Only 1.6 per cent of people in the United Kingdom identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, new statistics have shown.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reflect information gathered from tens of thousands of people nationwide.
The ONS found that just under 1.2 per cent of adults identify themselves as gay or lesbian after hearing responses from 169,102 people.
Tiny
The statistics also showed that less than 0.5 per cent of people in the UK refer to themselves as bisexual.
Data was gathered by the ONS in order to “satisfy the increasing demand for data on sexual orientation” to meet the 2010 Equality Act.
The findings once again contradict figures previously cited by the Government, most notably when it was considering the issue of same-sex marriage.
Contrary
The Government had claimed that around 6 per cent of the population were gay, lesbian or bisexual but this was disputed in the 2012 study published last year by the ONS.
It found 1.1 per cent of adults identified as gay or lesbian and that 0.4 per cent said they were bisexual.
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the Christian Institute, said: “These figures show that the amount of political time and energy spent on the many demands of gay campaigners is out of all proportion to their numbers.
Offence
“The votes on marriage are the ultimate illustration. Parliament redefined an age-old institution and offended millions for the sake of a tiny number of people – many of whom didn’t even want it.”
Mr Calvert continued: “It’s the same with the media. The number of homosexuals portrayed on TV is massively out of proportion to their numbers in the real world.
“I’m sure other equally small minority groups wish they could exert as much influence.”
Regions
The latest figures found that London has the highest proportion of adults who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual (3.2 per cent).
The North East of England was found to have the lowest proportion of people who identify in this way (1.1 per cent).