How Many People are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender?
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Cross-sectional survey synthesis; graded by design analogy for non-clinical demography.
What was done
Synthesis of data from four national and two state-level population-based surveys in the United States to estimate the prevalence and counts of adults who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT), as well as those reporting same-sex sexual behavior and attraction.
What was found
An estimated 3.5% of US adults (more than 8 million) identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and nearly 700,000 identify as transgender, totaling approximately 9 million LGBT individuals. Bisexual adults comprise 1.8% of the population compared to 1.7% identifying as lesbian or gay, with women substantially more likely than men to identify as bisexual. An estimated 8.2% (19 million) report lifetime same-sex sexual behavior, and 11% (25.6 million) report at least some same-sex sexual attraction.
Why it matters
This report establishes population-level baseline estimates indicating that lifetime same-sex behavior and attraction are substantially more prevalent in the US adult population than self-identified LGB orientation.
Limits
The abstract does not state the total participant sample size, individual survey methodologies, or confidence intervals. Data rely on self-reporting and are restricted to US surveys available prior to 2011.
Cited by
- supports Approximately 2% of the population identifies as gay.