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In 2020, the Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey published data on sexual orientation in the UK which had been gathered in 2018. The survey captured the self-perceived orientation of respondents over the age of 16 at the time of the survey and extrapolated the data to give indicative figures for the whole UK population. It found that:

The statistics above are drawn from the Office of National Statistics. For full source references see endnote 116 on here.

Sexual orientation from a historical perspective

It is very difficult to line up any of our terminology with the experience of people in the past – or, indeed, with that of other cultures. There is a tendency either to assume people have had the same kinds of feelings over the whole of human history, or to regard some forms of orientation as specific to our times. This is part of a wider approach to past societies, in which we either search the past for possible allies or instead emphasize their difference from ‘us’. So, considering relationships in ancient Greece between an older man and a much younger one, some people would see this as homosexuality (although the word ‘homosexual’ was only created in the late nineteenth century), others as sexual abuse, and – because the older man was also supposed to have a female wife and to have children with her – others would see it as bisexuality. The use of many of these terms – in this example, and in countless others – is contested.