The number of Australians who identify as LGBTQ+ has doubled in the past eight years, new research shows.
The research led by Charles Darwin University found the LGB+ population of Australia has risen from 3.3 per cent of adults over the age of 15 in 2012 to to 5.8 per cent in 2020.
The study looked at answers from people who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another sexuality in the HILDA longitudinal survey of 17,000 Australians to estimate the size and growth of the LGBTQ+ population at three time points – 2012, 2016, 2020.
Research associate Fiona Shalley said that after the 2017 same-sex marriage vote, more Australians began accepting people from sexual minorities.
‘Australia’s LGB+ demographic is a relatively hidden population group,’ she said.
‘We still don’t enough about them to understand how the population will grow in the future – but we are certainly noticing them now.
‘The growing confidence of people identifying as LGB+ is likely influenced by the number of visible positive role models, social media attention, and in our storytelling.’
She said the trend could signal a ‘second sexual revolution’ in Australia.
‘If you think about the 60s and the 70s and the big revolution of sexual freedom then, maybe it’s happening again.’
The number of Australians who identify as LGBTQ+ has doubled in the past eight years, new research shows
The trend could signal a ‘second sexual revolution’ in Australia
The research also found that the largest increase within the LGBQ+ population came from young women identifying as bisexual.
‘There is lots of evidence that women’s patterns of attraction and behaviour are more likely to change over time than men’s, so we cannot be certain they will continue to choose the same sexual identity in the future, or even remain part of the sexual minority population as it is now described.’
Ms Shalley said Australia’s LGB+ population could increase by about 3 per cent each year.
‘If the growth trend identified in the data used by this research continues, we could see an adult LGB+ population size of about 1.7million people once the next data is updated from 2024 -that’s an even bigger jump,’ she said.
Ms Shalley said the 2026 Australian Census will be the first to include questions about sexual orientation, providing a more accurate count of the nation’s queer population than the smaller sample used in her research.
