A new study by politics professor Eric Kaufmann has revealed a significant decline in the number of young Americans identifying as transgender. The research indicates that the proportion of 18-24-year-olds identifying as transgender has halved since 2023, from nearly 7% to below 4%. This decline is part of a broader trend in sexual identity, with the percentage of students identifying as non-heterosexual also dropping by about ten percentage points over the same period.
Kaufmann, who teaches at the University of Buckingham and directs its Centre for Heterodox Social Science, has highlighted that the drop in transgender and non-heterosexual identification is not linked to factors such as reduced social media use, religious revival, or political shifts. Instead, he points to improved mental health among students post-pandemic as a potential cause. The study suggests that this change represents a significant cultural shift among young Americans, marking a possible departure from the earlier rapid expansion of gender and sexual diversity.
The report also found that the proportion of heterosexual students has increased to 77% in 2025, up from a low of 68% two years prior. Kaufmann notes that younger students are less likely to identify as transgender or queer than those in higher years, describing this as a sign that ‘fashions are changing.’ Overall, the findings indicate a notable shift in cultural attitudes, signaling an important change in the landscape of gender and sexual identity among young people in the United States.