Census 2021: Sexual orientation and gender identity data available in Community Insight

The small area sexual orientation and gender identity census data is now live in Community Insight. You can start using and analysing this data for all your stock group areas.. 

For guidance on using Census 2021 data in Community Insight please see “How to explore Census 2021 data in Community Insight”.

Summary of published data

Download the full list of indicators now available in Community Insight. 

We have added 26 indicators to Community Insight. This release includes small area data from the sexual orientation and gender identity topic summary. Indicators for the following datasets can now be seen live in Community Insight: 

  • Sexual orientation (13 indicators)
  • Gender identity (11 indicators)
  • Non respondents to these questions (2 indicators)

More information about these datasets 

The question about sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2021 census was voluntary. 

In total, 92.5% of the population aged 16 years and over answered the question on sexual orientation and 94.0% of the population aged 16 years and over answered the question on gender identity. Read more about this on the ONS website

ONS percentages are calculated using the overall population rather than the population who responded to the sexual orientation and gender identity question. 

Alongside adding the official ONS figures to Community Insight, we have also included additional indicators that use only people who responded to the sexual orientation and gender identity question as the denominator. These indicators are displayed as [sexuality] (as a % of all who responded to the sexual orientation questions) (Census 2021).

Below is an example how these distinct indicators display in Community Insight

  • Bisexual (as a % of all who responded to the sexual orientation questions)  (Census 2021)
  • Bisexual (as a % of all aged 16+) (Census 2021)

These supplementary indicators that use respondents only as the denominator provide additional value as the response rates vary considerably across local areas. There are a multitude of possible driving factors behind non-response rates, which are not necessarily related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Non respondents

We have also added 2 indicators that show the non response rates for this topic. These two indicators are called:

  • Non respondents to the sexual orientation question  (as a % of all aged 16+) (Census 2021)
  • Non respondents to the gender identity question  (as a % of all aged 16+) (Census 2021)

Reports

We have not added any of the sexual orientation and gender identity indicators to the Community Insight reports.