Anna, finally but not yet final.

[Finally Anna]

Curiosity about things sometimes (quite often, really) trigger me to find information. This time it is about how many LGBTQ persons the average person in western societies actually knows.

General Population Breakdown (source: Google)

Large-scale international demographic studies, such as those conducted by Ipsos and Gallup News, consistently show similar trends across Western nations like the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia:
• Gay/Lesbian (Homosexual): 3% – 4%
• Bisexual: 4% – 5.3% (Bisexual individuals typically make up the largest segment of the LGBTQ+ community)
• Total LGBTQ+ Identification: 7% – 11% (This overall figure has risen as younger generations are much more likely to open up about their identity).

Assuming 3.5% are LG then.
If a person knows 50 other persons, the odds are around 85% that at least one of these 50 is LG.
If you know 75 persons: 93% chance that at least one is LG.
Statistically there was one LG person in your school class.

[Finally Anna]

For T persons (source: Google):

In Western societies, an estimated 0.5% to 1.5% of the adult population explicitly identifies as transgender

Regional Statistics Breakdown
• United States: Large-scale data from sources like the Williams Institute at UCLA and the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey place the transgender adult population at roughly 0.6% to 1.0% (about 2.1 to 2.3 million adults). Independent analysis by the Human Rights Campaign estimates it could be as high as 1.3% to 2.3%.
• Europe: Estimates range similarly depending on the country. Research tracked by the World Population Review indicates that Germany and Sweden report some of the highest figures at around 3%, while Spain and Great Britain report roughly 2%. Countries like Italy and France report closer to 1%.

My remark: The figures are of course a bit rough, but it is safe to say that at least 1% of the population is trans, and maybe closer to 1.5%.


Demographic Breakdown
When looking at the internal breakdown of the trans community, the population is split relatively evenly among different gender identities:
• Transgender Women: ~33% to 38%
• Transgender Men: ~34% to 36%
• Non-binary / Gender Non-conforming: ~25% to 33%

The Generational Shift
Similar to homosexual identification, age is the biggest variable in transgender demographics. Younger generations are far more likely to openly identify as transgender than older generations due to broader visibility and declining social taboos:
• Among Gen Z and youth (ages 13–24), the percentage identifying as transgender is significantly higher, ranging from 1.4% to 2.7%.
• Among older adults (ages 65 and up), that number drops significantly to roughly 0.2% to 0.3%.


If we then try to picture what this means.
In a small town like the one where I live: Almost a thousand T or NB. This is jawdropping.
In a really large city, like NY or similar: About 100k T or NB.
If you know 50 persons, the chance is more than 50% that at least one of them is T or NB.

Of course, not all peoples' group of friends are statistically coherent, but as a rule of thumb the figures work well.

Bottom line: Almost all people is western societies know someone who is T or NB, but it is of course not certain that those T/NB persons are "out" to everyone.

[Devlyn ✅]

Those numbers are likely skewed low because of the definition they use, which largely leans towards transsexuals. The inclusive numbers I see are more in the 6-8% range.

[Finally Anna]

The inclusive numbers I see are more in the 6-8% range.

Care to detail a bit, Dev? Which figure is 6-8%? All persons that aren't 100% cis, or what?

[Devlyn ✅]

As I said, a lot of studies lean towards transsexuals rather than including the entire transgender community. Using the site's definitions vastly expands those numbers.

Transgender: An inclusive umbrella term for anyone whose sex was incorrectly assigned at birth — for any reason, to any degree, for any length of time.

This includes but is not limited to trans women, trans men, intersex, non-binary, genderqueer and genderfluid, agender, crossdressers, drag kings and queens, and people whose cultures have traditional recognition of genders beyond the binary (such as Two-Spirit, Hijra, Fa'afafine, Māhū, and others).

In short: anyone experiencing, exploring, or expressing gender beyond conventional cisgender roles.

This term describes a broad range of lived experiences and does not imply any specific appearance, behavior, medical history, or transition path.

Around 5% of adult men crossdress. 3-5% of gen z identify as transgender or non-binary.

From Google:

Standard Demographic Surveys: Traditional census data and LGBTQ+ demographic studies, like those from the Williams Institute or the Office for National Statistics, generally exclude crossdressers. These surveys explicitly measure gender identity (living as a gender different from birth sex) rather than gender expression (clothing choices).

Generational Differences: Younger people are significantly more likely to identify as transgender or non-binary. Studies show that roughly 3% to 5% of young adults and teenagers (Gen Z) identify as trans or non-binary, compared to less than 0.5% of older adults.


Combined Estimate ~2% – 6% total. Broad spectrum of all gender-nonconforming identities and behaviors combined

[Finally Anna]

Assuming 4% means that every 25th person has some sort of "variance" (if we count also x-dressing as variance).
That's quite a few...
But x-dressing contains also those who do it for sexual kicks.

Anyway, I have no wish to go into a clinch about exactly who counts as gender variated.
Regardless, quite a few people are included in the group with some kind of variance and it is not too far off to say that everyone knows someone.