What Is the Rarest Hair Color in the World?
The most common hair color in the world is black, this is because the population of China and India combined is 36% of the world’s population whoes hair is mostly black. But what about the rarest hair color?
The rarest hair color in the world is red. Around 1 to 2% of the world’s population has red hair. 1 to 2% of the world’s population of 7.7 billion people is about 77,000,000 to 154,000,000.
| Hair Color: | Percentage in World Population: |
| Red | 1-2% |
| Blond | 3% |
| Brown/Brunette | 11% |
| Black | 75-85% |
Redheads with blue eyes are even rarer because both are recessive traits.
Typically, you inherit the color of your hair from your parents. Half of your genes come from your father, and half comes from your mother (Some genotype variations can also affect the color of your hair).
Red hair originated from Scotland, including other areas in the British Isles, Ireland, and some regions in the Southern and Eastern Europe possibly due to viking raiders. There are many shades for red hair, such as strawberry blonde, red-orange, auburn, and deep burgundy, among others.
Why Is Red Hair Rare?
Red hair is rare because few people have red hair genes to pass onto their offspring. The natural red color is primarily inherited from the genes of parents. Thus, you will find people with red hair coming from the same country or race.
So as only a few people around the world have these genes; thus, red hair is rare because it hasn’t been passed on to many people.
How Rare Is Red Hair?
People with red hair only comprise 1-2% of the world’s population. 1 to 2% of the world’s population is only about 77,000,000 to 154,000,000. Redhead genes are still confined to some areas in Europe, making it rare.
If a child is not born to parents with the red hair alleles, the child will not be getting red hair. Alleles are defined as an alternate form of a gene. A single gene can have multiple versions and the versions are called alleles.
Where Did Red Hair Originate From?
Red hair originated from the British Isles, and some came from Eastern and Southern Europe.
There are rare instances in which Asians or Africans could have red hair but this is quite unusual.
