MyHeritage DNA Launched Genetic Groups



MyHeritage announced the release of Genetic Groups, a long-awaited enhancement of ethnicity results on MyHeritage DNA. With this addition, the resolution of MyHeritage’s ethnicity breakdown increases dramatically to 2,114 geographic regions, providing more depth and resolution than any other DNA test available today, and complementing the current 42 top-level ethnicities.

Genetic Groups have been added for free to the ethnicity results for anyone who has already purchased a MyHeritage DNA test, and will be added to the results going forward for any newly purchased test. They are also available to anyone who has uploaded DNA data from another service, or will upload it now.

For each Genetic Group MyHeritage provides a drill-down page with detailed genealogical insights. It includes a description of the group, a heatmap showing the top places where the group’s members lived during different time periods (indicating the group’s migration patterns), common ancestral surnames and given names in the group, the most prevalent ethnicities among the group’s members, and other Genetic Groups that have close affinity to the group.

MyHeritage has the unique advantage of having tested millions of users around the world who still live in their original communities (and have not migrated to other countries and married into totally different populations). This unparalleled data set allowed MyHeritage researchers to create and classify foundational Genetic Groups that can then be used to predict membership and accurately reveal true origins of millions of other users. By applying machine learning and other algorithms on the DNA data and family trees associated with those DNA kits, our research teams were able to identify the unique Genetic Groups and reveal their unique story.

Genetic Groups are fascinating and can offer insights into the paths your ancestors traveled over generations. They can point to a province, district, or region that your family originated from, or show migration from one location to another, and often tell you more about the family story.

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MyHeritage Launches New Comprehensive DNA Ethnicity Analysis

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