Overview
- Eric Kaufmann’s review of multiple datasets reports U.S. undergraduates identifying as a gender other than male or female fell from 6.8% in 2022–2023 to 5.2% in 2024 and 3.6% in 2025.
- Declines are steep at some elite schools, with Andover Phillips Academy dropping from 9.2% in 2023 to 3% in 2025 and Brown University from 5% in 2022–2023 to 2.6% in 2025.
- The analysis relies heavily on FIRE’s large 2025 campus survey of roughly 60,000–68,000 students, which asks whether respondents identify as a gender other than male or female.
- Kaufmann suggests improved post-pandemic mental health may partly explain the shift and notes stable student political and religious views, while outside experts cite politics and caution against firm causal claims.
- Other measures show different patterns, with UCLA’s Williams Institute reporting higher counts of transgender-identifying youth, underscoring that population-wide trends remain disputed as the report gains wide attention online.