Sexual orientation: 2016

The main points below are drawn from the latest bulletin as well as our additional analysis of a pooled dataset which combines 3 years of Annual Population Survey data.

Due to small sample sizes, care should be taken in interpreting these figures.

Main points

• In 2016, 95.2% of people in Wales identified as heterosexual/straight, 1.0% as gay/lesbian, 0.7% as bisexual, and 0.4% as other. Whereas 2.7% of people did not know, answer or respond to the question.
• Of those people in Wales who identified as gay/lesbian/bisexual, over two thirds (71.6%) were between 16 and 45 years of age. This compares with under half (44.2%) of the overall population.
• Twice as many males as females identified as gay/lesbian whilst just under two thirds of people who identified as bisexual were females.
• People who identified as gay/lesbian/bisexual were more likely to be single than married or in a civil partnership.
• Of those people who identified as gay/lesbian/bisexual, 63.8% lived in South East Wales (compared with 48.1% of the overall population). Whereas 16.1% lived in North Wales (compared with 22.5% of the population).
• People identifying as gay/lesbian/bisexual were four times as likely to live in a large town as opposed to a small town or village.