'There could be anywhere between 71 000 to 812 000 gay men in Australia right now. But are they all for you?'
We’ve all heard numbers like 1 in 10 people are gay, or 10%. This came from a derivative of Kinsey’s work back in the 1940s. It was a rough estimation based on data collected at the time and was re-worked in the 70s for political purposes. But much more recent survey data between 2003 and 2014 puts the number of gay men, more specifically, at anywhere between 0.57% and 6.5% of the total population of men in Australia. That means that there could be anywhere between 71 000 to 812 000 gay men in this country right now. For the sake of ease, let’s meet these estimates somewhere in the middle and say 3.5% of Australia’s total male population identify as gay, or around 437 000 men.
But what implications could that have for you in 2019 and beyond as a young gay man looking to date between the ages of 25-34 years old? That number suddenly gets a lot smaller.
Check out how this data plays out in my search for a relationship right here in Sydney:
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Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019) Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18 Retrieved August 9, 2019 from here.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2019) Regional Population by Age and Sex, Australia, 2017 Retrieved August 9, 2019 here.
Nagaratnam, V. (2015, June 2) Is Australia getting gayer - and how gay will we get? Retrieved August 9, 2019 from here.
Richters Juliet, Altman Dennis, Badcock Paul B., Smith Anthony M. A., de Visser Richard O., Grulich Andrew E., Rissel Chris, Simpson Judy M. (2014) Sexual identity, sexual attraction and sexual experience: the Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships. Sexual Health 11, 451-460.
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Nathan helps people to express themselves at home, at school, and in the workplace, all around the world. He's passionate about thinking, and engages in it regularly. He's not overly fond of writing in the third person though. It's weird. Connect with him on Facebook to continue the conversation, make a video at colourbeat.com, or even share a dance with him at movewithcolour.com!
Anywhere between 0.57% and 6.5% of men in Australia identify as gay.
Nearly two thirds of these men are single.
It is harder for gay men to find relationships based on the numbers alone.
