Gender change

2024

Global Gender Reassignment Operations Market Size Up 7% to $2.69 Billion for the Year

In 2024, the global sex reassignment market reached $2.69 billion. This is 7% more compared to 2023, when expenses in this area were estimated at $2.51 billion. Such data are reflected in the Market Research Future study, the results of which are presented in mid-March 2025.

Analysts note that the demand for gender reassignment procedures on a global scale is steadily increasing. Such operations are designed to eliminate the dissonance between gender self-perception and the physical appearance of people. One of the most significant factors in the expansion of the industry, the authors of the report cite a positive shift in public perception: more regions and countries are implementing policies that facilitate access to such health care. All kinds of educational initiatives and discussion of the topic in the media play an important role in the adoption by society of persons who have undergone a gender change procedure. Developing specialized training programs for health professionals focused on gender care can improve the quality of care and patient satisfaction. As a result, more people are resorting to such procedures.

Another driver of the market, analysts call technological advances in the field of surgery. Robotic platforms and minimally invasive interventions help improve the quality of procedures, reduce recovery time, and minimize the likelihood of complications. The introduction of advanced surgical instruments and technologies improves the accuracy and overall safety of operations.

In addition, there has been a marked increase in funding and support from both public and private health systems. This makes gender reassignment procedures more accessible to different segments of the population. Many countries recognize the importance of this area, and therefore more and more insurance plans are beginning to cover gender reassignment operations. Changes in pricing schemes and care policies in general not only ease the financial burden on patients, but also contribute to a more inclusive healthcare environment.

In 2024, male-to-female operations accounted for $1.15 billion. Another $1 billion was brought by procedures for changing the female sex to male. The third segment is operations carried out for non-binary personalities: these are people whose gender self-determination is neither female nor male. Such faces do not fit into the conventional system of two sexes. In 2024, expenses on procedures in this segment amounted to about $0.54 billion. Significant players in the global market are:

• Rush University Medical Center;
• Mayo Clinic;
• Brigham Women's Health Center;
• Johns Hopkins Hospital;
• UC San Francisco Medical Center;
• Massachusetts General Hospital;
• University of Michigan Hospitals;
• Columbia University Medical Center;
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center;
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital;
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center;
• Cleveland Clinic;
• Mount Sinai Health System.

Geographically, North America was leading in 2024 with spending at $1.2 billion. Next come Europe with $0.85 billion and Asia-Pacific with $0.45 billion. South America secured a contribution of $0.12 billion, the Middle East and Africa - $0.07 billion. By 2035, analysts at Market Research Future believe that the global market for gender reassignment operations may increase to $5.8 billion.^[1]

Russian psychiatrists began to treat transsexualism

In January 2024, the Russian Society of Psychiatrists published clinical recommendations (KR) for the treatment of sexual identification disorder, transgender people (the LGBT movement is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation, activities are prohibited) are recommended to help reconcile with the congenital sex. Read more here.

2023

The Government of the Russian Federation approved the rules for issuing decisions for gender change operations

In December 2023, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree "On issuing decisions of medical commissions of medical organizations subordinate to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on the admissibility of medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital anomalies (malformations), genetic and endocrine diseases associated with violation of genital formation in children, and medical conclusions on the compliance of sexual signs with the characteristics of a certain sex."

Published on December 15, 2023, the document approves the rules for issuing decisions of commissions on "the admissibility of medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital anomalies (malformations), genetic and endocrine diseases associated with impaired genital formation in children, and medical reports on the compliance of sexual signs with the signs of a certain sex." The decree also approved the form of the decision of the medical commission of the medical organization on the admissibility of interventions.

Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree approving the rules for issuing decisions for gender reassignment operations

A medical report on the compliance of sexual signs with the characteristics of a certain sex is signed by an obstetrician-gynecologist, geneticist, urologist-andrologist, endocrinologist, pediatrician, psychiatrist and medical psychologist. The following will be able to issue permits for medical interventions:

• National Medical Research Center (NMIC) of Endocrinology;
• NMIC of Children's Health;
• National Medical Research Center of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakova;
• Russian National Research Medical University (RNIMU) named after N.I. Pirogov;
• St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University (St. Petersburg State Medical University).

Earlier in 2023, Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin sharply criticized the practice of gender reassignment. He called "sodomism" a situation where citizens dare to change gender.

Government of the Russian Federation Resolution of December 6, 2023 No. 2069

Sex reassignment operations banned in Russia

On July 14, 2023, the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the third (final) reading adopted a law banning the change of sex. The document amends the federal law "On the basics of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation," the law "On acts of civil status" and the Family Code.

The law prohibits the implementation of any medical interventions - both surgical operations and the use of drugs - aimed at the formation of primary or secondary sexual characteristics of another sex in a person.

The State Duma adopted a law banning gender change

It is also prohibited to change the sex in state-issued documents. Including after the entry into force of the law, all certificates of gender change will be canceled, according to which the person made an operation, but has not yet changed his passport.

The law allows only medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital abnormalities, genetic and endocrine diseases associated with impaired genital formation in children. The decision to carry out such interventions will be made by the medical commission.

The initiative was submitted to the State Duma in May 2023. More than 360 deputies became co-authors of the bill, including the chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and his deputies.

This decision protects our citizens, children. Think about it: sex reassignment operations in the United States over the past 10 years have increased 50 times - transgender (according to 2022) 1 million 640 thousand, including 1 million 300 thousand adults (0.5% of the adult population) and 340 thousand teenagers (1.4% of all US children aged 13-17 years). A monstrous trend! This is the path leading to the degeneration of the nation. This is unacceptable for us, - wrote Vyacheslav Volodin in his Telegram channel in July 2023.

During consideration in the State Duma, the bill received critical reviews from lawyers and doctors working with transgender people. Opponents of the amendments believe that the document "is aimed at discrimination and deprivation of access to medical care for people with a medical diagnosis of" transsexualism, "and also does not have a sufficient evidence base. In their opinion, the bill violates the right to life, enshrined in international documents and the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and the right not to be discriminated against^[2]

2022

US Gender Change Operations Market Size $2.1 Billion

The size of the market for gender change operations in the United States was estimated at $2.1 billion in 2022. This market is expected to grow 11.25% between 2023 and 2030. For 2030, the market for gender reassignment operations is estimated to grow to $5 billion. This is only about the cost of operations. No less profitable segments are post-operational rehabilitation and sale of medicines both at the stage of preparation and at the stage of recovery. The rising prevalence of "gender mismatch" and an increase in the number of people in the U.S. deciding on sex reassignment surgery will fuel the market growth during the forecast period.

Based on gender transformation, the market is subdivided into 'male female' (MTF) and 'female male' (FTM) segments. The FTM segment dominates the market with the largest share of revenue - 59.81% in 2022. This is explained by constant innovations in the field of surgery and reconstruction opportunities. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), there is an overall 13-14% increase in sex change surgeries and related interventions annually.

The fastest growth (12.9%) is expected to be seen in the MTF sex reassignment surgery segment, driven by the high prevalence of "gender disparity" among men compared to women.

Among the major players in the American gender reassignment surgery market:

• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Cedars-Sinai
• Moein Surgical Arts
• Cleveland Clinic
• Transgender Surgery Institute
• Plastic Surgery Group of Rochester
• Regents of the University of Michigan
• CNY Cosmetic & Reconstructive Surgery
• Boston Medical Center
• The Johns Hopkins University
• Kaiser Permanente
• University of California
• San Francisco Center of Excellence for Transgender Health
• New York Presbyterian Hospital

Mayo Clinic (Transgender and Intersex Specialty Care Clinic)

Sex reassignment operations became available to children in the United States

Since 2022, gender reassignment surgeries have become available to children in the United States. Following the publication of a document called Gender Affirming Care and Young People, the National Network for Childhood Traumatic Stress Management of the Office of Prevention and Treatment for the Prevention of Drug Addiction and Mental Disorders released a guide, "Gender Affirming Medical Care is Help for Trauma Stress Management."

All this madness was actively facilitated by the World Professional Association for the Protection of Transgender Health (WPATH), which in 2022 published the eighth version of the standards of medical care for transgender and people with different genders (SOC8). Recommendations on the minimum age threshold for manipulation in the process of gender change were removed from it. Previously, WPATH advised starting hormone therapy from the age of 14, not to remove breasts before fifteen, and to do vaginoplasty and phalloplasty only at eighteen, but all restrictions were lifted.

The leadership was developed more than one year with the participation of several interdisciplinary committees. What is interesting: in his original draft there were restrictions, and in the final version they disappeared. This happened, apparently, at the last stage of approval. And the employees of the association assure that they were pressured by non-governmental organizations promoting the trans agenda, the number of which in the United States during the administration of US President Joe Biden has multiplied.

The US Department of Health, in particular, attributed mastectomy and breast augmentation surgery, genital and reproductive surgery and facial feminization to "adequate" treatments for transgender adolescents. Medical and psychosocial methods of gender-affirming care were ostensibly intended to reduce the incidence of adverse mental health outcomes (suicides). At the same time, they referred to the data of sociological surveys conducted by the NPO The Trevor Project.

Brown University professor Lisa Littman sounded the first alarm. The medical practitioner became concerned about the sudden rise in referrals of teenage girls who wanted to become transgender boys. In the expert environment of doctors, it was believed that gender dysphoria in the United States is rare and affects about one person per 10 thousand. But the statistics were not confirmed by the harsh reality. The number of young patients seeking treatment for gender dysphoria suddenly began to grow exponentially.

Interested in what was happening, Littman began to study the reasons and conducted a survey among parents whose teenage children were being treated by her. More than 80 percent of the cases involved girls, many of whom were in thematic communities on social networks. Littman coined the term "rapidly evolving gender dysphoria" and described the phenomenon scientifically. She called what is happening a "social infection," clearly hinting that the surge in appeals is directly related to LGBT propaganda in the information space.

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