Any ideas on how to estimate a transgender population? I thought about comparing gender over time, but there’s no way to connect an individual over time from 2000 to 2010, correct?
This is likely going to be difficult to do using census data. The necessary information is just not currently included in the questionnaire. Additionally, it is also likely challenging to proxy for the transgender population. As you suggest, it is highly unlikely that an individual included in the 2000 census will also be included in the 2010 census. This is because every census sample independently samples the population, with typically less than 5% of the population selected.
Hello, this is a great question, and similar to something I’ve been thinking about in trying to estimate the population of genderqueer individuals. One thing I’ve been thinking about using is google search trends – calculating the prevalence of certain searches (genderqueer groups or genderqueer dating sites), comparing it to equivalent search trends that would be used by comparable cisgender or lesbian/gay populations, then weighting the search trends according to census data assuming that the rate of google searches is comparable between the two populations. There are a lot of assumptions there, but it’s the best idea I have so far.
Please keep me updated as you work on this! I’d love to know the eventual answer!