Over ten percent of the world's
population now lives in a jurisdiction where gay and lesbian couples
can marry.
Melbourne, Australia-based LGBT rights
activist Tony Pitman, spokesman for the group Melbourne
Ports Residents for Marriage Equality, made the announcement on
Wednesday.
Pitman's first analysis, conducted in
July 2013, found there were 607 million people living in states or
countries with marriage equality, or 8.6 % of the world's population.
A year later that figure has risen to
725 million, or 10.1% of the world's population.
“Although probably nobody realized it
at the time, the key moment came on 20th May this year
when the US state of Pennsylvania achieved marriage equality,”
Pitman said in a statement.
Pennsylvania became the 19th
U.S. state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to allow gay
couples to marry when Republican Governor Tom Corbett decided against
appealing a federal ruling striking down the state's restrictive
marriage ban.
“Pennsylvania with its 13 million
people pushed the world figure up over 10% for the first time in
history,” Pitman said.
Pitman added that he hopes Australia
will soon be added to the list.