For the first time ever, Britain’s most trusted source of statistics stands accused of publishing false census data.
The Office for National Statistics has downgraded its census data for the number of trans people in the UK.
After the 2021 Census for England and Wales, the ONS reported that there were 262,000 trans people, equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the population, or one in 200 people over the age of 16.
But after pressure from gender-critical groups and campaigners, further investigations concluded that the question on identity during the census was deeply flawed.
The ONS itself admitted that some people may have misunderstood the question “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”, leading to people recording that they were trans when they were not.
Dr Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University and a trustee of Sex Matters, a campaign group, said: I suspect that the ONS’s close relationship with Stonewall and deference to its LGBTQ+ and Allies network contributed to this question being developed without proper scrutiny.
The office for Statistical Regulation now admits that the trans population in England and Wales is smaller than previously thought. On Thursday the ONS admitted that there was potential for bias and has requested a reclassification of the gender identity estimates from accredited official statistics to “official statistics in development”.
This was the first time in the more than 220-year history of the census that data from it had been downgraded.
