WHAT IS THE DETRANSITION RATE?
There is no single detransition rate. The figures vary widely depending on how detransition is defined, who is studied, and how long they are followed, so the numbers are not directly comparable to one another. Studies generally report low rates of stopping or reversing a transition, ranging from low single digits in studies of childhood social transition to about 13% reporting a history of detransition at some point in a large survey of transgender adults. Two things matter most for reading these figures honestly.
Detransition is not the same as regret, and people detransition for many reasons, including external pressure and discrimination, not only a change in gender identity. The evidence here is genuinely limited, and honest sources say so plainly.
Detransition is real, and the experiences of people who detransition are real and deserve support and respect. It is also one of the most frequently misrepresented topics in this area, often conflated with regret and quoted with figures stripped of their context. This page lays out the best-supported numbers with their sources and limits, explains why detransition and regret are not the same thing, and is honest about what the research does not yet tell us.
"Detransition" generally means stopping or reversing a transition, which can be social, medical, or both. It is distinct from "regret," and also distinct from "desistance," an older term from research on young children. These are different things, and studies often define them differently.
CONTENT NOTE
This is information, not medical advice, and it explains a clinical scale rather than any individual's care. Whether and when any medication is appropriate for a particular young person is a decision for that young person, their family, and their qualified healthcare providers, and in nearly all cases, minors cannot receive it without parental consent. If you are in immediate danger, call 911; for support any time, call or text 988.
Updated November 2026
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There is no single rate. Figures vary widely because studies define detransition differently and follow people for different lengths of time.
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The best-supported figures are generally low. They range from low single digits in childhood social transition studies to about 13% in a large adult survey.
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Detransition is not regret. In the largest US study, most people who detransitioned cited external factors, not a change in identity.
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Reasons matter. External pressure, discrimination, and lack of support drive much detransition, which is a story about stigma more than about the care.
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The evidence is limited. Definitions differ, follow-up is often short, and long-term data are thin; honest sources acknowledge this.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
THE BEST-SUPPORTED FIGURES
With those cautions in mind, here are the figures with the strongest support, each with the population and limits that give it meaning.
Sources:Olson et al., Pediatrics (2022); Turban et al., LGBT Health (2021), summarized by Fenway Health.
A few things stand out. The childhood social transition figures come from a 2022 study in Pediatrics that followed socially transitioned children for about five years, with most continuing to identify as transgender. The adult survey figure of 13.1% is often quoted alone, but the same study found that the vast majority of those who detransitioned did so because of external factors, which changes its meaning entirely, as the next section explains. And the roughly 1% surgical regret figure comes from studies of adults, since surgery is generally not part of care for young people.
THERE IS NO SINGLE RATE
There is no single detransition rate because studies measure different things, in different groups, over different timeframes.
As researchers themselves note, rates of detransition are difficult to estimate because studies use different methodologies and samples. The word "detransition" itself has been used to mean stopping a social transition, stopping medication, reversing physical changes, re-identifying as cisgender, or expressing regret, which are not the same.
A related older term, "desistance," has been defined in at least thirty different ways across the research, as one systematic review in Transgender Health documented.
When studies are not measuring the same thing, their numbers cannot simply be lined up and compared, and a single headline "rate" misrepresents the evidence.
DETRANSITION IS NOT THE SAME AS REGRET
The single most important point about detransition figures is that detransition and regret are not the same thing, and conflating them is the most common way these numbers are misused. The largest US study of the subject, Turban et al. (2021), analyzed the 2015 US Transgender Survey of more than 27,000 transgender adults, finding that of the transgender adults who reported a history of detransition, 82.5% cited at least one external driving factor, such as pressure from family, non-affirming environments, or discrimination.
Only a small minority pointed to feeling that transition was not right for them. The study's authors stated the point directly: detransition and transition regret are not synonymous, despite being frequently conflated in the media and in political debates. Research on the paths people take is consistent with this: a 2023 study in the International Journal of Transgender Health found that transition and detransition trajectories are varied and nonlinear, and that the feelings involved range from regret to ambivalence to relief, and can change over time.
WHY THE REASONS MATTER
Because so much detransition is driven by external pressure, many detransition stories are really stories about stigma and lack of support, not about the care being wrong.
When someone stops or reverses a transition because their family rejected them, because they faced discrimination or harassment, because they could not keep a job, or because they could not access supportive care, that is a very different situation from someone who concludes the care itself was a mistake.
Both experiences are real and deserve support, but they point in opposite directions when it comes to what would help. The Turban findings suggest that reducing rejection and improving support would help prevent most detransition, which is the same conclusion the broader research reaches about wellbeing.
For that fuller picture, see how family support affects trans youth wellbeing.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW
The honest limits of this evidence are real and worth stating plainly. Definitions of detransition differ so much across studies that many are not measuring the same thing. Follow-up periods are often short, so studies may miss both people who detransition later and people who return to transition later, as many in the adult survey did.
Clinic-based studies lose track of some patients over time, which can skew their numbers in either direction. And long-term data specifically on young people who received medical care are thin, which is part of the wider evidence-certainty discussion covered on our page on whether gender-affirming care is evidence-based.
Anyone who quotes a single, precise detransition rate as settled fact is overstating what the research supports.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The best-supported figures suggest detransition is generally uncommon, but the true rate is genuinely uncertain; detransition is real, and those who experience it deserve support, and it is not the same as regret. Holding all of that at once is the honest position.
The numbers are mostly low, but they are not precise or settled, and they mean different things depending on what was measured.
The most consistent and best-supported finding is not a single rate at all, but that when people do detransition, external pressure and lack of support are the most common reasons.
That points toward acceptance and support as what helps, the same conclusion that runs through this whole area.
