Millennials and Gen Z are driving a massive rise in people legally changing their gender, new statistics show.
According to data from the Government’s Gender Recognition Panel (GRC), nearly 1,400 people have applied to change their gender from male to female or vice versa in 2023-24.
This represents a 75 percent increase compared to two years earlier, when only around 800 Britons applied.
And the figure is three times higher than that recorded just before the Covid pandemic, when only 443 applications were submitted.
The rise has been driven in part by increasing numbers of Gen Zers and millennials looking to change gender.
According to data from the Government’s Gender Recognition Panel (GRC), nearly 1,400 people have applied to change their gender from male to female or vice versa in 2023-24.
Official figures show that around 700 of the applications in the last year were from Britons born after 1990.
This compares with around 370 Britons in this group who were seeking to change gender two years earlier.
While there has been an increase over time in older age groups looking to change gender, it is clear that younger generations are outpacing them.
Another factor that could explain the increase is the drop in the price of gender recognition applications.
It used to cost £140 to apply for a gender change in the UK, but this price has been reduced to just £5 as of 2020-21.
Of the most recent year of gender change applications (1,400), nearly 1,100 were granted.
However, the numbers could grow even further as the new Labour Party has pledged to simplify the gender recognition process.
The numbers are expected to rise further after Labour pledged during the election campaign to simplify the process.
Under current rules, Britons who want to change their gender must be over 18, have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the UK, have lived as the gender of interest for at least two years and intend to live as that gender for the rest of their life.
There are other criteria that do not require a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, such as living as the desired gender for six years and having undergone gender-affirming surgery, but the GRC recommends contacting them in those circumstances as the process is different.
Once the application is submitted, a panel of lawyers and doctors decides on the case within a set period of 22 weeks.
Applicants must provide documentation such as two medical reports as evidence of their application.
But the Times Keir Starmer’s government is reportedly looking to change this “dehumanising” process to a single medical report from a gender specialist, and no proof of living as the desired gender will be required.
Data from the most recent year also show that for the first time, the number of women who wanted to change their gender to male was roughly the same as the number of men who wanted to change to female.