The UK population census will ask the question of gender identity for the first time this year, the country's chief statistician Ian Diamond said on Friday.
In addition to a question on legal sex, "
we will ask for the first time an optional question later in the questionnaire on gender identity
," but only to those over 16, he told the
BBC
.
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The census is scheduled for March 21 everywhere in the UK except Scotland, where it has been postponed to March 2022. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, it will mostly take place online.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (ONS), this information is necessary because "
there are currently no official figures for those who identify with a gender other than the sex registered at birth
."
In a draft recommendation released in December, Scotland's chief statistician Roger Halliday told him that the question of biological sex should no longer be asked, except in areas where it is relevant such as medical care, because that it violates the privacy of those who identify with another gender.
Ian Diamond disagrees, believing that it is "
the right question to ask
": "
the question on sex has been the same since 1801 and we have not (...) since that period undermined nobody's private life
”.
The last census in the UK was in 2011. Several countries, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, have added a “
third sex
” in their census for transgender people.
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