The B in LGBTQ+: how many people claim it? Let’s explore how many people identify as bisexual, where those numbers come from, and what those numbers miss. We’ll also take a deep dive into what it means to come out as bisexual, according to new research out of the Netherlands.

For the purposes of this writing, I will be defining “bisexual” as a person who experiences romantic or sexual attraction to people of multiple genders. Please note, this is written specifically to include trans and nonbinary people; just as bisexuality has specifically included trans and nonbinary people from the time it was first defined.

Data on the Number of People Who Are Bisexual

In 2016 the CDC gave the number of people who identify as bisexual in the United States as 5.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men. Dr. Julia Shaw, researcher and writer of Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality, starts her book with just this question. As she describes, the Williams Institute of UCLA published a summary of 11 studies including people from the US, Norway, UK, Canada, and Australia, which found that up to 3.1 percent of participants identify as bisexual. Up to 11 percent identified at least some same-sex attraction, across the studies.

Are those numbers increasing? The Williams Institute reports that there are some increases in the number of people identifying as bisexual, noting particularly in the youngest age range more people identify as bisexual than as gay or lesbian. 

Particularly for young women of color, more identify as bisexual than in the past, according to 2018 data from a study published in Contexts by Bridges & Moore. This study, conducted at , is titled “Young Women of Color and Shifting Sexual Identities.” There is useful information to be gained from this research, particularly in light of the lack of research on people who identify as bisexual that we’ve seen in the past.

One difficulty though is that these numbers track people who identify themselves as bi. Are we losing information on people who do experience romantic or sexual attraction to multiple genders, but who use a different label? How many pansexual or fluid people are we losing when we limit research to just people who use the term bi to describe themselves? Also, what about the people who experience attraction to multiple genders, but do not use any labels?

YouGov is an online polling and public opinion company who looked at this question in 2015. They found that “more people than ever identify as somewhere between the extremes of the sexuality spectrum,” which is to say, between strictly homosexual and strictly heterosexual. 

Coming Out As Bisexual

It’s also important to acknowledge the number of bisexual people that are not being included in these numbers because they are not out, or open about their sexuality. To get more information on how bisexual people come out, we’ll have to look to the Netherlands, and the work of Emiel Maliepaard. Maliepaard published research in the Journal of Bisexuality in 2018 that explored what barriers to coming out bisexual people in the Netherlands face, and what they prioritize when sharing details about their sexuality. I include this research because it illuminates what works for this specific group of bisexual people. 

How to Figure Out if it is Safe to Come Out as Bi

A reminder before we dive into this research that the choice to come out requires a safe place to do so- let’s acknowledge that there are 70 countries as of 2024 where it is illegal to be LGBTQ+. And for the people from countries where you will not face legal persecution, there are plenty of valid reasons not to come out. Coming out is a morally neutral act, and there is enough judgment already from both the straight and queer communities about the choice to come out.

The research there is about bisexual coming out typically references the deliberation and strategizing that go into figuring out who is safe to come out to, which family members can be trusted to respond well to this information, and which people will be more difficult to be fully honest with. The article speaks about two strategies that bisexual people use to gauge whether it is safe to come out to a particular person. The first, “testing the waters,” means making subtle hints or suggestions about having same-sex attraction, without saying the word bisexual. The second, “disclosure by necessity,” refers to coming out only to a select group of people, while keeping information about your sexuality private from the general public. Still other bisexual people come out more casually, waiting for the details of their sexuality to come up naturally in conversation with people that they trust. 

Maliepaard’s study is titled “Disclosing Bisexuality or Coming Out? Two Different Realities for Bisexual People in The Netherlands.” This research consisted of interviewing 28 bisexual people, one pansexual person, and one person who identifies as both pansexual and bisexual in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Who were those 31 people? 21 of the participants were women, 10 were men, and of those 31, three of them were trans. One of the biggest things Maliepaard found was wanting to avoid coming out as bisexual to be “a big deal.” Participants in the study wanted to be seen as themselves first, as Ben or as Sandra, before they were seen as bisexual. Another common theme was wanting coming out not to feel like a “confession,” as if there was something “different” about you that needed to be shared. One barrier that bisexual people who are parents faced was not wanting to tell their kids about their bisexuality, out of wanting to avoid discussing their sex lives with their kids. For many people in the study, disclosing their bisexuality came about because of having a romantic partner. One participant shared her fears about coming out as bisexual when she is married to someone of a different gender, that if she were to come out as a bisexual woman who is married to a man then people would perceive her as “taking the easy way.”

Reasons to Come Out, and Reasons to Stay In

Maliepaard pointed out some of the reasons participants listed for why they came out: “the desire to be valued as a human being, to be seen as an honest person, to be accepted as a friend, family member, romantic partner, or lover, to better connect with others, and to share one’s life with other people.” As for the reasons not to come out: “they are not in the mood for drama, they do not want to explain themselves, they fear negativity, they are uncertain, others are not ready, they are aware of heterosexism and binegativity, they do not feel it is appropriate.”

Some of the participants were bicultural, and identified as from the Netherlands and from other countries, most commonly Suriname. One bicultural participant described the intersection of their race and their sexual orientation by saying, “YES, it is often a taboo and people in my culture remain firmly in the closet, but they are deeply unhappy. And I was like that for some months or years. Until a certain moment, I did not care anymore who would stay in my life or not. The people that would stay in my life would be family and friends for life. Really for life.” For this participant, some of his fears around coming out as bisexual did come to pass; he reported that he was rejected by his mother and father. Notably, it did strengthen his relationship with his grandmother, and at the time of the study he “describes himself as an activist and a role model for fellow bicultural nonheterosexuals, demonstrating that it is possible to live a happy life after coming out or disclosing one’s sexuality.”

Number of Bisexual People in the United States

To get more specific to the United States: Gallup first collected data on bisexuality in 2012. Over telephone surveys, they asked respondents if they identified as straight or heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. There was also the option to volunteer information on what other labels the respondents might use. In 2021 they measured this data again, collecting demographic information on more than 12,000 adults living in the United States. 7.1% of respondents identified as within the LGBT umbrella. If you are curious to learn more about bisexuality as it is experienced in the US, click here to read about a group of Black Bisexual women in Chicago, and here to read about therapy for bisexual people. If you are curious about queer friendly therapy, this article on the difference LGBTQ+ affirming therapy makes could be a good jumping off point.