Story at a glance
- The report from UCLA’s Williams Institute used survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate the number of people in the U.S. who identify as transgender.
- They found that while the number of adults who identify as transgender has remained steady since their last report in 2017, the number of teens ages 13 to 17 nearly doubled.
- Approximately 18 percent of people who identify as transgender are in the latter age group, although they make up only 8 percent of the total U.S. population.
Teens and young adults comprise around 43 percent of the 1.6 million people over the age of 13 who identify as transgender in the U.S., according to a new report.
The report from UCLA’s Williams Institute used survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate the number of people in the U.S. who identify as transgender.
They found that while the number of adults who identify as transgender has remained steady since their last report in 2017, the number of teens ages 13 to 17 nearly doubled. Approximately 18 percent of people who identify as transgender are in the latter age group, although they make up only 8 percent of the total U.S. population.
“Advances in gender identity data collection over the past five years have provided a more accurate picture of youth in the U.S. who identify as transgender. Previously, we could only estimate that based on adult data,” lead author Jody L. Herman, Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute, said in a news release.
“These new estimates show us that current policy debates regarding access to gender-affirming care and the ability to participate in team sports likely impact more youth than we previously thought,” Herman added.
People who identify as transgender live in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Three percent of transgender youth reside in New York while .9 percent live in Wyoming.
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The report concluded that the racial and ethnic distribution of people who identify as transgender is similar to that of the U.S. population. But researchers say more data is needed to adequately evaluate the characteristics and needs of the transgender community.
“Better collection of data about transgender people on federal surveys is vital to understand the characteristics, experiences, well-being, and needs of the transgender population in the United States,” study author Andrew R. Flores said in the release.
“The CDC should make the YRBS and BRFSS gender identity questions part of the core survey rather than optional questions, and the U.S. government should include questions to identify transgender people in all federal surveys.”
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