept homosexualy; only South Ai (54%) and Israel (47%) do more than a quarter hold this view. However, while took nearly 15 years for acceptance to rise 13 pots om 2000 to jt before the feral legalizatn of gay marriage June 2015, there was a near equal rise acceptance jt the four years sce legalizatn. More than eight--ten Democrats and Democratic-leang pennts (85%) say homosexualy should be accepted, but only 58% of Republins and Republin leaners say the same.

In 22 of 34 untri surveyed, younger adults are signifintly more likely than their olr unterparts to say homosexualy should be accepted by society.

This difference was most pronounced South Korea, where 79% of 18- to 29-year-olds say homosexualy should be accepted by society, pared wh only 23% of those 50 and olr.

This staggerg 56-pot difference exceeds the next largt difference Japan by 20 pots, where 92% and 56% of those ag 18 to 29 and 50 and olr, rpectively, say homosexualy should be accepted by society. In most untri surveyed, those who have greater levels of tn are signifintly more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted society than those who have ls tn. For example, Greece, 72% of those wh a postsendary tn or more say homosexualy is acceptable, pared wh 42% of those wh a sendary tn or ls who say this.

In a siar number of untri, those who earn more money than the untry’s natnal median e also are more likely to say they accept homosexualy society than those who earn ls. In Israel, for stance, 52% of higher e earners say homosexualy is acceptable society vers only three--ten of lower e earners who say the same.

In many of the untri where there are measurements of iology on a left-right sle, those on the left tend to be more acceptg of homosexualy than those on the iologil right. In South Korea, for example, those who classify themselv on the iologil left are more than twice as likely to say homosexualy is acceptable than those on the iologil right (a 39-percentage-pot difference).

In a siar ve, those who support right-wg populist parti Europe, many of which are seen by LGBT groups as a threat to their rights, are ls supportive of homosexualy society. In Spa, people wh a favorable opn of the Vox party, which recently has begun to oppose some gay rights, are much ls likely to say that homosexualy is acceptable than those who do not support the party.

And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party. But even untri like France and Germany where acceptance of homosexualy is high, there are differenc between supporters and non-supporters of key right-wg populist parti such as Natnal Rally France and Alternative for Germany (AfD). Relign, both as relat to relative importance people’s liv and actual relig affiliatn, also plays a large role perceptns of the acceptabily of homosexualy many societi across the globe.

In 25 of the 34 untri surveyed, those who say relign is “somewhat, ” “not too” or “not at all” important their liv are more likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted than those who say relign is “very” important. Among Israelis, those who say relign is not very important their liv are almost three tim more likely than those who say relign is very important to say that society should accept homosexualy.

For example, those who are religly unaffiliated, sometim lled relig “non, ” (that is, those who intify as atheist, agnostic or “nothg particular”) tend to be more acceptg of homosexualy. Though the opns of religly unaffiliated people n vary wily, virtually every untry surveyed wh a sufficient number of unaffiliated rponnts, “non” are more acceptg of homosexualy than the affiliated. But even among Christians, Catholics are more likely to accept homosexualy than Prottants and evangelils many untri wh enough adherents for analysis.

Koreans who are religly unaffiliated are about twice as likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society (60%) as those who are Christian (24%) or Buddhist (31%). In the few untri surveyed wh Mlim populatns large enough for analysis, acceptance of homosexualy is particularly low among adherents of Islam. The worldwi LGBTQ populatn by untry reports timate that approximately eight percent of the world intifi as homosexual, bisexual, or pansexual.