Number of Brits requesting gender change is up 75 per cent in just two years, official figures show

Millennials and Gen Zs are driving a massive surge in people legally changing their gender, new statistics show. 

According to data from the Government’s Gender Recognition Panel (GRC) almost 1,400 people applied to change their gender from man to woman or vice versa in 2023-24 — a record high.

This a rise of 75 per cent compared to two years prior, when only some 800 Brits made such an application.

And the figure is triple compared to that recorded just before the Covid pandemic when only 443 applications were made.

The surge has been in part driven by a growing number of Gen Z and millennials seeking to change gender.

Official figures show some 700 of the most recent year of applications were from Brits born after 1990.

This compares to some 370 Brits from this group seeking to change gender two years prior. 

Another factor that could be explaining the rise is a drop in price for gender recognition applications.

It used to cost £140 to apply to change your gender in the UK, but this was dropped to just £5 as of 2020-21.

Of the most recent year of applications for gender changes (1,400) almost 1,100 were granted. 

However, numbers could grow even further with the new Labour having pledged to make the gender recognition process simpler. 

The figures are expected to rise further after Labour pledged during the election campaign to make the process simpler.

Under the current rules, Brits wanting to change gender must be over 18, be diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the UK, been living as the gender of interest for at least two years and have an intention to live as that gender for the rest of their life.

Other criteria exist, that don’t require a gender dysphoria diagnosis, such as living as the desired gender for six years and having had gender affirming surgery, but the GRC say to contact them in such circumstances as the process is different. 

Once an application is in, a panel of lawyers and medics decide on the case within a set timeframe of 22 weeks. 

Applicants must provide documentation such as two doctors reports as evidence for their application.

But the Times reports that Keir Starmer’s Government intends to change this ‘dehumanising’ process to only one doctors report from a gender specialist and will not have to provide proof of living as their desired gender. 

Data from the most recent year also show that, for the first time, the number of women wanting to changing their gender to men was roughly the same as men wanting to change to women.