Sexual minorities: numbers in Scotland
The most recent estimates from the UK-wide 2020 Annual Population Survey found that 3.1% of respondents self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, an increase from 2.7% in the previous year (Annual Population Survey 2020). In the same survey, 3.1% of Scottish participants identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, which also increased from 2.7% compared to 2019. Similarly, the Scottish Surveys Core Questions 2019 (SSCQ) found that 94.2% of the Scottish population identified as heterosexual and 2.9% as LGB or other.
Some information is available from Scotland's Census 2011 (based on Table QS108SC - Living arrangements) on the number of people who reported living in a couple, in a registered same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting with someone of the same sex (Table 1).
Table 1*: Numbers of people aged 16+ years in different living arrangements at time of 2011 Census in Scotland.
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Source: National Records of Scotland, 2011 Census (Table QS108SC - Living arrangements).
*These are the NHS boards based on the boundaries as at 1 April 2014.
Civil partnership data from the census found 7,000 people (0.2% of the Scottish population) were in a civil partnership, 1,982,000 (45%) were married (including remarried), 1,549,000 (35%) were single (never married or registered a civil partnership) 360,000 (8.2%) were divorced or formerly in a civil partnership, 340,000 (7.8%) were widowed, widowered or the surviving partner from a civil partnership, and 141,000 (3.2%) were separated but still legally married or in a civil partnership.
Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.