AncestryDNA Updates Ethnicity Estimates

If you’ve been reading the genealogy blogs today, you probably already know. Ancestry updated their AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates. It is based on a significantly larger reference population (3,000 -> 16,000 samples) and includes more regions (26 -> 43) and subregions (363 -> 380). You can see Ancestry’s announcement on their blog.

Currently—and for a limited time, you can compare your old results to the new ones on the map. The ethnicity estimate percentages also provide the specific, numerical changes for each region. Here is my original map.

It included:

• 63% Europe West
• 16% Ireland/Scotland/Wales
• 5% Scandinavia

There were also a number of low confidence regions, including the Iberian Peninsula (4%), Great Britain (4%), Caucasus (4%), Europe South (2%), European Jewish (<1%), and Asia South (<1%).

And here’s my new ethnicity map.

Not only have the amounts changed, but the way the areas are grouped has changed, as well. For instance, England/Wales/Northwestern Europe (yellow) is now one category. 61% of my DNA is from the areas it encompasses. Ireland/Scotland (green) is now 18%. Germanic Europe (teal), once part of Europe West, is now it’s own category and 18% of my ethnic makeup. Previously, Scandinavia was one block, now it is two categories: Norway and Sweden. I’m apparently 5% Norwegian. Additionally, I am now 1% Eastern European/Russian and 1% Greece/Balkans. The last two are really the only categories I could question.

If you look at my estimates from my paper trail versus Ancestry’s estimates, it breaks down like this:

Region	Pedigree	Ancestry 2017	Ancestry 2018
Western Europe	72.82%	63%	61%
Germanic Europe	(see W. Europe)	(see W. Europe)	13%
Ireland/Scotland	14.04%	16%	18%
Scandinavia	3.12%	5%	6% (Norway)
England/Wales	3.12%	4%	(see W. Europe)
Italy/Greece	—	2%	1%
Iberian Peninsula	—	4%	—
European Jewish	—	<1%	—
Unknown	6.24%	—	—
Caucasus	—	4%	—
Eastern Europe/Russia	—	—	1%

Once you get past the organizational changes, you can that, in reality, not much has changed at all in how my ethnicity is classified. I’m still an American mutt of largely Western European—Germanic and British—descent.

In fact, the interesting bits have disappeared, meaning that unknown 6.24% is most likely from the same areas in Western Europe as the majority of my other ancestors.

To read more about today’s changes, check out these blog posts.

• The DNA Geek: Major Enhancement to AncestryDNA’s Ethnicity Estimates
• Genetic Genealogist: AncestryDNA Revises Ethnicity Estimates
• Legal Genealogist: AncestryDNA Ethnicity Estimates Updated
• Ancestry’s white paper: Ethnicity Estimate 2018 White Paper

• Category: Resources
• Tag: Ancestry, DNA