LONDON, Dec. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Figures released by the British government have shown that one in 16 Britons is homosexual, bringing the country's total gay or lesbian population to 3.6 million, local media reported on Monday.

    This was the first such figure released by the government, the Daily Telegraph said. It meant that six percent of the population are homosexual, it said.

    A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry said that the figure was based on a number of studies by different interest groups, as "fundamentally there is very little reliable information about the size of the lesbian, gay and bisexual groups."

    "It is to my knowledge for the first time the government has released a figure of this sort, but it does come with caveats," said the spokesman.

    The government has estimated that by the year 2050 around 3.3 percent of homosexuals aged 16 and over will be in registered civil partnerships, compared with a third of the heterosexual population who will be married.

    A new law allowing gays and lesbians to build partnerships is to take effect in Britain on Dec. 21.

    The law gives homosexual couples the same property and inheritance rights as married heterosexual couples and entitles them to the same pension, immigration and tax benefits. Enditem