At least one in eleven people identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a survey conducted by advertising giant Dentsu Inc., while more than two-thirds of respondents were familiar with the acronym LGBT.

Of the 60,000 people aged between 20 and 59 who responded online last October, 8.9 percent self-identified as LGBT individuals, a rise of 1.3 percentage points from the previous survey conducted in 2015, the company said.

The survey also found that 68.5 percent either knew that LGBT was an acronym for sexual minorities or had heard of the term. In 2015, 37.6 percent of respondents answered similarly.

Of the LGBT respondents, 65.1 percent said they had not told anyone about their sexuality, indicating the difficulty of coming out in Japan.

Source: ANNnewsCH