Sex of person

Status: This was the departmental standard from May 22, 2007 to January 24, 2018.

Definition

Sex refers to whether the person is male or female.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard conforms to the recommendations for censuses contained in the United Nations' "Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2", 2008. The Principles refer to sex as "male or female", in accord with both the definition and the categories set out in this standard.

The "Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing" stresses the importance of collecting data on sex but does not define it.

Classifications

• Classification of sex October 22, 2007 to January 24, 2018

Relation to previous version

• Sex at birth of person October 01, 2021 to current

  The name of the concept has been changed from 'sex' to 'sex at birth', and the definitions in the categories of both classifications have been modified.

• Sex of person January 25, 2018 to September 30, 2021

  This standard updates the definition by specifying that sex refers to sex at birth typically assigned based on a person's reproductive system and other physical characteristics. This standard also provides a classification variant of sex that recognizes the 'intersex' category. Alpha codes are provided for categories in both classifications presented in this standard.

• Sex of person May 22, 2007 to January 24, 2018

  This was the departmental standard from May 22, 2007 to January 24, 2018.