Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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The TRUTH About Russian Redheads… (Udmurt Republic)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:28 Udmurt Republic and Red Hair
2:02 R1b Haplogroup, Red Hair & Climate?
4:14 Founder Effect & Sexual Attractiveness?
5:09 Vote For Video Topics & Merch
5:30 Udmurtia & the Origins of Red Hair?
6:16 Vikings?
7:36 Genetics of Udmurt People & Haplogroups
When you think of people with red hair, places like Scotland and Ireland probably immediately come to mind. Yet there is a region of Russia that is home to a people who have been described as having the reddest hair in the world, the Udmurt people. So in this video I want look at why red hair is common among the Udmurts and how this trait developed in this part of the world? At the end of this video as well, I will also look at the genetics of the Udmurt people, the haplogroups that are common among them, and if this relates to red hair at all?
Now the Udmurt Republic is in a region of Russia which sits just east of the Volga river, and just west of the Ural mountains. The Udmurt people are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group that have much higher levels of red hair than the global average. In general, the amount of people globally with naturally red hair is only between 1–2%, making it the rarest hair color in the world. In the Udmurt Republic however, rates of red hair are between 5–15% depending on the source.
For comparison, Scotland and Ireland are generally considered to have some of the highest amount of people with red hair on earth, at between 6-13% of people in Scotland and around 10% in Ireland, putting the people of the Udmurt Republic right up there as far as the highest rates of red hair in the world, perhaps even number 1 depending on the source. And the Udmurts are proud of this trait. Every year, they have a festival celebrating red-haired people, held in their capital, Izhevsk.
But why does this tiny republic in Russia have such high levels of people with red hair compared to most other parts of Russia and the world? Now to get the obvious element out of the way, we know from a simple genetic perspective that the primary driver of red hair is due to a mutation on the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R), which is located on chromosome 16, a gene that is involved in melanin production. Red hair is considered a recessive trait.
Sources:
The people with the reddest hair in the world bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29950844
Redheads are Gathering Around the World - redhairedroots.com/2018/06/redheads-are-gathering-around-the-world
The genetic causes, ethnic origins and history of red hair - Eupedia
Zinchenko RA, El'chinova GI, Petrov NV, Osipova EV, Malyshev PIu, Poliakov AV, Ginter EK. [Genetic structure of the Udmurt population]. Genetika. 2007 Aug;43(8):1107-19. Russian. PMID: 17958312. Genetic_Structure_of_the_Udmurt_Population.pdf
Tambets, K., Yunusbayev, B., Hudjashov, G. et al. Genes reveal traces of common recent demographic history for most of the Uralic-speaking populations. Genome Biol 19, 139 (2018). doi.org/10.1186/s13059-018-1522-1
Udmurts - Wikipedia
Recessive Traits and Alleles
Udmurtia - Wikipedia
Zdrojewicz Z, Kowalik M, Jagodziński A. Tajemnice rudowłosych [Secrets of the red-headed]. Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2016 Dec 22;41(246):306-309. Polish. PMID: 28024137. [Secrets of the red-headed] - PubMed
Founder Effect
Irish and Udmurts Share “Redheadedness” | Ed Mooney Photography
Udmurtiya | Republic in Russia, Culture & History | Britannica
Ginger snaps: portraits of redheads in Russia and Scotland theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/sep/01/gingers-portraits-of-redheads-in-russia-and-scotland
Sunrise and sunset times, day length in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, Russia today and for the current month
Who are the Udmurts? | Russia’s most red haired and musical ethnic group
Creative Commons Imagery:
Vyacheslav Bukharov File:Saint Michael the Archangel Church (Izhevsk)-53.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Alexander Ermolaev File:UdSU 1.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Briangotts File:Varangian routes.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Udmurt red hair – Russian redheads - ethnic minorities in Russia – Russia – Udmurt Republic – Udmurt People – Udmurts – ginger – redhead – mc1r gene - Why Red Hair - Reason Red Hair - R1b Haplogroup
#redhair #ancestry #dna
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Vote For the Video Topics You Want to See - patreon.com/historydecoded
Check Out My Merch Store: celtic-history-decoded.creator-spring.com
The TRUTH About Russian Redheads… (Udmurt Republic)
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:28 Udmurt Republic and Red Hair
2:02 R1b Haplogroup, Red Hair & Climate?
4:14 Founder Effect & Sexual Attractiveness?
5:09 Vote For Video Topics & Merch
5:30 Udmurtia & the Origins of Red Hair?
6:16 Vikings?
7:36 Genetics of Udmurt People & Haplogroups
When you think of people with red hair, places like Scotland and Ireland probably immediately come to mind. Yet there is a region of Russia that is home to a people who have been described as having the reddest hair in the world, the Udmurt people. So in this video I want look at why red hair is common among the Udmurts and how this trait developed in this part of the world? At the end of this video as well, I will also look at the genetics of the Udmurt people, the haplogroups that are common among them, and if this relates to red hair at all?
Now the Udmurt Republic is in a region of Russia which sits just east of the Volga river, and just west of the Ural mountains. The Udmurt people are a Finno-Ugric ethnic group that have much higher levels of red hair than the global average. In general, the amount of people globally with naturally red hair is only between 1–2%, making it the rarest hair color in the world. In the Udmurt Republic however, rates of red hair are between 5–15% depending on the source.
For comparison, Scotland and Ireland are generally considered to have some of the highest amount of people with red hair on earth, at between 6-13% of people in Scotland and around 10% in Ireland, putting the people of the Udmurt Republic right up there as far as the highest rates of red hair in the world, perhaps even number 1 depending on the source. And the Udmurts are proud of this trait. Every year, they have a festival celebrating red-haired people, held in their capital, Izhevsk.
But why does this tiny republic in Russia have such high levels of people with red hair compared to most other parts of Russia and the world? Now to get the obvious element out of the way, we know from a simple genetic perspective that the primary driver of red hair is due to a mutation on the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (MC1R), which is located on chromosome 16, a gene that is involved in melanin production. Red hair is considered a recessive trait.
Sources:
The people with the reddest hair in the world bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29950844
Redheads are Gathering Around the World - redhairedroots.com/2018/06/redheads-are-gathering-around-the-world
The genetic causes, ethnic origins and history of red hair - Eupedia
Zinchenko RA, El'chinova GI, Petrov NV, Osipova EV, Malyshev PIu, Poliakov AV, Ginter EK. [Genetic structure of the Udmurt population]. Genetika. 2007 Aug;43(8):1107-19. Russian. PMID: 17958312. Genetic_Structure_of_the_Udmurt_Population.pdf
Tambets, K., Yunusbayev, B., Hudjashov, G. et al. Genes reveal traces of common recent demographic history for most of the Uralic-speaking populations. Genome Biol 19, 139 (2018). doi.org/10.1186/s13059-018-1522-1
Udmurts - Wikipedia
Recessive Traits and Alleles
Udmurtia - Wikipedia
Zdrojewicz Z, Kowalik M, Jagodziński A. Tajemnice rudowłosych [Secrets of the red-headed]. Pol Merkur Lekarski. 2016 Dec 22;41(246):306-309. Polish. PMID: 28024137. [Secrets of the red-headed] - PubMed
Founder Effect
Irish and Udmurts Share “Redheadedness” | Ed Mooney Photography
Udmurtiya | Republic in Russia, Culture & History | Britannica
Ginger snaps: portraits of redheads in Russia and Scotland theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/sep/01/gingers-portraits-of-redheads-in-russia-and-scotland
Sunrise and sunset times, day length in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, Russia today and for the current month
Who are the Udmurts? | Russia’s most red haired and musical ethnic group
Creative Commons Imagery:
Vyacheslav Bukharov File:Saint Michael the Archangel Church (Izhevsk)-53.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Alexander Ermolaev File:UdSU 1.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Briangotts File:Varangian routes.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Udmurt red hair – Russian redheads - ethnic minorities in Russia – Russia – Udmurt Republic – Udmurt People – Udmurts – ginger – redhead – mc1r gene - Why Red Hair - Reason Red Hair - R1b Haplogroup
#redhair #ancestry #dna
