There has been no universal census in Germany since the Nazis used population records to identify Jews. China uses its census to identify characteristics and behaviours that in a democracy would be regarded as strictly private. Stalin shot the census officials whose findings revealed a population that terror and famine had shrunk by 10 million. And it is not just the headline numbers, but the needs – revealed by age, ethnicity and, yes, gender orientation – that shape policy and spending. But the ONS has got the big thing right: sexual orientation counts, and a way must be found to count it.

Source: The Guardian October 09, 2017 18:11 UTC