9. Population identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual are most likely to be single, never married or civil partnered

In 2016, the population identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) were most likely to be single, never married or never civil partnered (70.7%). This could be associated with:

the young age structure of the population that identify themselves as LGB

legal unions available to same-sex couples are relatively new

Those who had a legal marital status of single may be in same-sex cohabiting couples. In the UK, 0.5% of families were same-sex cohabiting couple families in 2016.

Figure 6: Lesbian, gay and bisexual population by legal marital status, UK, 2016 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: Single, never married or civil partnered. Married includes separated. The Marriages (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 made provision for the marriage of same-sex couples in England and Wales from 29 March 2014 onwards. Civil Partnerships were introduced in England and Wales in December 2005. Includes separated. Download this chart Figure 6: Lesbian, gay and bisexual population by legal marital status, UK, 2016 Image .csv .xls

Of the remaining LGB population, 12.6% were in opposite-sex marriages, consisting mainly of those who identified as bisexual, 11.5% were in same-sex marriages or civil partnerships, 4.5% were divorced or had a dissolved civil partnership and 0.7% were widowed or a surviving civil partner.

Figure 7: Ethnicity by gay or lesbian and bisexual population, UK, 2016 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: 0.1% of respondents to the Annual Population Survey did not have an ethnicity recorded, and of this percentage, 0.7% of those identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Download this chart Figure 7: Ethnicity by gay or lesbian and bisexual population, UK, 2016 Image .csv .xls

In 2016, the Annual Population Survey found that 4.3% of the population who described their ethnicity as “Mixed or multiple ethnic groups” identified themselves as LGB. More than half of them (2.4%) identified themselves as bisexual compared with those who identified as gay or lesbian (1.9%). This was the highest percentage seen among the different ethnic groups, as shown in Figure 8.

The proportion of the “Mixed or multiple ethnic group” population who identified as LGB increased from 2.5% in 2015 to 4.3% in 2016, which was not a statistically significant increase.

Figure 8: National Statistics Socio-economic Classification by gay or lesbian and bisexual population, UK, 2016 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: Routine and Manual includes the “Never worked and long-term unemployed” category. Examples of jobs for each category are: Routine and Manual: Labourers, bar staff. Intermediate: Bank staff, paramedics. Managerial and Professional: Doctors, Lawyers. Download this chart Figure 8: National Statistics Socio-economic Classification by gay or lesbian and bisexual population, UK, 2016 Image .csv .xls

Figure 9 shows that those in managerial and professional occupations were more likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) compared with those in intermediate or routine and manual occupations.