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More than a quarter of a million people in England and Wales have a different gender identity from their sex registered at birth, according to census data which includes LGBT+ population estimates for the first time.
Some 1.5 million people England and Wales identified with an LGBT+ sexual orientation in the 2021 census – 3.2 per cent of those aged 16 and over, figures show.
And 262,000 people said their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
This represents 0.5 per cent of the population aged 16 and over.
The charity Stonewall described the publication of the figures as a “historic step forward” after more than two centuries of LGBT+ lives being “missing from the national record”.
Data from the 2021 census for England and Wales is being published in stages over two years.
It is the first time figures on sexual orientation and gender identity have been included, with people aged 16 and over asked to provide this information on a voluntary basis.
Overall, 45.7 million (94 per cent of the population aged 16 years) and over answered the question on gender identity, and 44.9 million people (92.5 per cent) filled in the question on sexual orientation.
Some 45.4 million (93.5 per cent) indicated that their gender identity was the same as their sex registered at birth.


Of the 262,000 people who said this was not the case, 118,000 did not provide further detail.
Some 48,000 (0.1 per cent of the population aged 16 and over) identified as a trans man, and 48,000 (0.1 per cent) identified as a trans woman.
A total of 30,000 identified as non-binary while a further 18,000 people wrote in a different gender identity.
When asked about their sexual orientation, 43.4 million people (89.4 per cent of the population aged 16 and over) identified as straight or heterosexual.
Some 748,000 (1.5 per cent) described themselves as gay or lesbian, 624,000 (1.3 per cent) as bisexual, and 165,000 (0.3 per cent) selected “Other sexual orientation”.

Of those who selected the latter category, the most common responses included pansexual (112,000, 0.23 per cent), asexual (28,000, 0.06 per cent), and queer (15,000, 0.03 per cent).
ONS director Jen Woolford said the first census estimates were “crucial”, adding: “They will ensure decision-makers have the best information so they can better understand the extent and nature of disadvantage which people may be experiencing in terms of educational outcomes, health, employment and housing.
“This is just the first snapshot. In future analysis we will be exploring sexual orientation and gender identity by key demographic variables, such as age and sex, as well as employment, health, education and ethnicity, among others.”
London was the region within England with the highest percentage of people who said their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth – (0.91 per cent).
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The capital also had higher proportions of people identifying as trans men (0.16 per cent) and trans women (0.16 per cent) when compared with the rest of England and Wales.
It was also the region with the highest proportion of people who identified with an LGBT+ orientation (4.3 per cent) while the local authority with the highest such percentage was Brighton and Hove (10.7 per cent).
Stonewall chief executive Nancy Kelley said: “For the past two centuries of data gathering through our national census, LGBTQ people have been invisible, with the stories of our communities, our diversity and our lives missing from the national record.
“Today is a historic step forward after decades of Stonewall campaigning to record sexual orientation and gender identity in the census, finally painting an accurate picture of the diverse ‘Rainbow Britain’ that we now live in, where more and more of us are proud to be who we are.”


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2021 census information includes LGBT+ population; 1.5 million people said they identified with LGBT+ sexual orientation, 3.2 per cent of those aged 16 and above
262,000 people said their gender identity was different from that registered at birth, ‘finally painting an accurate picture of diverse Rainbow Britain’


Around 1.5 million people identified with LGBT+ sexual orientation, 2021 census showed; 262,000 said their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth.
