Prevalence
The DSM-IV (1994) quotes a prevalence of roughly 1 in 30,000 assigned males and 1 in 100,000 assigned females seek sex reassignment surgery in the USA. The most frequently quoted estimate of prevalence is from the Amsterdam Gender Dysphoria Clinic The data, spanning more than four decades in which the clinic has treated roughly 95% of Dutch transsexual clients, gives figures of 1:10,000 assigned males and 1:30,000 assigned females. Though no direct studies on the prevalence of GID have been done, a variety of clinical papers published in the past 20 years provide estimates ranging from 1:7,400 to 1:42,000 in assigned males and 1:30,040 to 1:104,000 in assigned females.
Olyslager and Conway presented a paper at the WPATH 20th International Symposium (2007) arguing that the data from their own and other studies actually imply much higher prevalence, with minimum lower bounds of 1:4,500 male-to-female transsexual people and 1:8,000 female-to-male transsexual people for a number of countries worldwide. They estimate the number of post-op women in the US to be 32,000 and obtain a figure of 1:2500 male-to-female transsexual people. They further compare the annual incidences of SRS and male birth in the U.S. to obtain a figure of 1:1000 MTF transsexual people and suggest a prevalence of 1:500 extrapolated from the rising rates of SRS in the U.S. and a "common sense" estimate of the number of undiagnosed transsexual people.
Olyslager and Conway also argued that the U.S. population of assigned males having already undergone reassignment surgery by the top three U.S. SRS surgeons alone is enough to account for the entire transsexual population implied by the 1:10,000 prevalence number. This excludes all other U.S. SRS surgeons, surgeons in countries such as Thailand, Canada, and others, and the high proportion of transsexual people who have not yet sought treatment, suggesting that a prevalance of 1:10,000 is too low.
A study in 2008 examined the number of New Zealand passport holders who changed the sex on their passport and estimated that 1:3,639 birth-assigned males and 1:22,714 birth-assigned females were transsexual.
A presentation at the LGBT Health Summit in Bristol, UK, based upon figures from a number of reputable European and UK sources, shows that this population is increasing rapidly (14% per year) and that the mean age of transition is actually rising.
Read more about this topic: African American Transsexuality
Famous quotes containing the word prevalence:
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