How Many People Are Gay [Homosexuality Statistics]

This research article delves into the statistics on how many people are gay, providing insights into general homosexuality statistics. Through an analysis of studies, the report presents current estimates of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) population, as well as trends and patterns in sexual orientation over time. By shedding light on these statistics, this report aims to provide a better understanding of this community.

Here’s what we’ve covered in this report:

Key Findings

  • 16.4% of people in the US are Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual (that’s around 54.6 million people in the US)
    • 3.5% are lesbians
    • 4.5% are gay
    • 8.4% are bisexuals
  • 30% of Homosexuals are 18-24 years old.
  • 58% of homosexuals in the US are white.
  • 4 out of 5 athletes have witnessed homophobia in sports.
  • 7% of athletes are Gays, Lesbians, or Bisexuals (homosexuals).
  • 1 out of 4 young prisoners are homosexuals.
  • 4.8% of men in the US military are self-reported as Gay.
  • 8% of married men are gay.
  • 9% of homosexuals are unemployed compared to 5% of non-homosexuals.
  • Generation Z is the generation with most gays (20%)
  • California, Texas, and New York are the US states with most gays.
  • China, India, and the USA are the countries in the world with the most homosexuals.

What percentage of the US population is gay

The world is becoming more and more sex-positive. Something we do also see with people’s sexuality. For this reason, we’ve decided to dig a bit deeper into homosexuality. With a primary goal to show some interesting stats and facts but also to give you a better understanding of this area. We hope the below key findings from our report are useful. The below data includes the silent numbers we know exist in homosexuality surveys (so people who are afraid of telling about their real sexuality).

  • How many people are gay (LGB)?
    16.4% of people are gay. That’s 54.6 million humans in the US and 1,312 billion humans in the World.
  • What percent of women are lesbian (L)
    3.5% of women are lesbian. That’s 11.6 million women in the US and 280 million women in the World.
  • What percentage of men are gay (G)
    4.5% of men are gay. That’s 15 million men in the US and 360 million men in the World.
  • How many people are bisexual (B)
    8.4% of people are bisexual. That’s 28 million humans in the US and 672 million humans in the World.
# of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals (USA)

By age (incl. teenagers)

  • 2.5% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 13-17 years old.
    30% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 18-24 years old.
    26% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 25-34 years old.
    20% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 35-49 years old.
    16% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 50-64 years old.
    5.5% of Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals (LGB also called Homosexuals) are 65+ years old.
Homosexualsby age (incl. teenagers)

By ethnicity

  • 58% of homosexuals in the US are white.
    21% are Latino.
    12% are Black.
    5% are more than one race.
    2% are Asian.
    2% are other.
Homosexuality by race

Homosexuality in sports

  • 7% of athletes are Gays, Lesbians, or Bisexuals
  • 80% of US sports athletes have witnessed homophobia in sports.
  • 55% of men and 35% of women hid their sexual preferences when they were young athletes.

Homosexuality in prison

  • 6.5% of prisoners are homosexuals. In the juvenile justice system, it’s 25% (that’s 1 out of 4 young prisoners).

Homosexuality in the military

  • 4.8% of men in the US military are self-reported as Gay or Bisexual.

Fun facts

  • 8% of married men are gay.
  • 11% of adults in the US report same-sex attraction.
  • Women are more likely to identify as bisexual than men.
  • There is a very large amount of people who are gay but are afraid of saying it. Numbers show that it’s almost 1 out of 3.
  • 9% of homosexuals are unemployed compared to 5% of non-homosexuals.
  • 25% of homosexuals have an income below 24$ pr. year compared to 18% of non-homosexuals.

By generation

More and more identifies as LGB (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual). Generation Z does almost double as many that identify as LGB (20.8%) as the millennials (10.5%). And it’s expected to keep increasing in the following years.

In other words, it’s almost 1 out of 6 in Generation Z that identifies as part of the LGB community.

LGBStraight/HeterosexualNo response
Generation Z (born 1997-2003)20.8%75.7%3.5%
Millennials (born 1981-1996)10.5%82.57.1%
Generation X (born 1965-1980)4.2%89.3%6.5%
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964)2.6%90.7%6.8%
Traditionalists (born before 1946)0.8%92.2%7.1%

By US State

16.4% of the US population is Gay. That’s around 54 million people. The states with the most gays are:

  1. California with 8,386,094 million people
  2. Texas with 4,707,103 million people
  3. New York with 3,986,611 million people
  4. Florida with 3,919,076 million people
  5. Illinois with 2,191,466 million people
StateTotal Adult PopulationLGB Adult PopulationLGB Population Density% of same-sex couples raising children
Alabama4,887,871703,85314.40%20.4%
Alaska737,438109,14114.80%23.1%
American Samoa55,519N/AN/AN/A
Arizona7,171,6461,290,89618.00%16.5%
Arkansas3,013,825397,82513.20%21.2%
California39,557,0458,386,09421.20%16.0%
Colorado5,695,5641,047,98418.40%15.9%
Connecticut3,572,665557,33615.60%17.0%
Delaware967,171174,09118.00%15.6%
District of Columbia702,455177,01925.20%8.7%
Florida21,299,3253,919,07618.40%13.3%
Georgia10,519,4751,893,50618.00%19.6%
Guam159,358N/AN/AN/A
Hawaii1,420,491261,37018.40%15.8%
Idaho1,754,208196,47111.20%22.3%
Illinois12,741,0802,191,46617.20%16.6%
Indiana6,691,8781,204,53818.00%18.9%
Iowa3,156,145454,48514.40%18.6%
Kansas2,911,505384,31913.20%21.8%
Kentucky4,468,402607,70313.60%18.5%
Louisiana4,659,978726,95715.60%19.9%
Maine1,338,404262,32719.60%13.8%
Maryland6,042,7181,015,17716.80%20.3%
Massachusetts6,902,1491,490,86421.60%17.1%
Michigan9,995,9151,599,34616.00%18.2%
Minnesota5,611,179920,23316.40%16.5%
Mississippi2,986,530418,11414.00%25.7%
Missouri6,126,452931,22115.20%17.3%
Montana1,062,305123,22711.60%22.0%
Nebraska1,929,268293,24915.20%19.6%
Nevada3,034,392667,56622.00%17.0%
New Hampshire1,356,458255,01418.80%16.5%
New Jersey8,908,5201,460,99716.40%19.7%
New Mexico2,095,428377,17718.00%17.8%
New York19,542,2093,986,61120.40%16.4%
North Carolina10,383,6201,661,37916.00%18.5%
North Dakota760,07782,08810.80%21.6%
Northern Mariana Islands53,833N/AN/AN/A
Ohio11,689,4422,010,58417.20%17.7%
Oklahoma3,943,079599,34815.20%20.9%
Oregon4,190,713938,72022.40%16.3%
Pennsylvania12,807,0602,100,35816.40%15.9%
Puerto Rico3,195,153N/AN/AN/A
Rhode Island1,057,315190,31718.00%15.5%
South Carolina5,084,127711,77814.00%18.9%
South Dakota882,235105,86812.00%21.1%
Tennessee6,770,010947,80114.00%18.1%
Texas28,701,8454,707,10316.40%19.8%
U.S. Virgin Islands106,405N/AN/AN/A
Utah3,161,108467,84414.80%20.1%
Vermont626,299130,27020.80%18.6%
Virginia8,517,6851,328,75915.60%16.0%
Washington7,535,5911,567,40320.80%15.8%
West Virginia1,805,832288,93316.00%17.8%
Wisconsin5,813,568883,66215.20%16.4%
Wyoming577,73776,26113.20%24.7%

By country – how many gay people are in the world

There are 195 countries in the world, and we’ve below listed a complete overview of how many LGBs (Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals) there are in every country. In total, there are around 1.312 billion lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals in the world.

The 5 countries with the most Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexuals are:

  1. China (236 million Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals)
  2. India (226 million Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals)
  3. USA (54 million Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals)
  4. Indonesia (44 million Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals)
  5. Pakistan (36 million Lesbian, Gays, and Bisexuals)
#CountryPopulationTotal Lesbian, Gay, Bisexuals
1Afghanistan38,928,3466,384,249
2Albania2,877,797471,959
3Algeria43,851,0447,191,571
4Andorra77,26512,671
5Angola32,866,2725,390,069
6Antigua and Barbuda97,92916,060
7Argentina45,195,7747,412,107
8Armenia2,963,243485,972
9Australia25,499,8844,181,981
10Austria9,006,3981,477,049
11Azerbaijan10,139,1771,662,825
12Bahamas393,24464,492
13Bahrain1,701,575279,058
14Bangladesh164,689,38327,009,059
15Barbados287,37547,130
16Belarus9,449,3231,549,689
17Belgium11,589,6231,900,698
18Belize397,62865,211
19Benin12,123,2001,988,205
20Bhutan771,608126,544
21Bolivia11,673,0211,914,375
22Bosnia and Herzegovina3,280,819538,054
23Botswana2,351,627385,667
24Brazil212,559,41734,859,744
25Brunei437,47971,747
26Bulgaria6,948,4451,139,545
27Burkina Faso20,903,2733,428,137
28Burundi11,890,7841,950,089
29Côte d’Ivoire26,378,2744,326,037
30Cabo Verde555,98791,182
31Cambodia16,718,9652,741,910
32Cameroon26,545,8634,353,522
33Canada37,742,1546,189,713
34Central African Republic4,829,767792,082
35Chad16,425,8642,693,842
36Chile19,116,2013,135,057
37China1,439,323,776236,049,099
38Colombia50,882,8918,344,794
39Comoros869,601142,615
40Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)5,518,087904,966
41Costa Rica5,094,118835,435
42Croatia4,105,267673,264
43Cuba11,326,6161,857,565
44Cyprus1,207,359198,007
45Czechia (Czech Republic)10,708,9811,756,273
46Democratic Republic of the Congo89,561,40314,688,070
47Denmark5,792,202949,921
48Djibouti988,000162
49Dominica71,98611,806
50Dominican Republic10,847,9101,779,057
51Ecuador17,643,0542,893,461
52Egypt102,334,40416,782,842
53El Salvador6,486,2051,063,738
54Equatorial Guinea1,402,985230,090
55Eritrea3,546,421581,613
56Estonia1,326,535217,552
57Eswatini (fmr. “Swaziland”)1,160,164190,267
58Ethiopia114,963,58818,854,028
59Fiji896,445147,017
60Finland5,540,720908,678
61France65,273,51110,704,856
62Gabon2,225,734365,020
63Gambia2,416,668396,334
64Georgia3,989,167654,223
65Germany83,783,94213,740,566
66Ghana31,072,9405,095,962
67Greece10,423,0541,709,381
68Grenada112,52318,454
69Guatemala17,915,5682,938,153
70Guinea13,132,7952,153,778
71Guinea-Bissau1,968,001322,752
72Guyana786,552128,995
73Haiti11,402,5281,870,015
74Holy See801131
75Honduras9,904,6071,624,356
76Hungary9,660,3511,584,298
77Iceland341,24355,964
78India1,380,004,385226,320,719
79Indonesia273,523,61544,857,873
80Iran83,992,94913,774,844
81Iraq40,222,4936,596,489
82Ireland4,937,786809,797
83Israel8,655,5351,419,508
84Italy60,461,8269,915,739
85Jamaica2,961,167485,631
86Japan126,476,46120,742,140
87Jordan10,203,1341,673,314
88Kazakhstan18,776,7073,079,380
89Kenya53,771,2968,818,493
90Kiribati119,44919,590
91Kuwait4,270,571700,374
92Kyrgyzstan6,524,1951,069,968
93Laos7,275,5601,193,192
94Latvia1,886,198309,336
95Lebanon6,825,4451,119,373
96Lesotho2,142,249351,329
97Liberia5,057,681829,460
98Libya6,871,2921,126,892
99Liechtenstein38,1286,253
100Lithuania2,722,289446,455
101Luxembourg625,978102,660
102Madagascar27,691,0184,541,327
103Malawi19,129,9523,137,312
104Malaysia32,365,9995,308,024
105Maldives540,54488,649
106Mali20,250,8333,321,137
107Malta441,54372,413
108Marshall Islands59,190971
109Mauritania4,649,658762,544
110Mauritius1,271,768208,570
111Mexico128,932,75321,144,971
112Micronesia548,91490,022
113Moldova4,033,963661,570
114Monaco39,2426,436
115Mongolia3,278,290537,640
116Montenegro628,066103,003
117Morocco36,910,5606,053,332
118Mozambique31,255,4355,125,891
119Myanmar (formerly Burma)54,409,8008,923,207
120Namibia2,540,905416,708
121Nauru10,8241,775
122Nepal29,136,8084,778,437
123Netherlands17,134,8722,810,119
124New Zealand4,822,233790,846
125Nicaragua6,624,5541,086,427
126Niger24,206,6443,969,890
127Nigeria206,139,58933,806,893
128North Korea25,778,8164,227,726
129North Macedonia2,083,374341,673
130Norway5,421,241889,084
131Oman5,106,626837,487
132Pakistan220,892,34036,226,344
133Palau18,0942,967
134Palestine State5,101,414836,632
135Panama4,314,767707,622
136Papua New Guinea8,947,0241,467,312
137Paraguay7,132,5381,169,736
138Peru32,971,8545,407,384
139Philippines109,581,07817,971,297
140Poland37,846,6116,206,844
141Portugal10,196,7091,672,260
142Qatar2,881,053472,493
143Romania19,237,6913,154,981
144Russia145,934,46223,933,252
145Rwanda12,952,2182,124,164
146Saint Kitts and Nevis53,1998,725
147Saint Lucia183,62730,115
148Saint Vincent and the Grenadines110,9401,819
149Samoa198,41432,540
150San Marino33,9315,565
151Sao Tome and Principe219,15935,942
152Saudi Arabia34,813,8715,709,475
153Senegal16,743,9272,746,004
154Serbia8,737,3711,432,929
155Seychelles98,34716,129
156Sierra Leone7,976,9831,308,225
157Singapore5,850,342959,456
158Slovakia5,459,642895,381
159Slovenia2,078,938340,946
160Solomon Islands686,884112,649
161Somalia15,893,2222,606,488
162South Africa59,308,6909,726,625
163South Korea51,269,1858,408,146
164South Sudan11,193,7251,835,771
165Spain46,754,7787,667,784
166Sri Lanka21,413,2493,511,773
167Sudan43,849,2607,191,279
168Suriname586,63296,208
169Sweden10,099,2651,656,279
170Switzerland8,654,6221,419,358
171Syria17,500,6582,870,108
172Tajikistan9,537,6451,564,174
173Tanzania59,734,2189,796,412
174Thailand69,799,97811,447,196
175Timor-Leste1,318,445216,225
176Togo8,278,7241,357,711
177Tonga105,69517,334
178Trinidad and Tobago1,399,488229,516
179Tunisia11,818,6191,938,254
180Turkey84,339,06713,831,607
181Turkmenistan6,031,200989,117
182Tuvalu11,7921,934
183Uganda45,741,0077,501,525
184Ukraine43,733,7627,172,337
185United Arab Emirates9,890,4021,622,026
186United Kingdom67,886,01111,133,306
187United States of America331,002,65154,284,435
188Uruguay3,473,730569,692
189Uzbekistan33,469,2035,488,949
190Vanuatu307,14550,372
191Venezuela28,435,9404,663,494
192Vietnam97,338,57915,963,527
193Yemen29,825,9644,891,458
194Zambia18,383,9553,014,969
195Zimbabwe14,862,9242,437,520

How many countries are gay people illegal in?

Gay people’s activity is still illegal in 63 countries around the world. However, it’s important to note that the legal status of homosexuality can be complex and can vary within a country, depending on factors such as location, culture, and social attitudes. Some countries may have laws that prohibit same-sex sexual activity, but they are not always enforced, or they may be subject to legal challenges. Additionally, the legal status of homosexuality may change over time as social attitudes and political climates shift.

Here is a table of the countries where same-sex sexual activity is illegal:

CountryPenalty
1. AfghanistanImprisonment, the death penalty
2. AlgeriaImprisonment, fine
3. AngolaImprisonment
4. BangladeshImprisonment, fine
5. BhutanImprisonment
6. BruneiDeath penalty
7. CameroonImprisonment
8. ComorosImprisonment
9. DjiboutiImprisonment
10. EgyptImprisonment, fine
11. EritreaImprisonment
12. EswatiniImprisonment
13. EthiopiaImprisonment
14. GambiaImprisonment
15. GhanaImprisonment
16. GuineaImprisonment
17. Guinea-BissauImprisonment
18. IranImprisonment, the death penalty
19. IraqImprisonment
20. JamaicaImprisonment, hard labor
21. KenyaImprisonment
22. KuwaitImprisonment
23. LebanonImprisonment
24. LesothoImprisonment
25. LiberiaImprisonment
26. LibyaImprisonment
27. MadagascarImprisonment
28. MalawiImprisonment
29. MalaysiaImprisonment, fine, caning
30. MaldivesImprisonment, flogging
31. MauritaniaDeath penalty
32. MauritiusImprisonment
33. MoroccoImprisonment, fine
34. MozambiqueImprisonment
35. MyanmarImprisonment
36. NamibiaImprisonment
37. NigeriaImprisonment, fine
38. OmanImprisonment
39. PakistanImprisonment, fines, whipping
40. Palestine (Gaza Strip)Imprisonment
41. QatarImprisonment
42. Russia (Chechnya)Imprisonment, torture
43. RwandaImprisonment
44. Sao Tome and PrincipeImprisonment
45. Saudi ArabiaImprisonment, fines, flogging, the death penalty
46. SenegalImprisonment, fine
47. SeychellesImprisonment
48. Sierra LeoneImprisonment
49. SingaporeImprisonment
50. SomaliaImprisonment, the death penalty
51. South SudanImprisonment
52. Sri LankaImprisonment
53. SudanImprisonment, flogging, the death penalty
54. SyriaImprisonment
55. TanzaniaImprisonment
56. TogoImprisonment
57. TunisiaImprisonment
58. TurkmenistanImprisonment
59. UgandaImprisonment, life imprisonment
60. United Arab EmiratesImprisonment, fines, deportation
61. UzbekistanImprisonment
62. YemenImprisonment, the death penalty
63. ZambiaImprisonment