ABS releases first ever estimates of LGBTI+ Australians
Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released experimental estimates of LGBTI+ populations. These estimates are the first of their kind in Australia.
In a new approach, the ABS combined data from nearly 45,000 people who responded to one of four recent ABS health surveys to shed light on LGBTI+ people in Australia.
Linda Fardell, ABS head of health statistics, said: ‘The new data shows that about 4.5 per cent of all Australians 16 years and older are LGBTI+; that’s over 900,000 people.’
‘Younger Australians are more likely to be LGBTI+. Nearly 10 per cent of Australians aged 16 to 24 years are LGBTI+.’
- Error bars illustrate the range within which we are 95% confident that the true value lies.
- Includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation, trans and gender diverse, and people born with variations of sex characteristics.
About 740,000 Australians are lesbian, gay, bisexual or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation. That’s 3.6 per cent of Australians. One in three LGB+ Australians are married or in a de facto relationship.
Nearly 1 per cent of Australians are trans and gender diverse. This includes trans men, trans women and non-binary people. That’s around 178,900 Australians.
‘About 0.3 per cent of Australians report they know they were born with variations of sex characteristics – that’s around 63,300 people,’ Ms Fardell said.
The Australian figures are very similar to New Zealand’s 2023 Census data. As in Australia, 3.6% of New Zealanders are lesbian, gay, bisexual or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation. Around 0.9 per cent of Australians and 0.6 per cent of New Zealanders are trans and gender diverse.
The 2026 Australian Census will include questions on gender and sexual orientation for people aged 16 years and over. This will provide more detailed data by geography and population characteristics for LGB+ and trans and gender diverse populations in Australia.
The ABS would like to thank participants in ABS surveys for contributing to these important findings. More information can be found from Estimates and characteristics of LGBTI+ populations in Australia on the ABS website.
Acronyms used in this media release
- LGBTI+ represents people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation, trans and gender diverse, and people born with variations of sex characteristics.
- LGB+ represents people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or use a different term to describe their sexual orientation.
Media notes
- Estimates are for the Australian population aged 16 years and over. These are the ABS’ first published estimates of LGBTI+ populations and their demographic characteristics using the ABS Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020.
- This release analyses a pooled dataset of 44,984 survey respondents who participated in one of four recent ABS health surveys (National Health Survey, 2022, National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020–2022, National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 2023 – the ABS will publish results from this survey next year, and Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2022).
- Data for this release was collected via personal interviews and most were face-to-face with trained ABS interviewers. Respondents only answered questions on gender, sexual orientation and variations of sex characteristics for themselves, not for others in the household, and could choose not to answer any of these questions. (In other ABS surveys adults may respond on behalf of other household members.) See Methodology for more information.
- Estimates reflect people who reported the relevant responses in the surveys. Some people may have chosen not to report being an LGB+ sexual orientation, a gender different to their sex recorded at birth, and/or that they were born with variations of sex characteristics due to the perception of these questions being sensitive in nature.
- The estimates and characteristics in this analysis are subject to limitations and error due to, for example, sample size and non-sampling error. These data are not population benchmarks and should be used with caution. For more information see the Methodology.
- The figures for New Zealand were calculated from data available on Statistics New Zealand’s website using total persons 15 years and over as the denominator.
- The '+' in the LGBTI+ acronym has been used to represent people who prefer to use other terms to describe their sexual orientation, gender, gender experience, or that they were born with variations of sex characteristics. The ABS acknowledges that just as there are variations of the acronym LGBTI+, there are also differences between the populations and individuals it represents.
- The proportion of the population who are LGBTI+ is not equal to the sum of people who are LGB+, people who are trans and gender diverse, and people who were born with variations of sex characteristics. This is because some people are counted in more than one of these groups. For example, a bisexual trans woman is counted in the proportion of people who are LGB+ as well as the proportion of people who are trans and gender diverse.
- The proportion of the population who report being LGB+ or heterosexual (straight) does not add up to 100% because 1.5% of people either didn’t know their sexual orientation or preferred not to say. An estimated 94.9% of Australians are heterosexual (straight).
- In this release, trans and gender diverse is defined as people whose gender is different to their sex recorded at birth and who therefore have a trans experience. This includes trans men, trans women and non-binary people.
- In this release, the term non-binary refers to people who report being non-binary as well as people who use a different term for their gender, such as gender fluid.
- Variations of sex characteristics are sometimes called ‘intersex’ or ‘differences of sex development’ (‘DSD’). Variations of sex characteristics is a separate concept to sex, gender or sexual orientation. All people born with variations of sex characteristics are included in the LGBTI+ acronym, including those who are heterosexual (straight) and cis gender. See ‘What is intersex?’ for more information.
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