Census gives first ever snapshot of sexuality

DETAILS of the number of people in South Gloucestershire who identify as straight, gay or bisexual have been revealed for the first time.

A question on sexual orientation for people aged 16 and over was added to the 2021 Census by the Office for National Statistics.

A question on gender identity - whether a person identified with their sex as registered at birth - was also included among the questions for the first time ever.

The ONS says the information it has received as a result will be "vital in helping shape services in years to come".

However, as the questions were voluntary, one significant factor is the number of people who declined to answer either of them.

In South Gloucestershire, just over nine out of ten respondents (90.64%) said they were straight or heterosexual.

A total of 2.82% of respondents identified with a sexuality the ONS described as LGB+, with 1.29% saying that they were gay or lesbian; 1.24% bisexual; 0.19% pansexual (defined as attracted to people regardless of their sex or gender identity); 0.07% asexual (no sexual attraction to others), 0.02% queer (non-conventional sexuality) and 0.01% wrote in another sexual orientation.

However the second largest group was those who declined to answer the question about sexuality, who made up 6.53% of the population - more than double those who identified in an LGB+ category.

In Bristol 85.45% of respondents said they were straight or heterosexual.

More than twice the proportion of the Bristol population as in South Gloucestershire - 6.06%identified with an ONS LGB+ category: 2.2% said they were gay or lesbian; 3.08% bisexual; 0.49% pansexual; 0.11% asexual

0.13% queer and 0.05% stated another sexual orientation.

An even higher proportion of Bristol residents, 8.48%, did not answer the question.

Nationally, 43.4 million people (89.4%) identified as straight or heterosexual, 1.5 million people (3.2%) identified with an LGB+ orientation and 3.6 million (7.5%) did not answer the question.

In response to the gender identity question, 94.59% of South Gloucestershire residents said theirs was the sex they were registered with at birth, while 5.02% of respondents did not answer the question.

Of the remaining 0.38% of respondents, 0.14% said their gender was different to birth but did not give any specifics, 0.07% identified as a trans woman (registered female at birth, but now identifies as a man), 0.07% as a trans man (registered female at birth, but now identifies as a man), 0.06% were non-binary (not identifying as a man or woman), and 0.04% wrote in another gender identity.

In Bristol, 92.45% or respondents identified with their sex at birth, 6.73% did not answer the question and 0.82% identified with a different gender.

Nationally, the ONS said 262,000 people in England and Wales identified with a gender different from their sex registered at birth, representing 0.5% of the population or around one in every 200 people.

ONS director Jen Woolford said having figures on gender identity and sexual orientation at a local level was "crucial" to "better understand the extent and nature of disadvantage which people may be experiencing in terms of educational outcomes, health, employment, and housing".

Fewer people in work

THE percentage of South Gloucestershire residents in work has fallen in the past decade, the Census has found.

Office for National Statistics figures show 62.2% of residents aged over 16 were "economically active and in employment", including self-employed, on the day of the 2021 Census, down by 2.3% on the 2011 figure of 64.4%.

In neighbouring Bristol the number of people in employment has gone up by 0.9% since 2011 but at 61.2% is lower than in South Gloucestershire.

A total of 2.5% of South Gloucestershire residents said they were economically active and unemployed, compared to 3.6% in Bristol.

In England and Wales, around 27.8 million over-16s were in employment (57.2% of the population), 1.7m were unemployed (3.4%) and 19.1m were economically inactive (39.4%), including people who were not looking for work or could not work because they were retired, students, looking after a home or family and long-term sick or disabled.

Other facts about South Gloucestershire and Bristol from the Census published by the Office for National Statistics include:

*36.6% of South Gloucestershire residents own their homes outright, while 36.8% have a mortgage, other loan or shared ownership, 10.8% rent socially and 15.8% rent privately - in Bristol 25.2% own outright, 29.7% have a mortgage, 18.7% rent socially and 26.4% rent privately.

*Around one in eight South Gloucestershire households (12.3%) have no car or van, while 40.1% have one vehicle, 34.1% have two and 13.4% have three or more. In Bristol more than a quarter of households (26.1%) have no car; 45.8% have one, 21.6% have two and 6.4% have three or more.

For more Census information visit www.ons.gov.uk/census.