Census 2021: Sexual orientation and gender identity in Halton

Across Halton 2,736 people identified as a sexual orientation other than straight, roughly 2.6% of the population. This is down from the national average of 3.16%.

As well as this, 402 people put down a gender identity other than the one that was registered at birth. This was 0.39% of Halton, down from the national average of 0.53%.

The census provides estimates of the characteristics of all people and households in England and Wales on Census Day, 21 March 2021.

It is carried out every ten years and gives the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales.

This data comes from people who answered voluntary census questions, which was included for respondents over 16 years old for the first time in 2021.

Sexual Orientation

Breaking down the data further, 99,109 people were listed as ‘Straight or Heterosexual’ in the census data.

1,555 were Gay or Lesbian, 976 people were Bisexual, 162 Pansexual, 32 Asexual, 4 listed their sexuality as “Queer”, whilst 7 people put down “All other sexual orientations” covering terms not put down on the list such as Demisexual.

Across the country over 1.5 million people listed their sexuality as Gay/Lesbian, Queer, Bisexual, or Asexual. 

Below is a graphic showing the breakdown of the different sexualities (excluding straight or heterosexual).

Data courtesy of ONS (Image: Newsquest)

Gender Identity

Of the 402 people whose gender identity was listed as not being the same registered at birth, 65 were Trans women, 83 were Trans men, and 32 were listed as non-binary.

This is a small proportion of the 262,000 people across the UK who had their identity listed as being different than the one assigned to them at birth. 

Within England, the region with the highest percentage who reported that their gender identity was different from their sex at birth was London (0.91%), and the region with the lowest percentage was the South-West (0.42%).