Polyamory by the Numbers

Empirical data related to polyamory and nonmonogamy is often hard to come by and spread out in all directions, so I wanted to put together a central repository of facts and statistics that people can visit and refer to at their leisure.

This is solely meant to present the best and most current facts and figures available, without any moral judgement about those facts as they stand. Every item has a link to where I picked up that particular piece of information.

Etymology

First Confirmed Use of Compersion: Spring 1985, "Even Eve" Furchgott, "Glossary of Keristan English (abridged)" (Source)

First Confirmed Use of Polyamory: 20 May 1992, Jennifer Wesp, "proposal for alt.poly-amory" on alt.config Usenet Group (Source)

First Confirmed Use of New Relationship Energy: 16 September 1992, Zhahai Stewart, "reactions to polyamory" on alt.polyamory Usenet Group (Source)

First Confirmed Use of Metamour: 29 May 2000, "Astral Alice," "A new word for compersion (was Re: My poly slumber party)" on alt.polyamory Usenet Group (Source)

First Confirmed Use of Relationship Anarchy: 2006, Andie Nordgren, Swedish pamphlet "Relationsanarki i 8 punkter" with a later English translation (Source)

(N.B. These are all the first use of the specific term in its currently-accepted definition related to nonmonogamy.)

Demography

Geographic Centres for "Mainstream" Polyamory Communities: Canada, United States, Australia, Western Europe (Source)

Estimated Number of Sexually Nonmonogamous Couples in the United States: 1.2 Million - 9.8 Million (Source)

Most Likely Gender & Orientation to Practice Consensual Nonmonogamy: Homosexual Men (Source)

Highest Educational Attainment: Undergraduate Degree (35.0%), Graduate Degree (27.4%), Junior College (19.4%), High School Diploma (17.3%), Less Than High School (0.8%) (Source)

Most Commonly Identified Career Fields: Education, Healthcare, Information Technology (Source)

Most Commonly Identified Religious Affiliations (Other Than None): Buddhism, Paganism, Unitarian Universalism (Source)

Most Common Polyamorist Profile: White, Age 30-65, Postsecondary Degree(s), Middle- or Upper-Middle-Class, Urban/Suburban Residence (Source)

Most Common Legal Problem: Custody of Children (Source)

This is an ongoing project that is just getting started, so I welcome any additional data points or corrections--but I'm only looking for specific facts based on a reference I can verify for myself, with anything more vague or ambiguous than that not being included. I also welcome any requests for specific data about polyamory and nonmonogamy; if it's out there, I'll do my best to track it down.

Thanks for checking out my work...I look forward to seeing where this goes as we expand it together!