Sex question to become optional on census

Britain to be first country not to require people to officially state their gender

A copy of the 2011 UK census
(Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

The UK is to become the first country not to require people to declare their gender, after reports the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is going to make the question voluntary in the next census in 2021.

In a report leaked to The Sunday Times, the ONS says the existing census question, which requires respondents to choose whether they are male or female, was “considered to be irrelevant, unacceptable and intrusive, particularly to trans participants, due to asking about sex rather than gender”.

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