NEW figures revealing people’s sexual orientation and gender identity in Southampton have been published.

Though many findings from the census – that takes place once a decade – were published in 2022, some data has had a more staggered release due to the sheer volume of the survey.

Last week's announcement saw information published from the 2021 census regarding the population’s sexual orientation.

Of people aged 16 years and over in the city – 177,317 identify as straight or heterosexual, equating to 86.76 per cent of Southampton’s population.

Down from that – 4,830 people identify as bisexual, while 4,071 of those who completed the 2021 census identified as gay or lesbian, with the latter equating to 1.99 per cent of the population of Southampton.

Nearly 10 per cent of those asked declined to answer.

READ MORE: Southampton FC fans banned after homophobic abuse

Dannon Robinson, organiser of Eastleigh Pride – told The Echo: “I would have expected the figure to be higher for those identifying as gay or lesbian, but (as the stats show) not everybody who is gay will feel comfortable being open about that.

“But I’m a firm believer of you are who you are.

“Some people don’t feel the need to identify as one way or the other, and that’s fine.

“Every individual is different and for some, it’s not necessarily easy to come out.

“I’m the organiser of Eastleigh Pride, so it’s a subject really important to me.

“We can only work on better inclusion within the community.”

There are 1,327 gay or lesbian people in Eastleigh, according to the census. Some 101,243 people are straight - and 1,204 bisexual.

The results from the 2021 census also provide a further breakdown of the findings for those who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Some 766 Southampton residents identified as pansexual, accounting for 0.37 per cent of inhabitants.

In a significant drop, 0.13 per cent of Southampton citizens associate as asexual.

The census also showed that 92 people – 0.05 per cent - who completed the survey identify as queer, with a further 64 people claiming to be of another sexual orientation – the lowest figure to be produced from the results.

When it came to gender identity, some 92.34 per cent of people identified as the same sex they were registered at birth.

Around 0.15 per cent of people (some 308 people) said they were trans women - and the same figure responded to say they were trans men.