By Julie Moreau - NBC News
An increasing number of young adults identify as non-heterosexual (that is, they are not attracted to the opposite sex), nor are they cisgender (their gender does not correspond to their birth gender), according to a new global survey by Ipsos.
The results, released Wednesday, are based on online surveys of more than 19,000 people in 27 countries.
The ages of the respondents range from 16 or 18 years (depending on the country) to 74. The surveys were conducted in the languages of each nation.
Gen Z respondents, who were born after 1997, were almost four times more likely than those over 40 (4% compared to 1%) to identify as transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, gender fluid or "other".
They were also the age group most likely to associate with an identity other than heterosexual.
Overall, 9% of those surveyed identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or asexual.
In the case of Gen Z, the figure was double: 18%.
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Previous surveys of young Americans have also buttressed this phenomenon: In a Gallup poll last year,
5.6% of American respondents overall identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or
queer
, while 16% of those
surveyed generally identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or
Generation Z said they were LGBTQ.
"The patterns we see in America are definitely not unique to America," says Nicolas Boyon, senior vice president of public affairs at pollster Ipsos, of the higher rate of gender and sexual fluidity among Gen Z. "It's a phenomenon. global".
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Globally, 1.4% of respondents identified as gender minorities.
And Sweden (2.9%), Germany (2.5%), and Argentina (2.3%) showed the highest percentages of respondents who identify as transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, or "other."
South Africa (0.3%) and Belgium (0.5%) had the lowest percentages.
India (17%), Brazil (15%), and Spain (12%) had the highest percentages of respondents who identified as non-heterosexual.
Meanwhile, China and South Korea had the lowest.
Almost half said they know someone LGBTQ
Globally, 42% of those surveyed said they have a gay or lesbian relative, friend or colleague, while 24% said they know someone bisexual.
10% said they knew someone transgender, and 9% said they knew someone who was non-binary, gender nonconforming, or gender fluid.
Women were the ones who said they knew LGBTQ people the most.
In Brazil, 66% reported having a gay or lesbian relative, friend or colleague, but
in Japan and South Korea, the figure was only 7%.
When asked if they openly advocate for LGBTQ people, nearly a third of all respondents worldwide said yes.
Consistent with other polls, the Ipsos poll found that Gen Z is much more open than previous generations: 40% of its members said they have spoken out against prejudice about the LGBTQ community.
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11% of respondents in all 27 countries reported having attended a same-sex wedding, from more than 20% in Mexico and Argentina to 1% in Russia.
The survey asked about participation in pro-LGBTQ events, such as Pride marches.
Globally, 13% of all respondents said they had attended such an event.
In Australia, more than 20% reported attending an event in support of LGBTQ rights, but in Russia, only 1% did.
"I am not surprised that Russia has such numbers," says Emil Edenborg, associate professor at Stockholm University and an expert on the subject.
Edenborg, who was not involved in the poll, said the low level of attendance at Pride events in Russia is due, in part, to Russia's so-called anti-gay propaganda law.
"Gay pride parades have been banned in Russia since 2013, as are public expressions in favor of LGBT rights," he says.
The law not only applies to activists, according to Edenborg, but also to social networks and any type of information that is distributed, including that on sex education.
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"The most damaging effect of this law is the way it affects young people," he adds.
"It has really imposed a harsh form of censorship on young people, especially limiting their ability to speak out about their sexuality and gender identity."
Equal marriage and parental rights
The poll found that the majority globally are in favor of same-sex marriage.
In only two of the 27 countries surveyed, Russia and Malaysia, did the researchers find majorities who think otherwise.
Edenborg says that same-sex marriage has become a political issue in Russia.
"Marriage between people of the same sex and raising children have been the main characteristics of the homophobic and stigmatizing discourse of the state. These issues have been highlighted as the greatest threats," he says.
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Around the world, women are more likely to support same-sex marriage than men.
Since the last Ipsos global opinion poll on the subject, in 2013, there has not been a drop in this support in any country.
In fact, there was growth in most nations, and the United States was second with the highest growth, after
Argentina, where support grew by 25%.
Latin American countries demonstrated relatively high levels of support for same-sex marriage: 82% of respondents in Chile and 76% in Mexico said they were in favor of this or some type of legal recognition for gay-lesbian unions .
Jordi Díez, a political science professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, says it is a common misconception that Latin America is uniformly conservative.
"There are much higher levels of tolerance in Latin America than in the United States. There is no doubt about that," he says, while pointing to the long history of gay and lesbian activism in the region.
Several Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Costa Rica) have adopted laws on same-sex marriage.
Laws, Díez says, have a "normalizing effect" and increase acceptance.
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Support for equal rights for same-sex parents is also high around the world: 61% of respondents said that these couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples.
In only four countries (Russia, Malaysia, Poland, and Peru) were people opposed to adoption by same-sex couples in the majority.
Overall, the survey found that women are more supportive of the parental rights of same-sex couples and that
boomers
(those born between 1946 and 1964) are more likely to support adoption rights than those of Generation X (the following the
boomers
).
Canada and the Netherlands stood out for showing the highest support in the world for same-sex parental rights, with 81% and 83% support, respectively.
Visibility and equality
Globally, the majority of respondents support lesbian, gay, and bisexual people being open about their sexual orientation (51% in favor compared to 16% against).
There is also global support for athletes who are openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual on US sports teams - 53% of respondents, a figure similar to the world average (50%).
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However, the same level of support does not appear to exist for transgender athletes who compete using their gender identities.
On average, across the 27 countries, support and rejection are evenly divided, with 32% on each side.
"The United States is one of the countries where there is the most opposition," says Boyon, noting that only 27% of US respondents showed support.
In the United States, several state legislators have introduced a series of bills this year to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in school sports.
Obstacles and next steps for a global survey
Boyon acknowledges that global polls have their limitations.
In particular, it cites the difficulty of developing a survey that adequately captures the diversity of people's gender identities.
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"When designing the questionnaires,
we realized that no matter what we do, we will skip people,
" he says.
"We are aware of the challenges of using labels."
Another problem is translation, Boyon said.
"We didn't use the word 'queer' in the survey, because it doesn't really translate into many languages."
The survey was designed in English by researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom.
"This is a poll designed by Westerners," says Boyon.
The survey does not pretend to be nationally representative for each country, since in those where the internet is not as accessible, for example, the survey collected the opinions of a relatively urban and digitally connected group.
Boyon says that, going forward, she would like to explore whether Gen Z remains open to gender and sexuality.
"A big question about the trends that we see among younger people is whether the patterns that we see in Gen Z will hold up over time," he says, "or if they just reflect the fact that they are young and, as we pass Over time, they may have more defined identities. "
