Integrated Household Survey (Experimental statistics): April 2011 to March 2012

• 1.5 per cent of adults in the UK identified themselves as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual

• 2.7 per cent of 16 to 24 year olds in the UK identified themselves as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual compared with 0.4 per cent of 65 year olds and over

• Across the UK, 78 per cent of men and 75 per cent of women reported that they perceived themselves to be ‘in good health’

• Of the constituent countries of the UK, for the third successive year Wales has reported the lowest rate of perceived good health

• In the UK, those aged 18 to 24 and who currently smoke are over twice as likely to have reported to be ‘not in good health’ compared with those that have never smoked

This Statistical Bulletin covers the survey period April 2011 to March 2012.

The Integrated Household Survey (IHS) is the largest social survey produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The survey is comprised of a core suite of questions from three current ONS household surveys and contains information from approximately 350,000 individual respondents – the biggest pool of UK social data after the census.

The survey covers a number of themes including education, migration, housing and employment with only certain topics included in this Bulletin. Information and statistics about these and other themes can be found in the background notes and are published by ONS on the UK National Statistics Publication Hub website.

ONS is proposing to reduce the number of annual IHS datasets from four to one per year. This proposal is out for consultation from August to October 2012. See background note 1 for further information.

IHS statistics are currently designated as experimental. Experimental statistics are new official statistics undergoing evaluation: they are published in order to involve customers and stakeholders in their development and as a means to build in quality at an early stage.

The question on sexual identity was developed and tested on a number of surveys in 2008 and was added to the IHS in 2009. The data have been collected to provide accurate statistics to underpin the equality monitoring responsibilities of public sector organisations and to assess the disadvantage or relative discrimination experienced by the lesbian, gay and bisexual population.

The sexual identity question was asked to respondents aged 16 years and over and was not asked by proxy. Proxy interviews are defined as those when answers are supplied by a third party, who is a member of the respondent’s household. A valid response was provided by 95 per cent of eligible responders.

The IHS data in the survey period April 2011 to March 2012 indicate that:

• 93.9 per cent of adults identified themselves as Heterosexual/Straight

• 1.1 per cent of the surveyed UK population, approximately 545,000 adults, identified themselves as Gay or Lesbian

• 0.4 per cent of the surveyed UK population, approximately 220,000 adults, identified themselves as Bisexual

• 0.3 per cent identified themselves as ‘Other’

• 3.6 per cent of adults stated ‘Don’t know’ or refused to answer the question

• 0.6 per cent of respondents provided ‘No response’ to the question

The ‘Other’ option on the question was to address the fact that not all people will consider they fall in the first three categories.

Table 1 highlights that the sexual identity information for the three consecutive years of IHS data shows consistency across all categories and gender. The latest data shows that 93.6 per cent of men and 94.2 per cent of women identified themselves as Heterosexual/Straight and that a larger proportion of men stated they were Gay, at 1.5 per cent, compared with women at 0.7 per cent.

At the regional level of England and the constituent countries of the UK, IHS data again shows a consistent pattern to previous years. In April 2011 to March 2012:

• 2.4 per cent of adults who live in London said they were Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual

• 1.1 per cent of adults who live in the East of England identified themselves as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual

Figure 1: Sexual Identity by Region, April 2011 to March 2012

Source: Integrated Household Survey - Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. The total number of eligible responders to the question in 2011/12 was 186,946 of which 178,292 provided a valid response. The question was asked to respondents aged 16 and over when they first entered all component IHS surveys, and was not asked by proxy.
2. ONS defines 'no response' as no data provided to the question by an eligible responder.
3. The 'no response' category includes respondents who were aged 15 in wave 1 of the LFS/APS but are now aged 16 in the April 2011 to March 2012 field period.
4. Percentages may not add to 100 per cent due to rounding.
5. The whisker bars represent the confidence intervals for each estimate.

Download this image Figure 1: Sexual Identity by Region, April 2011 to March 2012

.png (11.8 kB) .xls (36.9 kB)

A comparison by age group showed that 2.7 per cent of those aged 16 to 24 identified themselves as Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual, compared with only 0.4 per cent of those aged 65 and over.

The survey asked people about their perception of their health in general. The IHS data show that across the UK in April 2011 to March 2012:

• 78 per cent of men and 75 per cent of women perceive themselves to be ‘in good health’

• of all the constituent countries of the UK, as in previous years, Wales reported the lowest rate of perceived good health at 73 per cent

• at the regional level the North East of England reported the lowest rate of perceived good health at 72 per cent, with London reporting the highest at 80 per cent

Looking at perceived general health by age and gender, the IHS data show that:

• the percentage of men that report that they perceive themselves to be ‘in good health’ are higher in all age groups than reported for women

• people in younger age groups are more likely to report themselves to be ‘in good health’. Men in age group 16-24 reported the highest level of perceived good health at 92.3 per cent, with women in age group 65 and over reported the lowest at 55.8 per cent

Looking at smoking prevalence by age group and perceived general health the IHS data show that:

• people who have never smoked are more likely to report themselves to be ‘in good health’. In the table below 7.0 per cent of adults in the 18 to 24 age group who have never smoked perceive themselves to be ‘not in good health’, compared with 15.0 per cent who currently smoke

Looking at smoking prevalence by region the IHS data show that:

• as in 2010/11, of the constituent countries of the UK Scotland reported to have the highest level of adults who currently smoke at 23.4 per cent. Northern Ireland reported to have the lowest at 18.7 per cent

• within the regions of England, the South East reported to have the lowest level of adults who currently smoke at 18.6 per cent, with Yorkshire and the Humber reporting the highest at 22.2 per cent