Demographics

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This page will ideally include information on the estimated numbers of nonbinary people worldwide as well as in specific regions. We also will try to have other demographic and statistical information when available.

Difficulties

Obtaining accurate numbers of nonbinary people is difficult due to many factors such as:

• Many nonbinary people are not out, or for some other reason they are not comfortable reporting their gender identity on surveys.
• Most large-scale population counts only allow for binary gender selections.
• Depending on how the gender question is worded, nonbinary people may think it is asking for their legal gender or their sex assigned at birth.
• Some people who technically come under the nonbinary umbrella term (people who have a gender that is not 100% always male/man or 100% always female/woman) may not identify as "nonbinary" or whichever term is being used in a particular survey. (For example, the country of Nepal's 2011 census allowed people to identify themselves as "Female", "Male", or "Third Gender", but many Nepalese people identify as "Methi" or "Kothi" rather than as "third gender".)

Worldwide

More information needed.

In the 2021 Gender Census, there were over 44,000 respondents. However this is a limited set (e.g. mainly English-speaking people who use social media) and thus does not represent a full global count of people who identify outside the gender binary.

Australia

On the 2016 Australian Census, for the first time people could identify themselves as "male", "female", or "other". 1300 people selected "other". However, the "other" option was only available through an opt-in process, not a standard census option, so the count is likely lower than the actual number of nonbinary Australians.

Canada

Trans PULSE Canada, a 2019 survey of trans and nonbinary people across Canada, garnered 2,873 responses. About 48% of respondents (about 1379 people) were coded as "non-binary or similar", while about 2% (about 57 people) were "Indigenous or cultural gender". 4% of respondents selected that they were Two-Spirit, however this was in the "Sexual Orientation" section of the survey.

In the first Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey (CTYHS, open from October 1, 2013 to May 31, 2014), surveying 923 non-cisgender Canadians between the ages of 14–25, 41% of respondents were nonbinary.

Edmonton

Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta, had a municipal census in 2016 which allowed people to identify as "man/boy", "woman/girl", or "other". 1,212 people selected "other"; this was about 0.135% of the total municipal population (total 899,447).

In the 2019 Edmonton census, the gender options were changed to "Man/boy", "Woman/girl", "Trans Man", "Trans Woman", "Two-Spirit", "Non-binary", "Another gender", or "Prefer not to answer". The total population was 972,223; 284 people were Two-Spirit, 717 were nonbinary, 289 chose the "another gender" option, and 94,315 people preferred not to answer. This makes a total count of 1,290 people who reported a gender identity that was not a binary gender; that's about 0.133% of the city's population. (The actual count of nonbinary people may be higher due to the large number of people who chose not to report their gender.)

Ontario

A 2009-2010 survey of 433 trans people in Ontario found that 20% of respondents had a nonbinary identity.

United Kingdom

According to a 2014 blog post by activist Nat Titman, "at least 0.4% of the UK population defines as nonbinary when given a 3-way choice in terms of female, male or another description", but the count will be higher depending on variations in question phrasing.

USA

United States Trans Survey

A large-scale survey of "transgender, trans, genderqueer, and non-binary" people was conducted in 2015: the United States Trans Survey (USTS). In total there were 27,715 respondents, 35% of whom (9,769 people) "indicated that their gender identity was best described as nonbinary or genderqueer." However, a greater number (13,353 people or 48%) answered "Yes" to the question "Do you identify as more than one gender or as no gender?" This echoes Titman's finding above, that question phrasing will affect the reported number of nonbinary/genderqueer people.

The USTS included a list of gender terms allowing respondents to check off multiple selections, as well as the option to write in a gender that wasn't listed. From this section of the survey:

• 31% of respondents checked "Non-binary"
• 29% of respondents checked "Genderqueer"
• 27% of respondents checked "Gender non-conforming or gender variant"
• 20% of respondents checked "Gender fluid/fluid"
• 18% of respondents checked "Androgynous"
• 14% of respondents checked "Agender"
• 7% of respondents checked "Two-spirit"
• 6% of respondents checked "Bi-gender"
• 5% of respondents checked "Butch"
• 4% of respondents checked "Multi-gender"
• 4% of respondents checked "Third gender"
• 3% of respondents checked "Intersex"
• 2% of respondents checked "Drag performer (king/queen)"
• 1% of respondents checked "A.G. or aggressive"
• 1% of respondents checked "Stud"
• 1% of respondents checked "Travesti"
• Less than 1% of respondents checked "Bulldagger"
• Less than 1% of respondents checked "Fa'afafine"
• Less than 1% of respondents checked "Mahu"
• and 12% of respondents wrote in a gender not listed by the survey

Extrapolated from the 2015 USTS, it was estimated that there could be over 450,000 nonbinary individuals in the United States of America, although totally accurate numbers are difficult to ascertain.

Williams Institute study

Another study, published in June 2021 by the Williams Institute, used data from the Generations Study and the TransPop Study (data collected between 2016 and 2018). The Williams Institute study estimated that (within the LGBTQ community) there are around 1,219,000 nonbinary adults in the USA.

USA subpopulations

People experiencing homelessness

In a 2018 count, 0.2 percent of the USA homeless population (1,163 people) were nonbinary (where "nonbinary" was defined as "not male, female or transgender".)

People 18 and older

A 2017 GLAAD/Harris Poll survey of 2,037 Americans age 18 and over found the following:

• Agender people:
  • 3% of 18-34 age group
  • less than 0.5% of 35-51 age group
  • less than 0.5% of 52-71 age group
  • 1% of 72 or older age group
• Genderfluid people:
  • 3% of 18-34 age group
  • 1% of 35-51 age group
• People who were unsure of their gender/gender questioning:
  • 2% of 18-34 age group
  • 3% of 35-51 age group
  • 2% of 52-71 age group
  • 2% of 72 or older age group
• Bigender people:
  • 1% of 18-34 age group
  • Less than 0.5% of 35-51 age group
  • 1% of 52-71 age group
• Genderqueer people:
  • 1% of 18-34 age group
  • 1% of 35-51 age group