percentage of blue eyes by country
Blue eyes: Close to 8%-10% of people have blue eyes, with the US having a percentage of around 27%. According to the World Atlas, between 75% and 85% of the world's population has dark . Thats true for people of every eye color. However, a blue-eyed child is almost certain if both parents have blue eyes. Research has found that eye color may play a role in various areas of health and well-being. [19] A 2010 study of eye color variation in hue and saturation values using high-resolution digital full-eye photographs found three new loci for a total of ten genes, allowing the explanation of about 50% of eye colour variation.[20]. Hazel eyes: What determines hazel eye color? Globally, brown is the most common eye color. [8], The genetics and inheritance of eye color in humans is complicated. [26] Hazel eyes are more common in Spaniards, North Africa, the Middle East, and Brazil. Get our editors daily picks straight in your inbox! Why Do Europeans Have So Many Hair and Eye Colors? Since Norway is on the 3 rd place of the top countries that have the most blondes and blue eyes as a percentage of population . On average, they have 90,000 strands, while blondes . Eye color not only affects ones personality but also reflects ones ancestry, the melanin concentration in irises, and even ones current health condition. developed a graded system based on the predominant iris color and the amount of brown or yellow pigment present. About 5% of the worlds population have hazel eyes. While there are still many questions to investigate and explanations to find, researchers in Europe are noticing a significant portion of those with type 1 diabetes also have blue eyes. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. [93] There are also other studies that challenge these findings. Theres still a lot of speculation about why Europeans generally have lighter eyes (and lighter skin and hair). [28] In many parts of the world, it is nearly the only iris color present. Aesth Plast Surg. European Americans with recent Celtic and Germanic ancestry account for 16% of people with green eyes. Two factors affect the color of ones eyes: the pigmentation of the eyes iris and the frequency of light scattering by the murky medium in the iris stroma. [82], Wilson's disease involves a mutation of the gene coding for the enzyme ATPase 7B, which prevents copper within the liver from entering the Golgi apparatus in cells. They look blue because of how light is reflected. By contrast, less than 1 in every 100 people in southern Europe . The more melanin concentration one has, the darker ones eyes will be. [4] This is the same scattering that accounts for the blue appearance of the sky. The content on this site is for informational purposes only. Both parents have to pass along the blue eye gene in order for their child to have blue eyes. See More by this Creator. Eye colors are a beautiful and distinctive aspect reflecting ones personality and ancestry. In fact, Hamilton should be proud to be part of an exclusive club: recent studies found that only one in six Americans now have blue eyes, down from roughly 50 percent at the beginning of the 20th . The brown eye colour is in the US the . Eye color is partially affected by light, especially blue eyes, which get their color specifically by light entering and reflecting out of the eye. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, is serving as Zillow's health advisor. Blue eyes are mainly due to the low concentrations of melanin in the iris stroma. This is an ongoing area of research, but an important connection to keep in mind. Approximately 27% of people in the United States and between 8% and 10% of the world's population have blue eyes. 3. That is because we, of course, share much of genetic heritage with all our ancestors and relatives. the admirers of blue eyes and fair hair were disgusted . Between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, a baby was born in Europe with a harmless genetic mutation. Top 10 Countries that Have the Most Blondes and Blue Eyes as a Percentage of Population, countries with the most beautiful women in Europe, countries with the most beautiful women in the world, 11 Countries with the Most Beautiful Women in Europe, 20 Countries With The Most Beautiful Women In The World, top 10 countries that have the most blondes and blue eyes as a percentage of population, How to Best Use Insider Monkey to Increase Your Returns, 6 Things You Didn't Know About Hedge Funds. [56] The authors suggest that the mutation may have arisen in the northwestern part of the Black Sea region, and add that it is "difficult to calculate the age of the mutation. For our research, on the matter of the hair color, we have found the information on Jorian and Cogweb (Cognitive Cultural Studies, from the University of California). And around 10%, 5%, and 2% . Blue eyes aren't actually blue. (An estimated 55 percent of all people . The color of ones eye is perhaps one of the first things people observe when they see each other. What do the numbers on your eyeglass frames mean? A baby's eyes may be blue during this time, but later change color. Believed to be the result of a genetic mutation, blue eyes originated from a single ancestor thousands of years ago. Common knowledge said that you could predict a child's eye color if you knew the color of their parents' eyes, and possibly the color of their grandparents' eyes. In fact, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) claims that everyone on the planet had brown eyes around 10,000 years ago. Blue eyes have small amounts of melanin while brown eyes are rich in melanin. In addition to red eyes, some people with albinism can also have actual "violet-colored" eyes. Normally, there is a thick layer of melanin on the back of the iris. It was created by the anthropologists Rudolf Martin and Bruno K Schultz in the first half of the 20th century. [15][16], People of European descent show the greatest variety in eye color of any population worldwide. By contrast, people living in hot zones like sub-Saharan Africa have notably higher melanin production, which makes the eyes, skin and hair much darker. Finland is a country with a rich history and unique culture. This is why many babies are born with blue eyes, only to have their eye color change as their irises develop more melanin throughout early childhood. All About Vision and AllAboutVision.com are registered trademarks of AAV Media, LLC. In severe forms of albinism, there is no pigment on the back of the iris, and light from inside the eye can pass through the iris to the front. The gray-eyed have little or no melanin in their iris but have more collagen in the stroma part of the eye. The green color is from a combination of a blue hue from Rayleigh scattering and "yellow" from the yellow pigment called lipochrome. Blond hair percentage: 75. At one time, it was believed that eye color, blue eyes included, was a simple genetic trait. However, the genetics and inheritance of different eye colors in humans are quite complex. Hungary having green eyes is a bit of Truth in Television, as Hungary and Turkey are tied for having the highest percentage of green eyes of any country in the world: 20% each. Redheads have fewer strands of hair on their heads. Common Eye Disorders. "[55][56][57], Blue eyes are predominant in northern and eastern Europe, particularly around the Baltic Sea. 9. A poll conducted for the American Academy of Ophthalmology resulted in the following percentages: That the majority of Americans have light eyes is likely a reflection of the countrys earliest immigration patterns, with many new inhabitants coming from European countries where blue eyes dominate. Viking stereotypes for being tall, strong, blond and blue-eyed are confirmed at least for the last two matters in the case of Denmark. An estimated 13 percent of Scots have red hair, the highest such figure in the world. In Africa dark eyes, skin and hair are the norm, but blue eyes are more common in southern Europe and even more common in northern Europe, where 70 per cent of people have blue eyes. Amber is the third rarest eye color in the world after green and gray, and approximately 5% of the worlds population have amber eyes. People with green eyes have a bit more melanin than people with blue eyes. Brown eyes result from a relatively high concentration of melanin in the stroma of the iris, which causes light of both shorter and longer wavelengths to be absorbed.[27]. Are Blue-Eyed People More Likely to Get Macular Degeneration? [citation needed], Those with lighter iris color have been found to have a higher prevalence of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) than those with darker iris color;[41] lighter eye color is also associated with an increased risk of ARMD progression. So, the more melanin you have, the darker your eyes appear. Now, lets see what else we have on our list oftop countries that have the most blondes and blue eyes as a percentage ofpopulation. [101], As the perception of color depends on viewing conditions (e.g., the amount and kind of illumination, as well as the hue of the surrounding environment), so does the perception of eye color. Find an eyecare professional and book online in minutes! Some of the eye-color genes include OCA2 and HERC2. Unlike hazel eyes, which appear to shift colors, amber eyes have a solid gold hue. [79] A gray iris may indicate the presence of a uveitis, and an increased risk of uveal melanoma has been found in those with blue, green or gray eyes. The stunning combination of blue eyes and sandy brown or blonde hair is much sought after in other countries, but very much the norm here. Many babies born with blue eyes experience a change in color as more pigment develops within the first three years. Gray eyes: A rare and beautiful eye color. There is some research that shows people do say blue eyes along with bright whites of the eyes and large pupils are ideal marks of beauty. Brown eyes: Estimates show that 70%-80% of the worlds population have brown eyes. This color transition can take anywhere from a few months to three years to run its course. [85] A blue coloration of the sclera may also be symptomatic of disease. 9. Eye color results from the amount of pigment (melanin) you have in the front layer (stroma). Iceland, the northernmost country of the bunch, has the greatest percentage of people with blue eyes. If you inherit blue-eye genes from your parents, it means that your eyes will have less of a pigment called melanin in them. Now, lets get back to our main questions, which country has the most blue eyes and which country has the most blondes. Almost all humans have some brown in their eyes. As in all Scandinavian countries, and being at the top of those, most common eye color is blue and most usual hair is blond. The canals of cities like Amsterdam are a great place to spend time exploring, while surrounded by breathtaking architecture. The amount of melanin, or pigment, a person has in their iris determines their eye color. About half of people living in the U.S. and a higher population in Africa, and Asia are brown-eyed. An iris with little melanin appears blue, while those with more little melanin appear green or hazel. Researchers believe there is one ancestor responsible for blue eyes that descended from the Black Sea region of southeastern Europe anywhere between 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. Non-brown eyes have no different color pigments. Amber eyes have slightly more melanin content than hazel eyes and a solid yellowish/golden tint, mainly due to the yellow pigment lipochrome. In 2016, scientists found that our pale skin complexion is inherited from just one man who lived thousands of years ago. Ireland and Scotland have the next-highest populations of people with blue eyes. Although the percentage of blonde blue-eyed people in Germany is very high, the highest concentration of these characteristics is in the north of the country, at least according to the resources we have used for this research. Give Orange. 207,208 - (1968), Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 15:18, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Phenotypes and Genotypes for human eye colors. Denmark - Approximately 60%. Brown is the dominant eye color across vast swaths of Africa and Asia, for instance, but the hues lighten in Europe, where the eyes get bluer as the weather gets colder. Which eye color is most common icy blue, beguiling brown or glimmering green? Contact lenses can give your eyes a hazel appearance. An estimated 29% of the population of Edinburgh, Scotland, has green eyes one of the rarest eye colors worldwide. More people living in Asian, South American, Spanish, and South Africa are more likely to be amber-eyed. Bookmark Quiz Bookmark Quiz Bookmark. It is important to always wear sunglasses and eyeglasses whenever possible - especially when spending time outdoors or staring at screens for long periods of time. The iris has two layers. This would be analogous to the change in the color of the sky, from the blue given by the Rayleigh scattering of sunlight by small gas molecules when the sky is clear, to the gray caused by Mie scattering of large water droplets when the sky is cloudy. ", "Genotypephenotype associations and human eye color", No Single Gene For Eye Color, Researchers Prove, "Eye color definition Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms easily defined on MedTerms", "A three-single-nucleotide polymorphism haplotype in intron 1 of OCA2 explains most human eye-color variation", "Eye colour: portals into pigmentation genes and ancestry", "DNA test for eye colour could help fight crime", "Eye color and the prediction of complex phenotypes from genotypes", "Three genome-wide association studies and a linkage analysis identify HERC2 as a human iris color gene", "Digital Quantification of Human Eye Color Highlights Genetic Association of Three New Loci", "Frost: Why Do Europeans Have So Many Hair and Eye Colors? Vika is the story of her final year at a rural boarding school in Eastern Ukraine. That doesn't necessarily mean that the parents themselves have to have blue eyes; it's possible they carry the gene, but it is recessive. Cavin Herbert Eye Institute. [18] Other genes implicated in eye color variation are SLC24A4[19] and TYR. Green eyes: The most attractive eye color? Genetic research suggests that until about 10,000 years ago, pretty much everyone had brown eyes. Black is not an eye color. Why do some people have light blue eyes and others have dark blue? Without question, brown eyes dominate globally, with an estimated 70-79% of the worlds population having eyes in shades of brown ranging from light golden brown to very dark brown and everything in between. [91], Iris color can provide a large amount of information about a person, and a classification of colors may be useful in documenting pathological changes or determining how a person may respond to ocular pharmaceuticals. Blue light may also damage your retinas. That's good news if you have blue eyes, since your risk of cataracts is lower. Your genes determine whether you have blue eyes. The second most common eye color worldwide is blue, with several estimates revealing that about 8 to 10% of the worlds population share this trait. The ScotlandsDNA project has launched a program to count all the country's redheads - and to learn why . And when you meet a red head with blue eyes, you are looking at the rarest colour combination of all for human beings. That's 13 million people, out of the 7.6 billion on Earth. Brown eyes have the highest amount of melanin in the iris, and blue eyes have the least. University of Copenhagen. Most researchers believe that blue-eyed individuals may be more dominant among certain populations and less present in others. Are contact lenses a good choice for kids? An estimated 89 percent of Estonians have blue eyes. About half of people living in the U.S. and a higher population in Africa, and Asia are brown-eyed. She specializes in cornea, cataracts, external eye disease, and refractive surgery. Europe was the epicenter of the blue-eye gene mutation. Effortless urban style, with expert craftsmanship - clothing, shoes & apparel for men & women from rag & bone. If you have a darker iris color, you are at a greater risk of developing this eye disease. This melanin is the brown pigment responsible for eye color, hair, and skin color. Summary. Blue is the most common eye colour in Britain, researchers found. How eye color develops and why it changes. Rather than including a blue pigment, they actually just lack the pigment that makes eyes brown. In contrast, more than 50 percent of the global population is believed to have brown eyes. This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 15:18. Now, geneticists suggest everybody with non-brown eyes can trace their eye color back to that one person. Although people with lighter eye color are generally more sensitive to light because they have less pigment in the iris to protect them from sunlight, there is little to no evidence that eye color has a direct impact on vision qualities such as visual acuity. Green irises, for example, have some yellow and the blue structural color. 2012;36(2):234-240. doi:10.1007/s00266-011-9793-x, Di Stasio E, Maggi D, Berardesca E, et al. In contrast, Europe has the widest variety of eye color, and the largest proportion of people with blue eyes. [9], The gene OCA2 (OMIM: 203200), when in a variant form, causes the pink eye color and hypopigmentation common in human albinism. [13] To meet the need for standardized classification, at once simple yet detailed enough for research purposes, Seddon et al. Denmark for instance, where blonde hair and blue eyes is quite a common sight, is a very desirable destination for travel for men of Southern European Countries. Hum Genet. Are contact lenses a good choice for kids? Like other Scandinavian countries, blond hair and blue eyes are the most common combination. In addition to having significantly less melanin in their iris than people with brown eyes, hazel eyes or green eyes, blue-eyed individuals don't have very much variation in the part of their DNA responsible for melanin production. Moreover, the Tyndall scattering of light in the iris stroma results in the appearance of blue, green, and hazel eyes. The content on this site is for informational purposes only. Iris color depends on the protein melanin which is stored in special cells, melanocytes. Close to 3% of people in the world have gray eyes. Although hazel mostly consists of brown and green, the dominant color in the eye can either be brown/gold or green. Even though amber is similar to gold, some people have russet or copper colored amber eyes that are mistaken for hazel, though hazel tends to be duller and contains green with red/gold flecks, as mentioned above. Britain has traditionally been home to people with brown eyes but a study by SCOTLANDSDNA found that eyes in the country are now 48 per cent blue. As of 2010[update], as many as 16 genes have been associated with eye color inheritance. Scientists are looking into the possibility of those who have blue eyes being at higher risk for sensorineural hearing loss. [102], "Iris color" redirects here. Some medical conditions affect ones eye color. Even though there is a high number of blond and blue-eyed people living in Britain today, the highest percentage of blue eyes is recorded in South East Scotland with 57%. Blue eyes percentage: 50-80. doi:10.1016/j.heares.2014.12.002, Donnelly MP, Paschou P, Grigorenko E, et al. Countries with the most blue-eyed people. As far as researchers can tell, this was the first person with blue eyes, and everyone who has blue eyes today is a (very) distant relative of this ancient human. One possible explanation for the difference in the appearance of gray and blue eyes is that gray eyes have larger deposits of collagen in the stroma, so that the light that is reflected from the epithelium undergoes Mie scattering (which is not strongly frequency-dependent) rather than Rayleigh scattering (in which shorter wavelengths of light are scattered more). One of the very few studies that have been made on this is over 50 years old and is part of an anthropological study from the 1960's. The study concluded that somewhere between 50 and 80 percent . [95] Classification systems have ranged from a basic light or dark description to detailed gradings employing photographic standards for comparison. (The name of the gene is derived from the disorder it causes, oculocutaneous albinism type II.) Whether it is due to genetics or lifestyle factors, there are a lot of interesting things to learn about these stunning individuals and their unique heritage. If you see a dark outline around your iris -- the colored part of your eye -- this is your limbal ring. Originally, all human eyes were brown. If you have ever been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of someone with stunning blue eyes, then congratulations, you are seeing one of nature's rarest wonders! But, indeed, that is not the case of some parts of the british islands, northern, and north-eastern Europe inlcluding the Baltic countries where in fact, the concentration of very light hair and blue eyes is the highest, higher even than in Scandinavia. Although these conditions cannot permanently change the color of the iris, they generally affect the eyes sclera or cornea. Affects function of OCA2, with a specific mutation strongly linked to blue eyes. What do the numbers on your eyeglass frames mean? Former U.S. The term Heterochromia, derived from the Ancient Greek words: heteros, which means different, and chroma, which means color, refers to a disorder in which a person has more than one eye color. They lower your risk of developing cataracts, for instance. Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic character determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris[1][2] and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris. Blue eyes as a risk factor for type 1 diabetes, Eye color as a risk factor for acquired sensorineural hearing loss: A review, A global view of the OCA2-HERC2 region and pigmentation. Your blue eyes arent really blue. Blue eyes may have developed due to an evolutionary response to the dark winters prevalent in Northern Europe. Hazel eyes are most common in North Africa, the Middle East, Brazil, and Spain. Simply put, in order for someone to have blue eyes and blond hair, both of the alleles combined must be recessive in order to show up. Photochromic lenses are another way to protect blue eyes from UV radiation. If you have dark brown hair and brown eyes, you have something in common with most people around the globe. [14] As of 2006[update], one out of every six Americans, or 16.6% of the total US population, has blue eyes,[65] including 22.3% of whites. People with blue eyes need to be careful about exposure to bright sunlight. The higher the amount of melanin in the iris and the denser the texture of the melanin, the darker the color of a person's eyes; the same melanin concentration also depends on many factors such as hereditary and environmental ones. She has spent the last 10 years working for an internationally recognized medical facility where she found her passion for making complicated topics easier to understand. Any advantage in surviving bone-chilling winters must have been welcome in the far-northern latitudes. Hearing Research. Take a look in the mirror. The top layer, called the epithelium, is where the melanin (pigment) that gives an eye its color lives. We know this happens because the body produces less melanin in people of European ancestry. Have hazel eyes are more Likely to be amber-eyed classification, at once simple yet detailed enough research... Also be symptomatic of disease General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, is serving Zillow! Include OCA2 and HERC2 for 16 % of the world, it means that your eyes appear the United and! Results percentage of blue eyes by country the amount of brown or glimmering green Africa are more to! Why Europeans generally have lighter eyes ( and lighter skin and hair ) 28 ] many... Are another way to protect blue eyes have the next-highest populations of people in southern Europe in...: a rare and beautiful eye color may play a role in various areas health! 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