International Detransition Statistics

Detransition figures in the literature vary widely, from less than 1% to more than 10%.

Variation in percentages

Detransition figures in the literature vary widely, from less than 1% to more than 10%. The variation is explained by differences in definition (stopping hormones vs. returning to one's original gender role vs. legal reversal), follow-up duration (short vs. long), and the composition of the study population.

Loss to follow-up

Cohort studies often have high dropout rates. Detransitioners are less likely to seek contact with the original clinic again, meaning that detransition figures in clinical cohorts are probably underestimated.

Recent findings

British and American data from the 2020s suggest higher detransition rates than earlier studies, possibly because the patient population has changed considerably since around 2015 (more adolescent girls and more co-occurring problems). The same shift can also be seen in the Netherlands in the growth in the number of referrals.

Studies with low percentages

The 2018 Amsterdam study by Wiepjes found regret in fewer than one percent of people whose gonads had been removed. A 2022 Dutch study of 720 young people who had started puberty blockers found that 98 percent of those who subsequently received hormones were still using them at their last check-up. Both studies are based on data from the clinic itself or on prescriptions, and say nothing about people who dropped out of view.

Studies with higher percentages

A 2021 British study of 175 adults who had been discharged from a gender clinic found that nearly seven percent had detransitioned within sixteen months of starting treatment. A 2022 American study of military healthcare system beneficiaries found that approximately thirty percent had stopped taking hormones within four years. The study did not investigate why they stopped; stopping is not the same as regret. In a Swedish study of surgeries performed between 1960 and 2010, 2.2 percent later submitted a legal application to reverse their transition; that figure is repeated in an overview of the Nordic countries.

What clinics do not see

In a 2021 survey by Lisa Littman of one hundred detransitioners, only a quarter had told their own healthcare provider that they had reversed their transition. If this picture is accurate, clinics miss most cases. Certainty will only be possible once treated groups have been followed fully and over a long period, which has not happened anywhere to date. See definitions of detransition and regret, detransition figures, and cohort studies in transgender healthcare. What the Cass Review, the Swedish SBU, and Dutch cohort studies do and do not show about regret is summarized by transtijd.nl.