Transgender Ratio

Common perception is that there are more transwomen (male to female) than transmen (female to male). Some studies have confirmed this.

This study puts the ratio at about 4:1. The study was about increasing frequency, but it offers these numbers, from which I extrapolated the ratio:

Evidence suggests that the prevalence has increased over the last decades to up to 5 – 14 male-to-female transgender (MtF) individuals per 1000 adult males and 2 – 3 female-to-male transgender (FtM) individuals per 1000 adult females.

Another study in Sweden put the ratio at 2:1.

Of course, these studies depend on self-identification, and that might lead to sample bias. Transwomen might simply be more likely to identify as such, than transmen.

Assuming an imbalance does exist, a question at the psychology Stack Exchange asked the reason for the imbalance. Several answers were offered:

• Genetic: There is research which suggests there is an increased genetic predisposition to male-to-female transgenderism

• Medical: Male-to-female gender reassignment surgery is more “successful,” meaning the recipient is satisfied with the results. Phalloplasty (the creation of a penis for female-to-male transgendered persons) is much less successful. (Note: this, of course, only indicates that less transmen have surgery; however the lack of a satisfying surgical outcome likely discourages a portion of transmen from identifying as such.)

• Economic: In many countries, transwomen are in demand as sex workers, where the opposite is not true. This gives men in these economies a financial incentive to transition, as well as the knowledge that a receptive community exists.

• Social/stigma: A biological male who acts effeminately is often stigmatized, and therefore would be more incentivized to “complete” the transition to be fully accepted as a woman. Conversely, a biological female who acts masculine is less often stigmatized and therefore feels less need to transition.

That same question at Stack Exchange offhandedly cited an APA study that the ratio was 3:1, but I couldn’t locate a full version of the source, so I couldn’t verify it.