IMPLEMENTATION BRIEF · SCOPING
Eden Openly is preparing a bilingual brief, in Korean and English, on what it would take to introduce valid, safe and useful measures of sexual orientation and gender identity into Korean official health statistics, and which national survey offers the most practical route to testing them. Gender identity is treated in depth; sexual orientation is assessed through the same framework, as Korean researchers and the National Human Rights Commission have treated the two together. It builds on Korean work that already exists. Publication is planned for February 2027 at the latest, open access under CC BY 4.0.
Why this brief, and why now
Korea still appears to lack a nationally representative population estimate based on direct measurement of sexual orientation or gender identity. Administrative data, such as insurance claims with a gender-incongruence diagnosis code, count people in care, not the population.
- The Korean foundation. In 2022, Korean researchers reviewed the country’s nationally representative official surveys, found none collecting sexual orientation or gender identity, reviewed overseas measures and proposed Korean questions (Yi et al., 2022). This brief starts from that work.
- The official recommendation. On 16 March 2022 the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended that national approved statistical surveys identify transgender and other sexual minorities (Commission, 21 March 2022). All five recipients, including Statistics Korea, declined. They cited too small a sample, since the census that serves as the sampling frame does not record gender identity, and rising refusal of privacy-sensitive questions (Commission, 26 January 2023).
- What has changed since. International experience now includes failures as well as successes. Estimates from the 2021 census of England and Wales were reclassified as official statistics in development after evidence that some respondents misunderstood the question. Testing in Korean, not translation, is the central issue.
In recording the refusal, the Commission accepted that adding such questions needs substantial research on privacy and survey effectiveness first. Its original decision had asked for exactly that: in-depth research on how to ask, drawing on countries such as Canada and Argentina, so that questions carry no risk of rights violations. The government’s stated reasons, and the research the Commission called for, are the questions this brief answers.
What the brief will cover
- Korean need and prior Korean work. The 2022 measurement review and proposed questions, the Commission’s recommendation, and the government’s stated reasons for declining it.
- The current Korean statistical system. What KNHANES, the Community Health Survey and the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey collect today, how each is administered, and where each survey’s sex variable comes from.
- What international implementation has taught since 2021. Successes and failures, including England and Wales, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand.
- Candidate measurement models for Korea. For gender identity, at least three approaches compared, starting from the two Korean two-step questions proposed in 2022. For sexual orientation, identity, attraction and behaviour items, and why attraction is usually preferred for adolescents. The brief reaches a preference from the comparison; it does not start from one.
- Fitness for purpose in Korea. Comprehension in Korean, precision at realistic sample sizes, non-response, survey mode, comparability and privacy, judged against the six quality dimensions used in Korean official statistics by the Ministry of Data and Statistics (Statistics Korea until October 2025).
- Survey host. The best place to pilot a measure, kept apart from the best survey for eventual estimation. Youth measurement is treated as its own question.
- A pilot and decision pathway. Who approves what, what Korean testing must establish, and when the evidence would justify national use.
Privacy has its own section: whether people can answer safely, and whether the data can be released safely.
What it does not do
- It does not address clinical care, legal gender recognition or insurance coverage.
- It does not assess the quality of existing Korean studies. It builds on them.
- It collects no data from people and uses no unpublished data.
- It uses no data from our Models of Gender-Affirming Care in Asia study, and is a separate project.
Where things stand
- ScopingScope set, sources gathered, Korean collaborators invited.
- DraftingA full draft, with the Korean edition prepared alongside. Under way since October 2026; due December 2026.We are here
- Korean edition and reviewThe Korean edition checked independently for survey terminology and register; reviewers comment. January 2027.
- PublicationOpen access in Korean and English, with a DOI. February 2027 at the latest.
Taking part
The expertise this needs is wider than clinical. We would welcome survey methodologists and official statisticians, public-health researchers who know KNHANES, the Community Health Survey or KYRBS, researchers working on sexual orientation and gender identity measurement, data-protection specialists, and people from Korean transgender communities.
Involvement can be anything from co-authorship to reviewing one section or a single conversation, credited as you wish or not at all. Eden Openly does the research, writing and source-checking, and bears all costs, including professional interpreting and translation. Publication does not depend on outside participation, but the analysis and conclusions stay open to change in response to evidence and Korean expert input.
To get in touch, write to [email protected].
Method and independence
The brief’s conclusions rest on published and official evidence. Expert consultation informs interpretation, Korean terminology and feasibility, but is not treated as evidence. Every figure is checked against its source, and evidence from Korean-language sources is extracted in Korean and checked by a fluent Korean researcher. AI tools may assist search and drafting; this is disclosed, and every statement is checked by a person against its source. See How We Use AI.
The brief is self-funded. No outside organisation funds the work or has editorial control over its conclusions, and the interests of all authors and reviewers are disclosed. Eden holds a declared prior in favour of access to gender-affirming care, and founded and funds a transgender health research institute being set up in South Korea. Every interest is listed, with its date, in our register of declared interests.
Corrections and questions
If you think we’ve got something wrong, please get in touch through our editorial contact page. Corrections are logged on our corrections page.