The share of 18-24 year olds identifying as transgender has halved since 2023, new data shows
The share of young Americans identifying as transgender has fallen sharply in recent years, after more than a decade of rapid growth, a new study has shown.
The percentage of university students ages 18-24 “not identifying as male or female” peaked in 2023 and has since dropped by about half, according to data from major US surveys of high school and university students analyzed by politics professor Eric Kaufmann.
In a report released this month, Kaufmann – who teaches at the University of Buckingham and directs its Centre for Heterodox Social Science – said the share of students identifying as transgender reached nearly 7% in 2023 but fell to below 4% this year.
The study also found a broader shift in sexual identity, with the share of students identifying as non-heterosexual dropping by about ten percentage points over the same period. The decline was driven mainly by fewer young people describing themselves as queer, pansexual, or other.
At the same time, the proportion of heterosexual students rose to 77% in 2025 after hitting a low of 68% two years earlier.
Kaufmann noted that younger students were less likely to identify as transgender or queer than those in higher years, something he called “a sign that fashions are changing.”
“The decline in BTQ+ [bisexual, transgender, and queer, plus other related identities] identification does not appear to be connected to lower social media use, religious revival, a shift to the political right or lower support for woke ideology,” Kaufmann wrote.
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The report linked part of the decline to improved mental health among students after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kaufmann said the trend represents a “momentous and unanticipated post-progressive cultural shift” among young Americans, following years of rapid expansion in gender and sexual diversity.
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