1 in 11 young women are gay or bi

ABOUT one in 11 young women in the UK now identify as lesbian, bisexual or ‘other’, according to official figures.

Females aged 16 to 24 were most likely to describe themselves as having a sexuality other than heterosexual, the Office for National Statistics found.

It is the first time since data started being collected in 2014 that the proportion has exceeded 10 per cent.

The clear majority – 7.6 per cent – of 11.4 per cent of non-straight young women said they were bisexual. A smaller section of the young male population – 7.4 per cent – identified as gay, bisexual or another sexuality in the data for 2020.

The proportion of youngsters identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual has almost doubled in four years rising from 4.1 per cent in 2016 to 8 per cent in 2020.

The share of all adults identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual stood at 3.1 per cent in 2020, up from 2.7 per cent in 2019 and 1.6 per cent in 2014.

The data suggests 350,000 people describe themselves as ‘other’.