UK Will Allow People To Enter Their Gender Identity In Census 2021

In a first, a census being held this year in Britan will have people enter their gender identity. The same was confirmed the by UK's national statistician on Friday.  

Professor Sir Ian Diamond told the BBC radio that the census will be conducted on March 21, 2021, and it will include questions about people's legal sex. He said, "We will be asking for the first time a voluntary question later in the questionnaire about gender identity." He added that the question will only be asked from people over 16 years of age. 

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recommended asking people if their legal sex is the same their gender identity and if it's not, they will be asked to enter what it is. 

It is being done because according to a report, the UK doesn't have an official record of people who identify to a gender different than that registered in their birth certificate. 

The British census will not include the data from Scotland. The chief statistician of Scotland suggested that people should not be asked about their biological sex as according to him, it is an invasion of privacy. Roger Halliday had said in his draft guidelines that the question should only be asked if needed to any medical treatment. However, he disagreed with the same on Friday and said that the question about biological sex is a valid one to ask people. He said, "The question on sex is precisely the same question as it has been since 1801 and we haven't... since that time breached any privacies." 

As the country will be under lockdown till March in the wake of the pandemic, the majority of the census will be conducted online. The census of Scotland has been postponed till March 2022 so it will be collated with the UK results later on. The last census conducted by the UK was in 2011 and it included the findings from Scotland. 

The UK now joins the list of many other countries who have decided to have third gender criteria in the census. The list also includes Nepal and Bangladesh.