A Close Look at the Nones

Today, we are going to take a close look at the nones.

 

The Gender Census is an annual global online survey of people with a gender that isn’t exclusively male or female.

The Gender Census asks, “Which of the following best describe(s) in English how you think of yourself?”

Respondents can choose as many checkbox terms as they wish, and they can also submit write-in responses.

One of the checkbox options is “none.”



"None" was the third least commonly selected checkbox in 2025.

"None" was chosen by only 4.5% of respondents.

“None” outperformed Cisgender and Binary.

You can click on the images in this article to view larger versions of them.

I created the graphs in this series using Flourish, a website that allows users to create compelling visual aids.




A small change in the wording of the option for “none” in 2022 had a large effect on the number of people who chose it.

“None” was first introduced as an option in 2016, and its wording has undergone a few subtle changes over time.

In 2016, it was, “none / do not describe.”

In 2017, it was, “none / I do not describe.”

From 2018-21, it was, “none / I do not describe myself.”




In 2022, Cassian, who administers the Gender Census, changed the checkbox for “none” to “none / I do not describe myself / ‘I’m just me.’ ”

Cassian did so because respondents submitted write-ins that were similar to what Cassian meant to convey through the option for “none.”

Examples of these write-ins included terms like, "person, human, [my name], and 'I’m just me.' "

The addition of “I’m just me,” spiked the popularity of "none" from 4.4% in 2021 to 16.9% in 2022.



Cassian changed the wording back to, “none / I do not describe myself,” for 2023, and the checkbox has remained the same in subsequent surveys.

Based on feedback, beginning in 2023, Cassian added a new checkbox, “a person / human / [my name] / ‘I’m just me.’ ”

In their report on that year’s results, Cassian described the checkbox as, “an affirmative description," based on write-ins, as opposed to, “a lack of description,” for the “none” option.





“A person…” is one of the most popular options in the Gender Census.

It was the fourth most popular checkbox in 2023 and 2024, and it was the fifth most popular checkbox in 2025.

I discussed “a person…” in Top of the Charts, an article I published earlier this year.

You can also examine how “a person…” performed in the 2025 Gender Census in an article I wrote in September.





None has appeared 10 times in the Gender Census.

None’s minimum was 4% in 2019.

Excluding the outlier of 2022, None’s maximum was 8.5% in 2016.

Excluding the outlier of 2022, None’s average is 4.9%, and its range is 4.5%.





This graph shows how None has performed compared to other terms in the Gender Census. 

None was the third least popular checkbox in the Gender Census in 2023, 2024, and 2025. 

 

This graph includes fewer terms so the remaining lines can be more easily seen. 

None Pairing Analysis

1,958 people selected, “none / I do not describe myself” in the 2025 Gender Census.

That represents for 4.5% of total respondents. 

62% of respondents who selected “none” also selected, “a person / human / [my name] / ‘I’m just me.’” 

This checkbox is abbreviated as (Person) in the table below. 

Therefore, a majority of respondents who selected “none” also chose, “a person…”

Respondents who chose “none” were significantly more likely to select, “a person…” than Gender Census respondents as a whole.
 

 

 

None, Cisgender, and Binary were the only terms in the 2025 Gender Census that did not have a majority of respondents who identified as Nonbinary.

None and Cisgender were the only terms in the 2025 Gender Census that didn’t have a majority of respondents who identified as Queer.

Both of the statements above are true for the 2024 Gender Census as well.

We’ll examine these exceptions more closely in the next article in this series, which will focus on Cisgender and Binary.

None and Bigender

Bigender and None have generally been chosen by a similar percentage of respondents in the Gender Census.

Let’s examine the years when both appeared as options in the survey.

Excluding the outlier of 2022, None outperformed Bigender five times in the Gender Census.

None outperformed Bigender in 2016, and every year from 2018 to 2021.



Bigender outperformed None twice in the Gender Census.

Bigender outperformed None in 2017 and 2024.



From 2015 to 2025, None’s average is 4.9%, and Bigender’s average is 4.7, if you exclude None’s outlier in 2022.

Conclusion

“None” is one of the least commonly selected options in the Gender Census.

It was the third least popular checkbox in 2023, 2024, and 2025. 

The temporary addition of “I’m just me” spiked the popularity of “none” in the 2022 Gender Census.

Excluding the outlier of 2022, “none” has never received more than 10% in the Gender Census.

 

A majority of respondents who selected “None” in the 2025 Gender Census also selected, “a person…”

Respondents who selected “None” were significantly more likely to select “a person…” than Gender Census respondents as a whole.

None, Cisgender, and Binary were the only terms in the 2025 Gender Census that didn't have a majority of respondents who identified as Nonbinary.

None and Cisgender were the only terms in the 2025 Gender Census that didn’t have a majority of respondents who identified as Queer.



Excluding the outlier of 2022, None outperformed Bigender five times in the Gender Census, and Bigender outperformed None twice in the Gender Census.



 

 

This article is part of Season 3 of LGBT by the Numbers.

My most recent articles examine how questioning and autigender have performed in the Gender Census, an annual global online survey of people with a gender that isn’t exclusively male or female.

My next article will examine the least commonly chosen options in the survey, cisgender and binary.



So join me next time as we continue to explore LGBT identity, by the numbers.