Sex, gender identity, trans status - data collection and publication: guidance

11. How to collect and present data on non-binary groups

It is a challenge to collect data that fully reflects the variance in a population, and part of this is driven by the questions that are asked, the definitions ascribed to the terminology used, and the interpretation of these by a respondent. This is turn affects the degree to which findings across surveys and countries can be compared.

In terms of administrative data sources, there are potential changes to registration practices needed so that non-binary could be recorded as an option where statistics are currently disaggregated between male and female, as in this situation is it likely to be difficult to report on the population identifying as non-binary.

In Scottish Government’s Non-Binary Equality Action Plan, we have committed to a review of how well the Chief Statistician’s Sex and Gender in Data Guidance has been adopted and user engagement with stakeholders by the end of 2024. We will then plan to potentially update the guidance and conduct further stakeholder feedback in due course. We will provide updates on this work via the Scottish Government Statistics Blog.