National Census: Only 0.2% of the Population Define Themselves as ‘Trans’
Today the census published data on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time. Census participants were asked “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”
94.0% of the population aged 16 years and over answered the question, 93.5% answered yes, 0.5% answered no (equivalent to 262,000 people in England and Wales). This is one in every 200 adults, fairly close to the previous unofficial estimate I had of one in 300.
Those who indicated that their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth were asked a follow-up write-in question which only half of them answered:
- 0.1% identified as a trans man (approximately 48,000 people)
- 0.1% identified as a trans woman (48,000)
- 0.06% identified as non-binary (30,000)
- 0.04% wrote in a different gender identity (18,000).
Whilst we are now a little bit clearer about the size of the trans population, as the question was optional, and non-response was significant, we still don’t have a precise answer. Perhaps we need to recognise that some people don’t want their identity to be pinned down.
Full results are available on the Census website, which provides regional data as well.
Eight out of the 10 local authorities with the largest proportion of the population whose gender identity was different from their sex at birth were in London. Newham and Brent topped the list. The top two non-London local authorities were Oxford and Norwich. Brighton and Hove, Norwich and Cambridge had the highest proportions writing in non-binary.
For many of us these results will come as no surprise, given that we will have one or two trans people in our wider circle of friends and acquaintances. Generally their gender identity is immaterial in most circumstances. In my own case this includes someone I buy diesel from at the local garage and someone else who has been part of the local anti-lockdown campaign. We have never discussed their gender identity and have no reason to do so.
In the past year I have, however, encountered a larger number of people angrily accusing others of being fascists whilst proclaiming ‘trans rights are human rights’. At a Women’s Rights rally in Brighton last September the people who had come to listen to speakers talking about the importance of single sex spaces and other topics were separated from a group of protestors by a police cordon. The protestors were standing up for ‘trans rights’ and tried to drown out the speakers. Many were masked; some were dressed ‘antifa -like’ entirely in black.
Having attended two such events, I am as yet unclear as to what ‘rights’ the trans campaigners were shouting about. One had a placard saying they (singular) had the right to be gorgeous. I do not remember this being in the UN Convention on Human Rights. Some seemed to be very angry. When the women who wanted single sex spaces tried to talk to the protestors many found that dialogue was impossible.
I am pleased that the Census has provided some data on this. Minority rights are important. Whilst the size of the minority should not have any bearing on the importance of their rights, it does have some bearing on the nature of the public dialogue, especially when two rights conflict. This is the case with single sex spaces or sports and gender identity. Sex and gender (definition-wise) are not the same.
The census will hopefully provide some ‘official clarity’ on the subject. It first ‘came across my desk’ around five years ago when I was part of a technical group overseeing changes to the National Readership Survey. We were asked by the Chair “how would trans people express their gender”. The answer should have been simple: “We observe and record sex (we don’t ask gender) such that we are consistent with the census” (which at that time reported sex not gender). Much time was spent figuring out what to do. Sometimes discussions got a bit heated. When we did introduce a question about gender identity, in my mind it caused more problems than it solved. There was no constructive help from the person who asked the question. At the time they (singular) were also Chair of Stonewall (involved in moving the equality organisation from campaigning solely for lesbian, gay and bisexual people to include trans people). I am aware this move is not very popular with some lesbian and gay men and women and can understand why.
The Census also provides numbers on sexual orientation for the first time:
- 92.5% of participants answered the question
- 43.4 million people (89.4%) identified as straight or heterosexual
- 1.5 million people (3.2%) identified with an LGB+ orientation (“Gay or Lesbian”, “Bisexual” or “Other sexual orientation”).
The figures support the view that gender identity and sexual orientation are different matters, even if they overlap for some people. Hopefully this will help underpin future discussions about gender identity and these will be able to take place in a civilised manner. Dialogue is a natural partner of free speech without which the world becomes divided and dogmatic. That is something most of us do not want.
Nigel Jacklin is a statistician and market researcher who founded The Democratic Network, which helps people get involved in democratic decision-making. Find him on Twitter.
Stop Press: Stonewall has egg on its face, having claimed in a document entitled ‘The Truth About Trans’, that the trans population of the U.K. is 600,000. Steerpike in the Spectator has more.
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Here’s something you know already:
‘The pharmaceutical companies fund the foundations that support the Democrats who promote the transgender movement, which, in turn, creates demand for the drugs used in the transitioning sequence. It’s a vicious wheel that turns round and round; everybody gets rich and powerful, and nobody cares about the victims.’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/equality-not-elitism/the-transgender-lobby-is-a-massive-and-well-funded-leviathan
A
Anecdotally but I would suggest there are a lot more blokes that want to wear women’s undies than the other way round.
Women wearing “men’s clothes” is far more normalised than vice versa. Women have been cross dressing for over 100 years.
My personal opinion is that women look better in a Chanel three piece suit, and trilby, than any man in a little black cocktail number.
On balance I would say I unequivocally, wholeheartedly and energetically agree with you, Neil.
Many younger women look even better without all that!
Is the DS nudge unit using a photo of transactivists wearing masks to be negatively disposed towards trans people, knowing that the DS community is fervently anti mask? 🙂
On the other hand the DS community is anti-lockdown but the article says
For many of us these results will come as no surprise, given that we will have one or two trans people in our wider circle of friends and acquaintances….. In my own case this includes …… someone else who has been part of the local anti-lockdown campaign
I’ve never understood why gender identity would be included as related to sexual preference. IMO we’d be better off if we removed the link and considered them as being entirely independent of one another.
Sexual preferences are easy. Man likes Woman, Woman likes Man, Woman likes Woman, Man likes Man, woman or man like either women or man. That why LGBT should end at B, and start with H for heterosexual. HLGB. The rest of the TQ+ etc can be cut free as it should be, as it does not reference sexual preference, but the level of dysphoria you need treatment for.
Or maybe many people refuse to complete a question that buys them into the whole gender identity delusion.
That would certainly include me.
‘…we still don’t have a precise answer. ‘
Or rather we do. It’s a rounding error.
The answer we need is why something so insignificant it cannot be measured. preoccupying politics and causing social change to the point where we are forced to stop believing what we know to be true, and start believing what we know to be a lie… and where senior politicians do not know the difference between men and women?
That’s because the people Lenin would have called professional revolutionarys need oppressed groups on whose behalf they’re supposedly acting. And they need to antagonize the supposed oppressor group in order to make them act their intended role. There’s little to be gained (in the long run) by solving problems. But manageing them is an (often profitable) lifetime occupation.
Gender identity is a category made-up by people who confuse LARPing and living. There’s no reason why anyone should record which more-or-less canned role a person who’s into that wants to play today. If someone feels like dressing up as sperm whale, just let them.
Today I dressed like a Norwich chav, tracky bs, trainers and a black hoody. Very liberating. Tomorrow it’ll be biker gear for a couple of hours, to zoom off into the Yorkshire Dales and drink tea from fine china in Masham. The day after that I’ll be the spit of my granddad. Then on Monday a vaguely respectable professional who can’t be bothered wearing shoes in the carpeted office.
And I expect to be treated differently each time. Amazing.
Oxford, Norwich, Cambridge, Brighton plus various London Boroughs had the highest number of people identifying as trans. A lot of these places are very middle class (although Newham might be an exception to this rule) left leaning/progressive areas (I’m thinking of Brighton in particular). This suggest to me that at least some people identify as trans or non binary as a political statement/virtue signalling or life style choice rather than genuinely having gender dysphoria. I wonder if anyone would be brave enough to conduct proper scientific research into this.
I suspect you are bang on the nail.
But it would, perhaps, have been interesting if the census had asked if people self identified as “Pervert”.
So me overlap on the old Venn diagram, perhaps?
I don’t care what people claim to be; I’ll stick with reality. There’s are no trans people because humans can’t undo biological realities. I will not support narcissistic fantasies or be obliged to use idiotic/incorrect pronouns.
One of the reasons to hold a census is to help government plan appropriate services for the future. A consequence of ignoring gender reality is that maternity and other health/ screening services will be misdirected. The idiocy of pandering to fringe groups living outside reality has real costs, now and for the future.
Stewart. I think the photo trans mob in Brighton of , humanities halfwits and haters witch-hunting Kathleen Stock is fairly representative of the trans cult. I did a little spreadsheet of the trans hot spots and cold spots and found a direct correlation between what I defined as “educational intensity” (uni towns and % with degrees and younger population/m.c ) and likelihood of above O.5% defining trans. It’s very clear and I’ll maybe share later. The activists who hate learning and despise everyone outside their bubble are harming those who do actually identify in this way. However like the author Nigel Jacklin we need to understand that some people are born in the wrong body and that needs compassion and understanding. Unfortunately in Scotland (and it’s got its backers in England), because of a bogus proposed law on “conversion therapy” this number will rocket. in Scotland an insane and inhumane policy authored exclusively by the trans cabal has recommended criminalising anything outside of affirmation. Every young person with confusion or doubt about their sexuality will be groomed into the Pharma trans pathway via the Sandyford clinic and even parents and therapists will be forced under threat of criminal penalty to… Read more »