Over the past decade, the proportion of people who identify as bisexual has nearly doubled, with the younger generations driving the trend, and many of them previously identifying as heterosexual.
This is according to a study – “Population Trends and Individual Fluidity of Sexual Identity Among Stockholm County Residents” by Willi Zhang (former name Guoqiang Zhang), Per Tynelius, Maya B. Mathur, Matteo Quartagno, Gunnar Brandén, Fredrik Liljeros, Kyriaki Kosidou – that was published in JAMA Network Open.
For this study, the researchers analyzed data from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort, covering more than 98,000 individuals from 2002 to 2021.
The study found that the proportion of people identifying as homosexual has remained stable at around 1.7% to 2.0% over the past decade. However, between 2010 and 2021, the proportion of people identifying as bisexual increased from 1.6% to 3.1%, making it the largest sexual minority.
At least in Stockholm Country, the findings revealed “clear generational differences in sexual identity”. Among those born in the early 1980s to mid-1990s, often referred to as Millennials or Generation Y, 7.8% identified as homo- or bisexual in 2021. The corresponding figure for those born in the mid-1990s to early 2010s, Generation Z, was 12%.
“This mirrors trends observed in the USA since 2016 and suggests that younger generations are much more likely to identify as bisexual,” said Zhang. “Given the generation effects, the bisexual population is likely to keep growing, and this group is at increased risk of ill health and discrimination. Our study therefore emphasizes the need for targeted public health interventions.”
The study also highlighted the fluidity of sexual identity. A sub-analysis showed that almost 16% changed their sexual identity at least once between 2010 and 2021. Another sub-analysis showed that bisexual individuals were the most likely to experience such changes, with around half of those identifying as bisexual in 2021 having previously identified as heterosexual in 2010.
“Our results challenge the conventional belief that sexual orientation is fixed throughout life,” said Zhang.
