On average, people personally know five gay men and three lesbians, polling data has shown.

A YouGov poll asked 2000 participants from across the UK how many gay people and lesbians they knew personally, either as friends or acquaintances.

It found that a typical British person personally knows 5.5 gay men and 3.1 lesbians.

The average man knows 6 gay men and 2.7 lesbians, while the average woman knows 5 gay men and 3.4 lesbians, according to the data.

Unsurprisingly, people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are extremely likely to know many more, with the average gay person knowing 21.6 gay men, and 10.3 lesbians.



In London, however, the average spikes to 12.1, with the average person knowing 8.5 gay men and 3.6 lesbians.

People from the Midlands and Wales know the least gay people, with an average of just 4.8 gay men and 2.7 lesbians.

The government estimates there are 3.6 million British people who identify as gay or lesbian.