Census 2021: Sexual orientation

Below you will find sexual orientation statistics from Census 2021 for Wales and for local authority areas. Sexual orientation data was only collected from respondents over 16 years of age. 2021 was the first Census which collected this data.

Sexual orientation at local authority and MSOA level

Census 2021: ONS has issued a useful interactive maps where you can check numbers and proportions of diverse groups by Local Authority areas and smaller areas called MSOA’s. The map is a useful tool and you can use it below.

Sexual orientation in Wales

Census 2021 collected sexual orientation data from over 16's for the first time. 3% of this population reported that they were gay, bisexual or had a sexual orientation other than heterosexual. This was one of the few questions where respondents were able to tick a 'prefer not to say' option (7.6% did so).

Source: Census 2021

Where can I find and analyse the Census 2021 data?

If you want to analyse the data yourself, use Census website or the ‘query data’ function on Nomis website.

How can I use this data?

If you are interested in finding out more about how this data can be used as part of your organisation’s equality monitoring or customer profiling:

• Check out our equality monitoring resource page (CHECK BEFORE PUBLISH)
• Book our training on equality monitoring and/or equality impact assessments