Since the Self-Determination Act (SBGG) took effect just over a year ago, more than 22,000 people in Germany have changed the gender marker on their birth records. This figure comes from an analysis of partly provisional data from November 2024 through July 2025 by the Federal Statistical Office. No newer data are available.
In particular, during the first month of the new law’s application, in November 2024, many people seized the opportunity: 7,057 individuals altered their existing entry in that month. The permitted designations are male, female, diverse, and unspecified. In the following months, the numbers declined slightly but steadily, from 2,936 in December 2024 to 1,244 in July 2025.
Changes were also possible before, but were complicated, expensive, and demeaning
Changing was possible even before November 1, 2024, but it was far less straightforward under the disliked Trans Sex Act of 1981. This is reflected in the figures: in the ten months before the law took effect — January through October 2024 — nationwide only 596 people carried out such a change.
Since the SBGG took effect, people can fairly easily have their gender entry and their first name changed via a declaration at the civil registry office. They must register it three months in advance. Under the previously applicable Trans Sex Act, for more than four decades the process was lengthy and costly, requiring expert opinions and court rulings. In that era, trans people faced highly intimate and demeaning questions, including inquiries into their masturbation history.
In what direction were changes made
The statisticians note that not all change combinations are reported separately. In cases with rare before‑and‑after pairings, the numbers are small. They also state that they report the direction of change only for the two months of 2024. The result: “33 percent of the declarations in 2024 pertain to changing the entry from male to female and 45 percent from female to male, accounting for more than three-quarters of all changes.”
