Ethnicity Estimate
The genetic makeup of different individuals reflects the history of the human species: individuals from the same population tend to share a recent descent and therefore be more similar than individuals from different populations, and, similarly, populations whose shared history is more recent tend to be more similar than populations whose shared history is more ancient. In addition to this “drifting apart” of populations, migration and admixture between populations can lead to more similarities in their genetic makeup.
The resulting pattern is that in each region of the world there is a unique set of genetic characteristics that are shared between the offspring of native populations.
In turn, these genetic population characteristics allow us to classify the genome of an individual into specific native populations, and, in cases of recent admixture, decompose it into the contributions from multiple populations.
To do so, we construct genetic models of various populations from around the world, and compare your DNA against these models to estimate what percentage of your DNA comes from each region. The higher the percentage is, the more confident you may be about the accuracy of the results.
Ethnicity Estimates are calculated by taking a DNA sample and comparing approximately 1,500,000 DNA markers called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms - SNPs for short - to the genetic profiles of other samples which we have taken from our reference populations. At present, we have 79 different ethnic groups that we can identify based on various geographic locations around the world.
Each single marker is usually shared across multiple populations and therefore one cannot classify an individual into a population based on it alone. However, the combinations of multiple adjacent markers together tend to be more characteristic for a particular ethnicity in our reference panel. To estimate your ethnic origins, we dissect the genome into consecutive segments, and in each segment we measure its similarity to the various populations in our reference panel. Roughly speaking, the similarities are interpreted to mean that you have ancestors from these ethnicities, and the more genetic segments you inherit from a particular ethnicity, the higher a percentage you will receive. However, because populations around the world differ in their level of separation and similarity to neighboring ones, this segment-by-segment analysis is complemented by a second stage at which we examine all the genomic segments together to get a more calibrated and accurate partitioning of your genome into recent contributions from one or more of the ethnicities represented in our reference panel.
Regarding the actual regions in your ethnicity estimate, please bear in mind that generations ago, people were a lot less mobile than we are today. Most people would raise families in the same geographic region that they grew up in as would their descendants. This led to people being more likely to marry within the same gene pool and a correlation emerged between certain DNA sequences and various geographic locations.
Still, there was some amount of mobility in the past and humans did migrate. Therefore, the genetic similarity was able to spread beyond political borders and it overlapped between various regions. This is also why some of the ethnic regions we display will have overlapping borders, these borders are estimates as to where the genetic similarities should diminish.
Please note that we refer to geographic regions and not countries. This is because political borders are a social construct and tend to change over time depending on political situations such as wars or territorial disputes. It is more accurate to trace a genetic pattern back to a geographical region where people were likely to intermarry for many generations as previously explained, without being concerned whether that region was called - as an example - A one year, or B the next year.
Finally, Ethnicity Estimates are calculated based on founder populations that can trace their roots to a specific place or ethnic group going back 6–15 generations, or roughly 100–400 years ago. You can learn more about how MyHeritage estimates ethnicities based on DNA in the following article: What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities
Genetic Groups (see our separate Genetic Groups FAQ for more details)
Genetic Groups take your Ethnicity Estimate further, by examining 2100+ regions to identify the specific ones you are a member of from within each ethnic group, but using a different algorithmic approach. Your Genetic Groups are listed without percentages, yet they offer you a more detailed understanding of your ethnicity results.
The Ethnicity Estimate also gives the option to view the family events of your direct ancestors on the map, which is a unique feature only offered by MyHeritage.
Remember that your Ethnicity Estimates — which are the result of a highly accurate statistical algorithm — are still estimates. Some global populations exhibit similar DNA due to proximity and the mingling of populations.
To find out more about the types of Ethnicity Estimate results you will receive, please click here.
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