More than 1.5 million people in England and Wales have an LGBTQ+ sexual identity - as census data reveals the diverse “Rainbow Britain” of today. That equates to 3.16% of the population aged 16 and over who said they did not identify as “straight or heterosexual”.
Among those who identified as LGBTQ+, almost 748,000 people (1.54% of the population aged 16 and over) said they were gay or lesbian, the most common sexuality after heterosexual. Another 623,000 people said they were bisexual (1.28%).
There were also 112,000 people, or 0.23%, who identified as pansexual (meaning their romantic and sexual attraction is not limited by sex or gender), 28,000, or 0.06%, who said they were asexual (a person who does not feel sexual attraction), and almost 15,000, or 0.03%, who said they were queer, meaning they reject specific labels of romantic or sexual orientation.
