Although it’s the least common hair color, natural redheads are found around the world! Red hair can occur in people from various backgrounds, including those of Asian, African, and South American descent. It is primarily determined by specific genetic variations, and its prevalence can vary significantly between populations. Unsurprisingly, some places have more redheads than others. If you had to guess what the top 5 countries in the world are for redhead populations, which ones would you guess? We bet you can get most of them correct:
5th: England
Home of Ed Sheeran and Prince Harry, England comes in fifth with about 4% of the population having red hair. In an article from A-Z Animals, it’s reported that Scottish geneticists have figured out that about 1/3 of England’s population carry the redhead gene.
4th: United States
With such a large and diverse population, the United States is home to over 330 million people with between 5-6% of them being redheads. This high population is likely due to immigration from the other countries on this list in the 1800s.
3rd: Wales
This might be one you wouldn’t guess, but Wales ranks 3rd with 6-10% of their population having red hair. Since redheads can produce their own Vitamin D, it’s not shocking to find them more prevalent in cloudy places like England and Wales.
2nd: Scotland
With somewhere between 6 and 13%, Scotland could be the top spot depending on where Ireland’s true numbers fall, but according to these numbers it’s ranked second. Scotland is a close neighbor to England and Wales, as well as our number one spot, so it makes sense they all have large populations of redheads.
1st: Ireland
This is probably no surprise to anyone, but Ireland has the highest population of redheads of any country in the world. With between 10 and 15% of the population having red hair. Also in the A-Z Animals article it’s reported that about 46% of the people in Ireland also carry the recessive freckle gene.
Rock it like a Redhead!
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READ: Redheads Originated in Central Asia, Not Ireland or Scotland
READ: 5 Facts about Redheads and Their Connection to Ireland
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