Gender options within surveys

Dyddiad y datganiad:
13 November 2017

You asked

Have the ONS conducted any surveys in the past 15 years that included a nonbinary or "other" option for gender? If so, could you please provide the following for each survey:

  • The date the results of the survey were published, and the details of the publication;
  • The target group and subject of the survey;
  • The total number of participants;
  • The number of participants who identified themselves as women or female;
  • The number of participants who identified themselves as men or male;
  • The number of participants who identified themselves as nonbinary or "other";
  • The number of participants who chose "prefer not to say" or who did not answer at all;
  • If anyone wrote their gender into an "other" text box, their answers.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We have only conducted one survey in the past 15 years that included a nonbinary or "other" option for gender. This data was collected as part of the National Survey for Wales in 2016-17. We conduct this survey on behalf of Welsh Government. Welsh Government is the Data Owner for this survey.

  • The date the results of the survey were published, and the details of the publication

First key results were published by Welsh Government on 28 June 2017. Details of the key results and subsequent releases can be found on the Welsh Government website: www.gov.wales/nationalsurvey

  • The target group and subject of the survey

General population of Wales - interviews were conducted with one randomly selected adult (aged 16 or older) living at the sampled address.

  • The total number of participants

10,493

  • The number of participants who identified themselves as women or female

5,368

  • The number of participants who identified themselves as men or male

5,122

  • The number of participants who identified themselves as nonbinary or "other" & The number of participants who chose "prefer not to say" or who did not answer at all

Unfortunately we are unable to release the answers to these questions as the figures are considered personal information and could be used to identify individuals. Under s.39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, personal information held by us (including information that identifies a body corporate), must not be disclosed. Because the release of the information you have requested is prohibited by law, s.44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2007 applies.

  • If anyone wrote their gender into an "other" text box, their answers

Respondents were not asked to specify further when identifying themselves as 'other'.

In addition to this there have been other ONS surveys that have allowed the interviewers to code a spontaneous 'other', 'don't know' or 'refusal' response. However, as we do not ask each respondents a specific non-binary question, it is not possible for us to provide statistics that reliably separate out 'other' from 'don't know' and 'refusal'.

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