LGBT+ population of Aotearoa New Zealand provides key demographic and economic characteristics of the LGBT+ population as a whole, of the transgender and non-binary populations, and of the sexual minorities' populations. The statistics include qualifications and income, as well as disability status for those who are part of the LGBT+ population.
Key facts
In the year ended June 2025:
- 4.8 percent of people aged 15 years and over identified as LGBT+
- 6.1 percent of people who identified with the Māori ethnic group identified as LGBT+
- the average annual personal disposable income of the transgender and non-binary population was lower than that of the cisgender population ($38,315 compared with $55,802)
- the LGBT+ population was more likely to be disabled than the non-LGBT+ population (25.6 percent compared with 15.8 percent).
LGBT+ population
The LGBT+ population, as captured by the Household Income and Living Survey (HILS), includes people who are transgender and non-binary, and/or people with a minority sexual identity (a sexual identity other than heterosexual). It does not include people born with variations of sex characteristics (also known as intersex variations).
Definitions of LGBT+ populations includes more detail about identities within the LGBT+ population and how we adjusted for age to improve comparisons of income, qualifications, and disability with the non-LGBT+ population.
4.8 percent of adults identify as LGBT+
Of those aged 15 years and over, 4.8 percent (163,700 people) identified as LGBT+ in the year ended June 2025. Because a person can belong to more than one group within the LGBT+ population, the sum of the transgender and non-binary population and sexual minorities population will not equal the total LGBT+ population reported.
Transgender and non-binary population
Of people aged 15 years and over, 0.7 percent (23,700 people) were transgender and non-binary in the year ended June 2025. The transgender and non-binary population accounted for 14.5 percent of the LGBT+ population.
Of those who were transgender and non-binary:
- 21.0 percent (5,000 people) were transgender men
- 21.5 percent (5,100 people) were transgender women
- 57.4 percent (13,600 people) were non-binary.
Sexual minorities population
Of people aged 15 years and over, 4.6 percent (156,700 people) identified with a minority sexual identity. People who identified with a minority sexual identity accounted for 95.7 percent of the LGBT+ population.
Of those who identified with a minority sexual identity:
- 33.6 percent (52,700 people) were gay or lesbian
- 54.1 percent (84,800 people) were bisexual
- 12.2 percent (19,100 people) were another sexual identity (not including heterosexual).
LGBT+ population is younger
The age structure of the LGBT+ population is younger than that of the non-LGBT+ population. To address this difference in age structure, we have applied age adjustment to LGBT+ statistics for income, qualifications, and disability.
In the year ended June 2025, 61.9 percent of the LGBT+ population were between 15 and 34 years old, compared with 28.2 percent of the non-LGBT+ population.
| Age groups (years) | LGBT+ |
| 15-19 | 11.5 |
| 20-24 | 18.1 |
| 25-29 | 16.3 |
| 30-34 | 16 |
| 35-39 | 10.2 |
| 40-44 | 7 |
| 45-49 | 5.1 |
| 50-54 | 3.1 |
| 55-59 | 3.4 |
| 60-64 | 2.8 |
| 65+ | 6.5 |
| 9.5 | 13.5 |
|---|---|
| 15.4 | 20.8 |
| 13.8 | 18.8 |
| 13.8 | 18.2 |
| 8.5 | 11.9 |
| 5.5 | 8.5 |
| 3.9 | 6.3 |
| 2.2 | 4 |
| 2.4 | 4.4 |
| 1.9 | 3.7 |
| 5.1 | 7.9 |
| Age groups (years) | Non-LGBT+ |
| 15-19 | 5.4 |
| 20-24 | 6.3 |
| 25-29 | 7.4 |
| 30-34 | 9.1 |
| 35-39 | 9.4 |
| 40-44 | 8.6 |
| 45-49 | 7.8 |
| 50-54 | 8.2 |
| 55-59 | 7.9 |
| 60-64 | 7.7 |
| 65+ | 22.2 |
| 5.2 | 5.6 |
|---|---|
| 6 | 6.6 |
| 7.2 | 7.6 |
| 8.9 | 9.3 |
| 9.2 | 9.6 |
| 8.4 | 8.8 |
| 7.6 | 8 |
| 8.1 | 8.3 |
| 7.8 | 8 |
| 7.6 | 7.8 |
| 21.9 | 22.5 |
LGBT+ population by ethnic group
For the year ended June 2025, the proportion of each ethnic group that identified as being part of the LGBT+ population was:
- 5.5 percent for European
- 6.1 percent for Māori
- 3.9 percent for Pacific peoples
- 3.2 percent for Asian
- 3.7 percent for Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African.
A person can identify with more than one ethnic group and will be counted in each group they give as a response.
LGBT+ population by region
In the year ended June 2025, over half of people who identified as being part of the LGBT+ population lived in either the Auckland or Wellington region. A further 16.5 percent of the LGBT+ population lived in Canterbury.
| Region | LGBT+ |
| Northland | 2.1 |
| Auckland | 29.8 |
| Waikato | 7.1 |
| Bay of Plenty | 4.5 |
| Gisborne/Hawke's Bay | 3.8 |
| Taranaki | 2.5 |
| Manawatū/Whanganui | 3.5 |
| Wellington | 20.4 |
| Tasman/Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast region | 3.4 |
| Canterbury | 16.5 |
| Otago | 5 |
| Southland | 1.3 |
| 1.2 | 3 |
|---|---|
| 26.2 | 33.4 |
| 5.2 | 9 |
| 3.1 | 5.9 |
| 2.3 | 5.3 |
| 1.6 | 3.4 |
| 2.2 | 4.8 |
| 17.3 | 23.5 |
| 2 | 4.8 |
| 14.1 | 18.9 |
| 3.1 | 6.9 |
| 0.7 | 1.9 |
Personal disposable income
As incomes tend to increase as people age, we have applied age adjustment to this income levels data.
Personal disposable income is income after taxes have been deducted.
In the year ended June 2025, the average annual personal disposable income was:
- $54,055 for the LGBT+ population
- $56,186 for the non-LGBT+ population
- $38,315 for the transgender and non-binary population
- $55,802 for the cisgender population
- $54,732 for the sexual minorities population
- $56,138 for the heterosexual population.
| Population group | $ |
| LGBT+ | 54055 |
| Non-LGBT+ | 56186 |
| Transgender and non-Binary | 38315 |
| Cisgender | 55802 |
| Sexual minorities | 54732 |
| Heterosexual | 56138 |
| 50109 | 58001 |
|---|---|
| 55503 | 56869 |
| 32557 | 44073 |
| 55144 | 56460 |
| 50587 | 58877 |
| 55459 | 56817 |
Highest qualification
As the likelihood of someone having a post-graduate qualification increases with age, we have applied age adjustment to this qualification data.
In the year ended June 2025, 18.1 percent of the LGBT+ population held a postgraduate qualification, compared with 13.8 percent of the non-LGBT+ population.
The LGBT+ population were less likely to hold no formal qualification (11.9 percent) than the non-LGBT+ community (15.7 percent).
| Highest qualification | LGBT+ |
| No qualification | 11.9 |
| Level 1-3 certificate | 25.4 |
| Level 4 certificate or Level 5-6 diploma | 12.7 |
| Bachelor's degree and level 7 | 22.6 |
| "Postgraduate certificate | 18.1 |
| honours | |
| master's | |
| or doctorate degree" |
| 9.5 | 14.3 |
|---|---|
| 22.2 | 28.6 |
| 10.2 | 15.2 |
| 19.3 | 25.9 |
| 14.9 | 21.3 |
| Highest qualification | Non-LGBT+ |
| No qualification | 15.7 |
| Level 1-3 certificate | 23 |
| Level 4 certificate or Level 5-6 diploma | 13.1 |
| Bachelor's degree and level 7 | 25.6 |
| "Postgraduate certificate | 13.8 |
| honours | |
| master's | |
| or doctorate degree" |
| 15.2 | 16.2 |
|---|---|
| 22.3 | 23.7 |
| 12.6 | 13.6 |
| 25 | 26.2 |
| 13.2 | 14.4 |
Disability
As the likelihood of someone being disabled increases with age, we have applied age adjustment to this disability data.
In the year ended June 2025, one in four (25.6 percent) of the LGBT+ population were identified as disabled, compared with 15.8 percent of the non-LGBT+ population. Within the LGBT+ population, 37.9 percent of the transgender and non-binary population were identified as disabled.
To identify disabled people, HILS uses questions based on the Washington Group Short Set - Enhanced. As these questions do not capture all disabled people, HILS should not be used as an official measure of disability prevalence. The Household Disability Survey is the only current measure of disability prevalence in New Zealand.
Definitions of LGBT+ populations
The LGBT+ population in this release was defined as those aged 15 years and over who reported a gender that was not male or female, a sexual identity that was not heterosexual, or a gender that did not match their sex at birth (for example, transgender male or transgender female).
We grouped gender minorities together to allow us to produce more insights, where separate sample sizes for these groups may have been too small to identify statistically significant trends.
The transgender and non-binary population refers to those who have reported a gender that is different from their sex recorded at birth (transgender men or transgender women) and those who have reported another gender that is not exclusively male or female (including non-binary, agender, or gender non-conforming).
The cisgender population refers to those whose gender is the same as their sex recorded at birth.
'Sexual minorities' in this release describes those who reported a sexual identity other than heterosexual. This includes gay and lesbian, bisexual, and people who indicated another type of identity by specifying in a text response option. The self-reported categories in the text response options from survey participants included (but was not limited to) takatāpui, asexual, pansexual, and demisexual.
Although we defined the terms above separately to create statistical outputs, we appreciate that these terms are not used in a mutually exclusive way in the community.
Age adjustment
Age adjustment has been applied to some of the data in this release. This allows us to compare two populations when they have different age distributions. The process of age adjustment by the direct method changes the amount that each age group contributes to the overall rate in each community so that the overall rates are based on the same age structure.
Adjustment is accomplished by first multiplying age-specific rates by age-specific weights. The weights are the total number of people in each age group. These products are summed across the age groups and the sum is divided by the total population to give the age-adjusted rate. We used five-year age groups.
Definitions and metadata
Household Income and Living Survey - DataInfo+ outlines the background to the household and income and living survey, and the data quality in this report.
Data standard for gender, sex, and variations of sex characteristics has concepts and definitions for gender, sex, and variations of sex characteristics data.
Framework for sexual orientation - Aria outlines the components, related definitions, and scope of the concept of sexual orientation.
LGBTIQ+ data at Stats NZ has more information about how Stats NZ collects and produces LGBTIQ+ population data.
About this data
This is the first report on the LGBT+ population of Aotearoa New Zealand using the Household Income and Living Survey (HILS), which replaced the Household Economic Survey (HES).
About the transition from the Household Economic Survey to the Household Income and Living Survey has more details about key changes between HES and HILS.
HILS has a target sample size of 17,000 households and had an achieved sample size of approximately 17,892 households for the year ended June 2025.
Like all surveys, estimates are subject to some uncertainty (known as sample error) because not everyone in New Zealand was surveyed. Sample error increases as sample size decreases. Therefore, as the LGBT+ population is a subset of the total population, the sample error on these estimates can be large. Sample error increases further when the LGBT+ population is broken down by other characteristics. When comparing the LGBT+ population and the non-LGBT+ population, the sample error on the estimates should be taken into account.
This release includes 15- to 17-year-olds in the sample population. Releases prior to LGBT+ population of Aotearoa New Zealand: Year ended June 2024 only included those aged 18 years and over.
Language related to the LGBT+ population is rapidly evolving and terminology may shift over time, vary by context, and mean different things to different people.
Time series comparisons are not recommended for LGBT+ population data.
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Next release
LGBT+ population of Aotearoa New Zealand: Year ended June 2026 will be released in mid 2027.
