The proportion of the population of England that self-identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual: producing modelled estimates based on national social surveys

There is currently no widely accepted estimate of the proportion of people in England that self-identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), which is needed if we are to compare health inequality between different population groups. Using systematic review methods, this study identified all national social surveys with a question on sexual orientation and pooled those which represented the overall population of England. LGB proportions were synthesized into an aggregated mean estimate using weights based on sample size, response rate and missing data. The modelled estimate was stratified by socio-demographic and geographical variables.