How Common Is Asexuality? What the Research and Estimates Show

How common is asexuality? The figure you will see most often is about 1 percent of adults. It comes from Anthony Bogaert’s 2004 analysis of a large British survey, where about 1% of people said they had never felt sexually attracted to anyone. Newer studies land on both sides of that line, from about 0.5% to 3.3%. The 2021 census of England and Wales counted far fewer, around 0.06% of adults.

So how many people are asexual? The honest answer is a range, and the reason fits in one sentence. Each study asked a different question of a different group of people, and those choices move the number more than anything else.

Below you will find the main studies in one table, what pushes their numbers apart, and a short checklist for judging the next headline you read.

The main asexuality studies and surveys, side by side

The table below lists the estimates that come up most in research reviews and official statistics. Each row names the country, the year the result was published, who was asked, and how asexuality was measured.

What the table tells you

The 2004 British figure is still the one most writers reach for, and a 2017 review called it the most widely cited prevalence estimate. Its wording matters. Respondents were counted if they said they had never felt sexually attracted to anyone. Medical Daily gives the exact statement as “I have never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all”. That is a question about experience, not about which label a person uses.

Both of the highest numbers come with limits. Brotto and Milani point out that the New Zealand study covered only school students and the Finnish study looked at a single year. For that reason they treat about 1% as a reasonable overall estimate.

The census sits at the other end. It is by far the largest count, yet it gives the smallest share, because it only captured people who chose the word “asexual” and wrote it in.

Why the US row is not a population figure

The Williams Institute number is easy to misread. It describes 1.7% of adults who already identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, not 1.7% of all Americans. The researchers note that asexual people who think of themselves as heterosexual were left out entirely. Treat it as a figure about one community, and do not line it up against the British or census numbers as if they measured the same thing.

Why the asexuality numbers disagree

Never felt attraction versus choosing the label

Bogaert’s figure counts people who agreed they had never felt sexual attraction. It does not tell you whether any of them called themselves asexual, and many may never have heard the word. Researchers such as Chasin have warned that most prevalence studies hand people a fixed definition instead of letting them name their own identity.

The reverse gap shows up in identity surveys. In the Williams Institute study, a little more than a third of people who identified as asexual said they did feel some sexual attraction. Ask about attraction and you miss them. Ask about the label and you include them.

Behavior adds a third measure. A Psychology Today primer gives rough ranges for women from 0.8% based on desire up to 4.8% based on behavior. People skip sex for many reasons, so a count of people who are not having sex will always run larger than a count of people who feel no attraction.

Why a census write-in box counts so few

The 2021 census in England and Wales asked a voluntary question of everyone aged 16 and over. To be counted as asexual, a person had to tick “Other sexual orientation” and then write the word in themselves. Someone who rarely feels attraction but ticks “straight” is counted as straight.

Many people also skipped the question. About 3.6 million, or 7.5% of adults, gave no answer. The Office for National Statistics says its results show how people responded, not whom they are attracted to. So the census figure works best as a floor for asexual identity, not a count of everyone who lacks attraction.

Age, generation and sex

Younger adults are far more likely to use the label. In the census, 0.18% of people aged 16 to 24 wrote in asexual, about three times the all-ages rate. The Williams Institute found that 91% of its asexual respondents were in the 18-27 cohort, compared with 61% of other LGB adults.

Its lead author expects the numbers to grow as more young people learn about the identity. Whether that means more asexual people, or more people with a word for what they already felt, the data cannot say.

Sex differences appear too. In Bogaert’s 2004 sample, 70.8% of asexual respondents were women, against 56.8% of everyone else. The census shows the same tilt, with 0.08% of females and 0.04% of males writing in asexual.

One town, three different counts

A hypothetical example shows how far the method alone can move the result. Suppose, hypothetically, a town has 100,000 adults and three teams survey it in the same month.

One team asks whether people have ever felt sexual attraction to anyone. A second asks about attraction in the past year. The third copies the census and offers a tick box marked “Other” with space to write a word.

Team one counts everyone who has never felt attraction, whatever they call themselves. Team two adds people who had a quiet year, so its number comes out higher. The census-style team counts only people who know the word “asexual,” feel sure of it, and bother to write it. Its number comes out lowest.

None of the three teams made a mistake. They simply measured three different things, and a headline that reports only one of them hides that choice from you.

Time windows and who gets asked

The Finnish study asked about the past 12 months, so a person going through a quiet patch counts the same as someone who has never felt attraction. Other studies narrow the group instead. The New Zealand sample was school students, and the second British survey stopped at age 44. Each of those choices pulls the result away from a whole-population figure.

How to read an asexuality statistic: a quick checklist

Most headlines about asexuality give one number and skip how it was made. Run any figure you see through these questions before you repeat it.

Check what was asked

• Attraction, behavior or label? A “never felt attraction” item, a question about sexual activity, and an identity question each count different people.
• Over what time window? Asking about attraction ever and asking about the past 12 months are different questions. Brotto and Milani treat the one-year window as a limit on the Finnish result.
• Tick box or write-in? A write-in only catches people who know the word and choose to use it.

Check who answered

• Which ages? A sample of students, or one capped at 44, is not the adult population.
• Which base? The Williams Institute figure of 1.7% is a share of sexual minority adults, not of everyone.
• Random sample or online community? The Asexual Visibility and Education Network had about 120,000 registered members in 2015. That shows a community’s size, not how common asexuality is.
• Who skipped the question? In the 2021 census, 7.5% of adults left the sexual orientation question blank.

Check what the headline did with the number

• Did one survey become the world? Medical Daily turned the 1 percent from a single British survey into 70 million people worldwide. One country’s survey cannot stand in for every culture and language.
• Are spectrum identities included? Most large surveys have no separate box for gray-asexual or demisexual people, so check whether a figure claims to cover them.
• Is there a range? A careful summary gives a spread, such as estimates from 0.5% to 3.3%, rather than one confident number.

If a headline cannot answer most of these questions, read it as a rough signal rather than a fact.

What the numbers mean for you

Rare is not the same as abnormal

Being part of a small group says nothing about your health. Mental Health America notes that before 2013 the DSM counted a lack of sexual desire as a mental health condition in itself. Today, asexuality is recognized as a variation in human sexuality rather than a disorder. Low desire that is new and causes you distress is a separate matter, and it can still be worth raising with a doctor.

The Human Rights Campaign draws a second line worth knowing. Celibacy is a choice to avoid sex, while asexuality is a sexual orientation and part of who a person is. If you want the basics in more depth, our guide to what asexuality is covers them.

None of this rules out talking to a clinician. If low desire is new for you, or it upsets you, a doctor can help sort out whether something else is going on. That is a question about change and distress, not about whether your orientation is valid.

Gray-asexual and demisexual people mostly go uncounted

Many people sit near asexuality without matching the strict “never” wording. The Asexuality New Zealand Trust describes gray-asexual people as feeling sexual attraction very rarely, sometimes only a few times a year. Demisexual people feel it only after a strong emotional bond forms. Mental Health America lists both as part of the asexual spectrum.

A survey item about never feeling attraction leaves these people out by design. The Williams Institute result points the same way, since more than a third of its asexual-identified respondents reported some sexual attraction. That means the asexual community is wider than any single prevalence figure suggests.

Our overview of asexual spectrum labels explains how these terms differ. Whichever label fits, or none, the numbers in this article describe populations, not you.

Asexuality statistics FAQ: short answers

What percentage of the population is asexual?

About 1 percent is the figure quoted most, based on Bogaert’s British survey. Later studies range from roughly 0.5% to 3.3%, depending on the question and the sample. The 2021 census of England and Wales, which only counted people who wrote in the word, found about 0.06%. A fair summary is around 1 percent, with real uncertainty either way.

How common is gray asexuality?

Nobody has a reliable population figure. None of the national surveys in the table above reports gray-asexual people as a separate group. The Asexuality New Zealand Trust describes gray asexuality as feeling sexual attraction very rarely. People like this would not agree that they have never felt attraction, so most counts leave them out.

Are more women than men asexual?

Several large samples lean female. In Bogaert’s 2004 analysis, 70.8% of asexual respondents were women. In the second British survey, the female excess appeared only once the data were weighted. The 2021 census recorded 0.08% of females and 0.04% of males writing in asexual.

Is the number of asexual people growing?

More young people use the label. The census found 0.18% of 16- to 24-year-olds identified as asexual, about three times the all-ages rate. Still, no long-running survey has asked the same question for decades. The two British survey waves Bogaert analysed cannot show a trend either, because the first covered ages 16-59 and the second only 16-44. Growth in the label may reflect awareness more than change.

The numbers in one paragraph

About 1 percent remains a sensible headline figure for how common asexuality is, as long as you remember it is an estimate from one kind of question. Studies that ask about the past year, or only about young people, find more. A census write-in box finds fewer, because it only counts people who know the word and choose it.

When you meet a new number, check what was asked, who answered, and what the headline did with the result. For an individual, none of this changes much. Whether you feel no attraction, rare attraction, or attraction only after a deep bond, being in a small group is not a sign that anything is wrong.

Related reading

• What Is Asexuality? Meaning, Spectrum, Myths and Research
• The Asexual Spectrum: Labels Grouped by What They Describe
• Can You Become Asexual? Identity Change, Causes and Common Myths
• Am I Asexual? Questions to Think Through Instead of a Quiz

Sources

1. Asexuality: When Sexual Attraction Is Lacking (book chapter 19) - Lori A. Brotto and Sonia Milani, University of British Columbia
2. Human Asexuality: What Do We Know About a Lack of Sexual Attraction? - Yule, Brotto and Gorzalka, Current Sexual Health Reports
3. Sexual orientation by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021 - Office for National Statistics
4. Sexual orientation, England and Wales: Census 2021 - Office for National Statistics
5. 1.7% of sexual minority adults identify as asexual - Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
6. Asexuals: A Growing Population? - Medical Daily
7. Asexuality: A Brief Primer - Psychology Today
8. Asexuality and mental health - Mental Health America
9. Understanding the Asexual Community - Human Rights Campaign
10. Mapping out the sexual spectrum - Asexuality New Zealand Trust