Do You Have Red Hair?

If You're a Ginger, This Might Interest You

Do you know where you are from?

Red hair is not quite as common as you might think. Only 1–2% of the human population has red hair. It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry.

It is estimated that around 2% to 6% of modern northwestern Europeans have red hair. However, it is much rarer in the global population, where it has an average of around 0.6% of the world’s population as a whole. For some reason, the British Isles are a hotspot for red hair. Scotland, for instance, has 13% of its people sporting red hair. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg, because more than 30% of Scots carry the redhead gene. Ireland also has a disproportionate number of people with red hair, as about 10% have red hair. Even more Irish are carriers, though, with as many as 46% being carriers of a red-hair gene. Genetic red hair is much, much rarer in Asia than in Europe, but occasionally some red-haired people can be found in the Near and Middle East.

The map above shows the frequency of red hair across Europe. Odds are that if you have red hair, you're either Scandinavian, from the British Isles, or from the neighborhood of Moscow. It appears the Norsemen of old like Erick the Red spread their favorite color far and wide!

Shirley Manson of Garbage, Marcia Cross, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, Geri Halliwell, Lauren Ambrose, Alyson Hannigan, and Amy Adams are all celebrities who are believed to be natural redheads.

2018