Statistics - same-sex
relationships and homosexuality
Up-to-date information on key areas . . .
1. Number of homosexuals in Australia
Nationwide figure - 1.2% of adults identify as homosexual or lesbian.
* 1.6% of adult men identified as homosexual and 0.8% of women as
lesbian.
* 1.4% of women and 0.9% of men said they were bisexual.
Source: The 2003 'Sex in Australia' survey of 20,000
people, with a special weighting to Sydney's homosexual centre. Conducted by the
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe
University. Published in Australian & NZ Journal of Public Health, Vol 27 No
2 2003 ISSN 1326 0200.
CANADA – (as comparison)
1.3% of men and 0.7% of women considered
themselves homosexual.
0.9% of women, compared with 0.6% of men, said they
were bisexual.
Source: Canadian Community Health Survey,
June 2004. A Canadian government survey of 83,000 people. Ref:
Statistics Canada. Click here.
2. Number of homosexual “couples"
Same
sex couples make up 0.46 % of all couples in Australia.
(19,594 couples, 2001 census)
The 2001 census showed that over 8 million
men and women were living as partners in couple relationships and that 12% of
these were ‘de facto married’.
Ten years prior the 1991 census indicated
that around 7.2 million men and women were living as partners in couple
relationships and that 8% of these were de facto married.
Same sex couples
make up 0.46 % of all couples (2001).
Source: 3310.0
Marriages and Divorces, Australia, Nov 2003, Australian Bureau of
Statistics. Click here.
Sweden and Norway
Statistics for Sweden show only 0.55%
of couples are same-sex and in Norway 0.68%.
UK
In the UK, the latest census shows 10.3 million
married couples, 2 million heterosexual de facto couples and 39,261 same-sex
couples. This gives 0.318% of all couples are homosexual couples.
[The Times, 4 Feb 2004]
3. Homosexual marriage and ‘civil union’
relationships
In The Netherlands, where same sex couples
are allowed to ‘marry’, a recent study published in
AIDS magazine, found that the average length of a
relationship between two men is 1.5 years. In addition the
study found that they have eight other ‘partners’ each year.
Source: Lifesite. Click here.
The Netherlands
Official statistics from The Netherlands
government show that few homosexuals actually get married. “Another important
change in formal union behaviour in The Netherlands is the fact that homosexuals
may not get married. This has been legal since 2001. … The number of homosexual
marriage is still small; in 2002 just under 1,000 marriages between two men and
fewer still between two women were registered.”
‘Economic
circumstances and union dissolution in the 1990s in The
Netherlands’
,
Dr D Manting and Dr D Loeve, Statistics Netherlands.
Scandinavia
In 'homosexual-friendly’ Scandinavian
countries, where same-sex ‘civil union’ type relationships have existed for 10
years, male-male union breakdown (‘divorce’) is 50% higher than heterosexual
unions. For female-female coupling the breakdown figure is 170% higher.
Source: Deathblow to Marriage, Kurtz, National
Review.
Click here.
Homosexual relationships in Australia
These figures are taken from studies done by the
National Centre in HIV Social
Research (NCHSR) at The University of New South Wales as well as
the National Centre in HIV
Epidemiology and Clinical
Research
(NCHECR).
These bodies survey homosexual men in major cities and
publish the data. The most regular publication is the 'Gay Community
Periodic Survey'
series.
Regular Partners
From the Melbourne Gay Community Periodic Survey
(MCGPS)
MGCPS (Feb.
2000) interviewed homosexual men at Melbourne’s
midsumma carnival and homosexual venues and found that:
27.6% of homosexual
men say they have ‘only regular’ partners,
35.1% have
regular PLUS casual
24.4 % have only casual sex.
12.9% said they
had no relationship in the past 6
months. (data at Table 8, P 12)
However 70.3% said they had sexual contact with "casual
partners" in previous 6 months. (Table 19, Page 18).
The Melbourne
Gay Community Periodic Survey 2008 found that 26.8% of homosexual
men say they have ‘only regular’ partners, 30.6% have regular PLUS casual; 25.9%
have only casual sex and 16.7% said they had no sexual contact with men at the time
of completing the survey. (Page 21)
Group sex: In 2008, two additional
questions were asked about group sex in the MGCPS. They reported "Among men
with regular partners, 32.3% had "engaged in group sex involving their
partner and at least one other man". Among those with casual partners, a
much higher proportion - 50.8% - reported that they had engaged in group sex involving at least two
other casual male partners." (page 21-22)
Gay
men who have group sex get better STI care if they feel confident about being
open about this with their doctor
AIDSMap, Michael Carter,
Monday, January 26, 2009.
Research regarding HIV and STD testing of
homosexual men in
Australia
who have group sex.
The
Sydney Gay Community Periodic Survey 2008 found that "In 2006,
31.3% of the sample reported having had sex with both regular and casual male
partners in the six months prior to the survey (see Figure 6). Those who had had
sex only with casual partners made up 26% of the sample; another 28% had had sex
only with regular partners. The remaining 13.7% reported not having had sex with a man in the previous
six months." (Page 16, Table 8).
The
Sydney Gay Community Periodic Survey (February 1996 to August 2006)
summarises and compares the data for a 10 year period. In 2006, 53% of the men said they were
in a regular relationship. (p 10)
Number
of Sex Partners
(MGCPS Feb. 2000) When questioned about the
number of sex partners in the previous six months:
One - 20.7 %;
2 to 10 - 39
%; 11 to 50 -
26.2 %; Over 50 - 7.8 %.
Thus 73 % have had more than one partner in the
previous six months.
Length
of Relationships
From Sydney
Men and Sexual Health (SMASH) 1995:
Thi survey questioned men as to
the length of their relationship.
For those in a relationship, the
data was:
Up to 6 months: 21.1%; 6-11 months: 12%; 1-5 years: 34.7%;
Over 5 years 16.5%.
An additional 15.7% had a relationship that had ended in
the past 6 months, leaving 84.3% of those 'in a relationship' giving data about
the length of a relationship.
Study by NCHSR and NCHECR. Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 26 May 2009 |
