16. "But most of the people on this planet don't live in Europe and if you just think about Asia, it's very, very rare to see somebody with red hair. 42. [69] A follow-up study by the same group showed that men and women with red hair had a greater analgesic response to morphine-6-glucuronide. As they can't sufficiently absorb Vitamin D (it's down to their lower melanin-concentration), redheads internally produce their own Vitamin D when they're exposed to low light conditions. But red hair tends to be thicker so it looks just as full. According to Montague Summers, red hair and green eyes were thought to be the sign of a witch, a werewolf or a vampire during the Middle Ages: Those whose hair is red, of a certain peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires. Interestingly, Lalla Salma, the Queen of Morocco, is also a redhead. Find out the secrets ER staff wont tell you. Both parents must be carriers of the mutated MC1R gene to be able to produce redhead offspring, of which there is a 25% chance if they don't have red hair themselves. At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. It shows that in most of Scotland and Ireland, as well as a random patch in central Russia, 10% of people are of the ginger genre. [89], In his 1885 book I Say No, Wilkie Collins wrote "The prejudice against habitual silence, among the lower order of the people, is almost as inveterate as the prejudice against red hair. However, redheads always have pale skin and are more susceptible to sunburn and associated melanomas than brunette or blonde haired individuals. 20. In North America, more redheads most likely would exist in Canada versus Mexico. Being pale, redheads are more efficient at making vitamin D and do not need so much sunlight in order to get the amount they need, he says. 66. Scotland has the highest percentage of redheads in the world, at 13% of the population. Less than 2% of the world's population has red hair. Both of these characteristics come from recessive genes, which typically come in pairs. However, a HowStuffWorks article says that the foundation was funded by hair-dye maker Procter & Gamble, and that other experts had dismissed the research as either lacking in evidence or simply bogus. In Ancient Egypt, it's said that people with red hair were sacrificed as being unlucky. 13. However, when UV-radiation is strong (as in regions close to the equator) the lower concentration of melanin leads to several medical disadvantages, such as a higher risk of skin cancer. It's to do with the way the brain releases chemicals like dopamine that control emotions and thoughts. However, present bearers of the name are by no means all red-haired themselves. [108], In October 2010, Harriet Harman, the former Equality Minister in the British government under Labour, faced accusations of prejudice after she described the red-haired Treasury secretary Danny Alexander as a "ginger rodent". Judas Iscariot is also represented with red hair in Spanish culture[140][141] and in the works of William Shakespeare,[142] reinforcing the negative stereotype. Q: Red hair is beautiful, but are there any disadvantages to being a redhead? Nobody really knows the exact [number]. For a child to be born a redhead, both parents must be genetic carriers ofthe MC1R gene. Normally, you wouldnt see people with brown or black skin having read hair. The USA has the highest redhead population of any country in the world, boasting between 6 and 18 million redheaded citizens. A couple of months ago this map did the rounds. Red hair, occurring in just 1 to 2 percent of the population, is the least common. If you're a brunette but find yourself suddenly going red, check your diet. Maybe that's where all those "fierce redhead" myths come from. There has been an annual Redhead Day festival in the Netherlands that attracts red-haired participants from around the world. Considering that in most places across the globe, redheads make up less than one percent of the population, Ireland's abundance of redheads is even more astonishing. The pigment pheomelanin gives red hair its distinctive color. Overall, Northern European countries have a greater proportion of redheads than anywhere else in the world. Lots of . Less than a million people have this rarest combination of eye and hair colors. This article contains incorrect information, This article doesnt have the information Im looking for. Hair color is as a result eumelanin and pheomelanin which are types of melanin. Recessive traits often happen in pairs so commonly people with the gene for red hair also possess the trait for left-handedness. 57. (Credit: IR Stone/Shutterstock) We all have a little Neanderthal in us. In Scotland around 6% of the population has red hair, with the highest concentration of red head carriers in the world found in Edinburgh, making it the red head capital of the world. These are the surprising benefits of being left-handed. The 1943 film DuBarry Was a Lady featured red-heads Lucille Ball and Red Skelton in Technicolor. The takeaway Due to genetic complexities, there's not a clear-cut way to determine. There is a common belief that redheads are smarter than people with other hair colors. None of them are proven: these ones are just for fun. Next, find out which is the rarest eye color in the world. Founding Father and third President of the US Thomas Jefferson was a redhead. We have no idea what data these maps are based on (if you know, or if you have any more reliable sources, please tell us about them in the comments below). This country reportedly has up to 18 million redheads as of 2018. In Ireland, the percentage of population with red hair is very high relative to the rest of the world at around 10%, with 46% carrying the gene. Read about our approach to external linking. People of any ethnicity can have red hair. Subscribe for virtual tools, STEM-inspired play, creative tips and more. Blue eye colour is a recessive trait, which means both parents must carry the gene for the child to be born with it. [62][63], Two studies have demonstrated that people with red hair have different sensitivity to pain to people with other hair colors. Riverdale actress Madelaine Petsch is a proud natural ginger, as is House of Cards alum Kate Mara. Kidadl has a number of affiliate partners that we work with including Amazon. "Redhead" redirects here. The pigment in their hair that causes it to be red will just fade over time, causing their hair to turn blonde or white, but never gray. However, reddish-brown coloring is found, but some of that might be from using dyes. "It's fair to say we don't have very detailed information about what the frequency of people with red hair is throughout the world," says Rees. Fun fact: Both Kidman and Graham are part of the worlds tiny community of people who have both redhair and blue eyes! While the numbers and percentages don't quite put Great Britain in the realm of Ireland and Scotland, it remains one of the more highly populated countries regarding its number of redheads. [96] In May 2009, a schoolboy committed suicide after being bullied for having red hair. We all like to know what makes us, us. Because the MC1R mutation means they have less melanin, redheads are more likely to develop the skin cancer melanoma. 25. 69. Redheads are twice as likely to develop Parkinson's disease. About 30% of people who dye their hair at home choose to go red. The problem with TikToks Bold Glamour filter, Who has Dua Lipa dated? Although it is without argument that the two most highly redhead populated countries are Ireland and Scotland, there is some conflicting data to the numbers. Salma reportedly met a man at a party in 1999 and married him three years later. How many redheads are there? 30. These ones are brought to you by Eupedia. 7. Are the Shrine Drop It toners worth the hype? But can it really be true that Scotland is home to almost a fifth of the world's redheads? A: Debra Messing, best known for her turn in Will and Grace, is naturally blonde but is one of the worlds best loved redheads. 23. What Percentage of the World's Population Has Brown Hair? Great Britain also has a high percentage of people with red hair. Stay red! In Anne of Green Gables, a character says of Anne Shirley, the redheaded heroine, that "her temper matches her hair", while in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield remarks that "People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie [his dead brother] never did, and he had very red hair.". "Gingerism" has been compared to racism, although this is widely disputed, and bodies such as the UK Commission for Racial Equality do not monitor cases of discrimination and hate crimes against redheads.[93]. This is one of the many strange facts about redheads. In the heat of the moment, it seems, he simply got his words muddled, and that proportion of redheads in Scotland became something very different. It is often said that between 1% and 2%, or 70 to 140 million people around the world, have red hair. Check out these facts about animals you have all wrong. It might be our eye color or our star sign, or maybe it's the hobbies we choose or the way we spend our downtime. These "facts" about red hair are more like myths. One of the many facts about redheads is that their hair will never turn gray. 2. The international event began in 2005, when Dutch painter Bart Rouwenhorst decided he wanted to paint 15 redheads. Agriculture % of GDP. Afghanistan. 45. The results? Nothing to do with their mythical fiery temperament! The festival was held in Breda, a city in the south east of the Netherlands, prior to 2019, when it moved to Tilburg. 37. 529548. This is because according to research redheads are more sensitive to hot and cold pain. 55. "Also, I'm a ginger so I'm 10 times more likely to make up a statistic.". In fact, they only make . Ancient Greeks believed that people with red hair could turn into vampires after they died. So where did Hitchins get the figure from? [34], The Kipchak people were a Turkic ethnic group from central Asia who served in the Golden Horde military forces after being conquered by the Mongols. Other painters notable for their redheads include the Pre-Raphaelites, Edmund Leighton, Modigliani,[83] and Gustav Klimt.[84]. Given that red hair doesn't adapt to warm climes, the gene could - at some point - become extinct. In Britain, redheads are also sometimes referred to disparagingly as "carrot tops" and "carrot heads". Shame the fellas weren't questioned, too. Celtic warrior queen Boudicca had a red hair. 34. You have to remember, however, most of them probably have European descendants. Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! [88] The antisemitic association persisted into modern times in Soviet Russia. The Ancient Egyptian god of the desert, Set, was frequently depicted with red hair. According to the Washington Post, as our ancestors migrated from this region to the colder, darker climate of northern Europe, redheads had a survival related advantage over their darker skinned, darker haired counterparts. [104] More recently, they have been referred to as "rangas" (a word derived from the red-haired ape, the orangutan), sometimes with derogatory connotations. You have to remember, however, most of them probably have European descendants. Redheads can sense changes in temperature more quickly than people with other hair colors. About 6% of the Scottish population has red hair. In purely numerical terms, it is highly likely that the US has the highest number of people with red hair, because of the size of its population. Redheads have less hair, with only 90 000 strands compared with an average 110 000 for blondes and 140 000 for brunettes. The MC1R gene is also responsible for freckles in many redheads. Nicole Hahn Rafter (ed), Lombroso & Ferraro, Discrimination against people with red hair, "Celts' red hair could be attributed to the cloudy weather", "Auld Reekie is world capital for ginger hair", "Edinburgh is surprise capital of redheaded Britain and Ireland", "Memoir on the Pigmentation Survey of Scotland", "Pastoralists and mobility in the Oglakhty cemetery of southern Siberia: new evidence from stable isotopes", Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, "Journal of the Polynesian Society: Front Matter P 1-6", Xenophanes of Colophon: Fragments, Xenophanes, J. H. Lesher, University of Toronto Press, 2001, "Characterization of melanocyte stimulating hormone receptor variant alleles in twins with red hair", "Evidence for Variable Selective Pressures at MC1R", "Hair color gene study sheds new light on roots of redheads' locks", "Genome-wide study of hair colour in UK Biobank explains most of the SNP heritability", "Why do some men have red beards, but not red hair? Brown eyes. 60. This article includes content provided by Google. The jury's still out", "Melanocortin-1 receptor gene variants affect pain and mu-opioid analgesia in mice and humans", "Anesthetic requirement is increased in redheads", "The melanocortin-1 receptor gene mediates female-specific mechanisms of analgesia in mice and humans", "The Effect of Hair Colour on Anaesthetic Requirements and Recovery Time after Surgery", "Women with Red Hair Report a Slightly Increased Rate of Bruising but Have Normal Coagulation Tests", Pathology Guy: Accumulations and Deposits, "A missense mutation disrupting a dibasic prohormone processing site in pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) increases susceptibility to early-onset obesity through a novel molecular mechanism", "Heterochromia of beard hair - A rare case report", "Painting with a portrait of a woman in profile", "Image Young Redhead in an Evening Dress", "One Ginger's Top Ten List of Red Headed Superheroes (and Villains) - Women Write About Comics", "In pictures: Connecting the world's redheads", Schoolboy bullied over ginger hair hanged himself, "Australian slang a story of Australian English", Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, "Facebook 'Kick a Ginger' campaign prompts attacks on redheads", "Tesco apologises over 'ginger jibe' card", "I too have ginger hair. MC1R also occurs in the brain, where it is one of a large set of POMC-related receptors that are apparently involved not only in responding to MSH, but also in responses to endorphins and possibly other POMC-derived hormones. A: Yes, red hair is a genetic mutation (albeit a stunning one!) 9. We also link to other websites, but are not responsible for their content. Transaction Publishers. Less than 2% of the world's population have red hair That's approximately 140 million people. Historical Facts About People With Red Hair, Top 100 Philip K. Dick Quotes From The Science Fiction Writer, 25 Plato Symposium Quotes To Help Your Philosophy Studies, 38 Inspirational Diabetes Quotes To Support Patients, 55 Best Ren Descartes Quotes About Philosophy, Math, and Science. [14] The Volga region still has one of the highest percentages of redheaded people. How Many People in the World Have Black Hair. Red hair can originate from several changes on the MC1R-gene. [4], Ireland has the highest number of red-haired people per capita in the world with the percentage of those with red hair at around 10%. To celebrate, it hosted its first Ginger Pride celebration in 2013. Discrepancies may result from various issues, such as the frequency of updating compared with other sources. Scotland is thought by some to have the highest concentration of redheads in the world, so maybe it was an appropriate location for the Ginger Pride march, led by Canadian comedian Shawn Hitchins. Approximately 6% of the Scottish population has red hair while about 10% of the Irish population has red hair, making it the most red-haired country in the world. The lower melanin concentration in skin confers the advantage that a sufficient concentration of important Vitamin D can be produced under low light conditions. "The probable reason for that is that we make vitamin D in our skin. [133][134] His son Neoptolemus also bears the name Pyrrhus, a possible reference to his own red hair. " In Ireland about 10 per cent have red hair, but it appears that a staggering 46 per cent are carriers of the red head variants," Moffat told the Daily Telegraph, " For England, the estimate is 6. The gene that controls hair color also controls production of melanin, the skin pigment that makes people tan. [21] Writers from Shakespeare to Dickens would identify Jewish characters by giving them red hair, such as the villainous Jewish characters Shylock and Fagin. Some people think that because red hair is carried by a recessive gene, redheads might be going extinct. Redheads are often said to have a hot temper because red is associated with fire and danger. Redhead is a person with red or reddish-tinted hair. In various times and cultures, red hair has been prized, feared, and ridiculed. The highest percentages of fair-haired people can be found around the Baltic Sea (e.g. "Their pigmentation is characteristically brunet, but definite blonds occur. The prevalence of red hair may be slightly higher in Scotland than in England, Rees says, adding that it may be even higher in the Republic of Ireland. If that was the case in Scotland, that would suggest that the country with its population of 5.3 million was home to just over half a million redheads - less than 1% of the global total. It's in their genes specifically the one called MC1R. In Asia, red hair can be found among some peoples of Afghan,[27][28] Arab, Iranian, East Indians, Mongolian, Turkic, Miao, and Hmong descent. 19. 27. We rely on sunshine to make vitamin D and if you have very dark skin, it's harder to make that vitamin D.". In Africa, for example, red hair is selected against because high levels of sun harm pale skin. People in Corsica believed that if you pass a redhead walking down the street, you have to spit and spin round to ward off bad luck. Based on those figures, it would obviously put Scotland at the top of the hill when it comes to being king of the redheads. Preference for Ginger over Mary Ann using Google searches. We hope you love our recommendations for products and services! Red hair colour is also relatively common in Wales, England, Iceland and Norway. "It must have been in confusion," he says. Approximately 1 to 2% of the world's population has red hair. They concluded that red hair was associated with crimes of lust, and claimed that 48% of "criminal women" were redheads. English comedian Catherine Tate (herself a redhead) appeared as a red-haired character in a running sketch of her series The Catherine Tate Show. [121], A smaller red-hair day festival is held since 2013 by the UK's anti bullying alliance in London, with the aim of instilling pride in having red-hair. Red hair in this region, however, remains rare as opposed to people with dark hair. A lot of people think redheads have more adventurous and outgoing personalities than other hair colors. Q: Who are the most famous redhead celebrities? She also runs a tutoring and mindfulness company called Recreate-U which helps people to reach their full educational potential through making them feel comfortable, safe, and happy in their learning environment. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Names like Flannery, Reid and Russell can all trace their origin to red hair. The CRC relies upon publicly available data from multiple sources. He said their children would be "deviant". A: To make a complex issue simple, the answer is not really. Even today, people still think redheads have supernatural powers. [98] A possible fringe theory explaining the historical and modern mistreatment of red-heads supposedly stems from subjugation and consequent persecution of Celtic Nations. Some people say that redheads' freckles are the marks left by kisses from angels. But don't worry 4. [47] The gene HCL2 on chromosome 4 may also be related to red hair. "I can't really believe that figure," says Jonathan Rees, professor of dermatology at the University of Edinburgh and one of a team of scientists to identify the gene responsible for red hair - the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R). However, in rare cases red hair can be associated with disease or genetic disorder: There have also been rare reports of scalp or beard hair spontaneously turning partially red, with no identified pathological cause.[76]. One consequence of this is that a number of people have both dark hair and red beards. The melanin that ginger haired people possess almost always takes the form of freckles, which are actually just concentrated patches of melanin. [20] In Sardinia, red hair is found at a frequency of 0.24% of the population. The amount varies a bit, from less than a percent to likely over 2 percent, depending on our heritage. And in most of Africa it is exceedingly rare to see somebody with red hair. Another redhead origin story says redheads are descended from Vulcan, the Greek god of the forge. [19], In Italy, red hair is found at a frequency of 0.57% of the total population, without variation in frequency across the different regions of the country. Other places in Asia and Europe may have it, such as Italy or China, but it probably exists at less than one percent. 31. Lalla Salma, Morocco's Queen, names one famous person from this region who has red hair, by the way.