The number of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ has reached a record high, according to a survey by Gallup.
Approximately 7.1% of adults in the country consider themselves a member of the community, the research found.
This is double the percentage in 2012, the year of Gallup’s first study into the matter.
A total of 86.3% of the respondents said they identify as straight or heterosexual, with 6.6% not providing an opinion.
Prior to 2021’s results, 2020 was the year with the highest percentage of people identifying as LGBTQ+ at 5.6%.
The lowest number recorded was 3.5% in 2012, followed by 3.6% and 3.7% in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The latest results note that 12% of respondents were Gen Z adults, up from just 7% in 2017 – something that is attributed to many of them turning 18 over the four years between the studies.
Gallup’s latest estimate finds 7.1% of U.S. adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. https://t.co/N38yNRE0eb pic.twitter.com/uPzBdJYK2a
— Gallup (@Gallup) February 17, 2022
“The increase in LGBT identification in recent years largely reflects the higher prevalence of such identities among the youngest U.S. adults compared with the older generations they are replacing in the U.S. adult population,” Gallup’s research stated.
“Roughly 21% of Generation Z Americans who have reached adulthood — those born between 1997 and 2003 — identify as LGBT. That is nearly double the proportion of millennials who do so, while the gap widens even further when compared with older generations.”
57% of the LGBTQ+ respondents said they were bisexual, with 21% stating they were gay, 14% lesbian, 10% transgender and 4% something else.
Gallup’s findings are based on data from 2021, which was made up of interviews with more than 12,000 adults in America.
It concluded that if current trends continue, the number of LGBTQ+ Americans “should exceed 10% in the near future.”
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