If you’ve ever worried that going bare makes you unusual, here’s some reassurance. In a country of around 67 million people, roughly 6.75 million describe themselves as naturists or nudists. That’s more people than live in Scotland.
- 6.75m
- UK adults who call themselves naturists or nudists
- 14%
- of adults, up from 6% in 2011
- 39%
- have tried nude recreation, from skinny dipping to a naturist beach
- 47%
- of 16 to 24-year-olds were naked with others in the past year
1. The poll
The figure comes from a 2022 poll by Ipsos, commissioned by British Naturism. Ipsos asked a representative sample of 2,249 people aged 16 to 75, split equally between men and women and spread evenly across age groups. 14% described themselves as naturists or nudists, which works out at about 6.75 million adults. When the Guardian reported it, the headline rounded it up: nearly 7 million.
Plenty more have dipped a toe in. 39% of adults said they had taken part in some kind of nude recreation, such as skinny dipping, nude sunbathing or a visit to a naturist beach, and 21% had been skinny dipping.
2. Almost double in a decade
British Naturism ran a similar Ipsos MORI survey in September 2011. Back then, 6% of adults called themselves naturists or nudists, about 3.7 million people. Eleven years later the share had more than doubled.
Attitudes were already relaxed in 2011: 82% of people said they considered naturists harmless, and only 1% said they would call the police if they came across naturists on a beach.
3. Younger people are leading
The most striking finding is about age. In 2022, 22% of all respondents had been naked in the company of others at least once in the previous 12 months. Among 16 to 24-year-olds it was 47%, compared with 6% of those aged 45 to 75. (The question counted video calls as well as being together in person, so read that one generously.)
Naturism has long had a reputation as a pastime for older people. These numbers suggest the next generation is far more relaxed about bodies than the one before it.
4. Why now?
No poll can say for certain why the numbers grew, but a few things changed in those years. Wild swimming took off, and with it skinny dipping. Lockdown gave people time at home and in gardens, and a reason to try things they had always wondered about. And body positivity moved into the mainstream, pushing back against filtered feeds and airbrushed adverts.
“Attitudes to nudity are changing with taboos and stigma being eroded … When we spend time naked with others we realise that we all have scars and flaws and that we don’t need to compare ourselves with an airbrushed model.”
That chimes with the research. Studies have linked naturist activity to better body image and higher self-esteem; we cover them in the health benefits of naturism.
5. What the number does and doesn’t mean
A poll measures how people see themselves, not what they do every weekend. Calling yourself a naturist might mean a club membership and a summer on the beach, or it might mean a skinny dip on holiday and a nude afternoon in the garden. The gap is clear in the membership numbers: British Naturism had around 9,000 members in 2022, a tiny slice of the millions who identify with the idea.
Two things are worth taking from it. First, you are far from alone. Second, there’s a lot of room between “curious” and “regular”, and that’s where most people are. If you’re in that space, our first-timer’s guide is the place to start.