Why are green eyes rare? Basic eye colors in people. This is theoretically possible, but practically no one has seen it yet

It happens like this: stranger and it seems there is nothing special about it, but it’s impossible to take your eyes off it! What attracts and fascinates us? Eyes! And their main advantage is the huge variety of colors! Almost every person in the world has their own shade! But they are all divided into groups - blue, brown, green, gray.

Most common eye color

It is believed that there are more brown-eyed people in the world. Moreover, according to scientists, initially all people were born with brown eyes, and all other colors occurred through the process of mutation - about ten thousand years ago. And still, even after thousands of years, brown remains the most common color in the world. Except that the inhabitants of the Baltic countries are predominantly light-eyed.

The rarest

Oddly enough, the least common people in the world are people with green eyes. Scientists believe that only 2% of the planet's inhabitants have this eye color. This fact is still associated with the Middle Ages, considering that such a small percentage of green-eyed people in modern society- the result of the Inquisition. At that time, as is known, women with this eye color were considered witches and burned at the stake, which made procreation impossible.

The most unusual eye color

Two percent is, of course, very little, but there is an eye color that is even less common - lilac. It’s hard to even believe that this is possible without Photoshop and lenses until you see a person with violet-colored eyes in person. One thousandth of a percent is exactly how many such people are in the world. They are called indigos, they are admired, and only scientists are skeptical that there is nothing supernatural in this, and explain that this is a mutation called “the origin of Alexandria.” This is not a disease and the process is extremely little studied.

What is known for sure is that babies are born with blue or gray eyes, but literally six months later the color of their eyes changes towards purple. A bright representative of “violet” eyes is the legendary and unique Elizabeth Taylor. Who knows, maybe the secret of her unsurpassability is in her magical gaze!

Every person has a feature that can affect his destiny. This is the color of the eyes. It is undeniable that people with sky blue eyes attract more attention. This also applies to those with black eyes. Even poets praise them in their works.

Eyes. Eye color around the world

The eyes appear and look like something foreign, like pieces of unusual glass. They are called the mirror of the soul. There is a feeling that they help to see what is inside, hidden in the soul. It is not for nothing that eyes are the object of attention of soothsayers, psychics, magicians and fortune tellers. Eyes are something mysterious that connects a person with an unusual, different, unknown world...

There are a wide variety of colors. Some of them are very common, and there are also people who have the most rare color eye. Moreover, each color has various shades. Most often this diversity is invisible, but sometimes it catches the eye.

People with a wide variety of eye colors are distributed throughout the world, and unevenly. For example, in Africa the dark-eyed population predominates, while in the Scandinavian countries the light-eyed population predominates. Green eye color is the rarest on the planet, however, their owners can be found on any continent.

In dark eyes (brown and black), the iris is saturated with a large amount of melanin. Apparently, the predominance of one color or another among different nationalities also depends on the climatic conditions of life.

Why are they different for everyone?

The main creator of eye color is melanin, or rather, its amount in the human body. Brown-eyed people have a lot of it, but people with green eyes, the rarest color, have very little melanin. However, heredity also plays a role.

Each person has the color of the iris, determined by genes (passed on by inheritance). Moreover, the color can be passed on from grandparents.

It is believed that it is possible to find out the eye color of an unborn child. Let's look at some examples:

1. If, say, both parents have blue eyes, then there is a 99% chance that the child will be born with blue eyes and only 1% chance that the baby will have green - the rarest eye color;

2. If one parent has blue ones, the other has green ones, the probability is 50% to 50%.

3. If both parents are green-eyed, then there is a 75% chance that the child will have green eyes, 24% - blue eyes and 1% - brown;

4. If one of the parents has blue eyes, the other has brown eyes, then with a probability of 50% their child will have brown eyes, 37% will have green eyes, and 13% will have blue eyes;

5. Brown-eyed parents produce offspring with brown eyes with a probability of 75%, 18% of cases with green eyes and only 7% with blue eyes.

According to statistics, the predominant colors in the world are Brown eyes. Such people can be found almost everywhere, although in different percentages to the total number of people in different parts Earth.

The rarest eye color in the world is green. Only 2% of people worldwide have such an unusual beautiful colour. There is a legend: in the Middle Ages, green-eyed people were burned, considering them to be witches. Usually red-haired people have this color. Due to these events, the gene that imparts green color to the eyes has become a minority.

The most common green-eyed people are among the Eastern peoples and Western Slavs, among the Scots and Germans. However, even among Icelanders there are often owners of unusual green eyes. 80% of the inhabitants of this small state have blue and green colors.

In Turkey, this rather rare color is observed in 20% of the population. IN South America, Asian countries and in the Middle East there are practically no green-eyed people. It is also believed that the most exotic, rarest eye color is purple.

Unusual colors

And yet, what eye color is the rarest? In the world you can find more unusual, and even very rare colors. Various genetic changes (mutations), serious illnesses can cause the iris to take on the rarest eye color. Or are there purple eyes, it looks absolutely fantastic.

In addition, there are people with eyes of different colors. This disorder is familiar to many - heterochromia. It can be either complete or partial. In the first case: one eye, for example, is blue, the second is brown. With partial heterochromia, only a small part of the eye differs in color from the entire iris. Such partial heterochromia occurs more often in life than complete heterochromia. Both types of heterochromia most often occur in animals.

Congenital disorders also occur. One of them is aniridia. With this problem, the iris may be partially or completely absent.

There is also albinism, a rare but very serious birth defect that occurs in albinos. The eye color of such people is almost red - the rarest color among people with various abnormalities (mutations).

Change in eye color. Could this happen?

Eye color depends on the pigmentation of the iris itself. Still in this important role The vessels and the fibers of the eye shell themselves also play a role. Immediately after birth, children's eyes are usually blue or light blue. Of course, there are often brown-eyed newborns. Over time, their color may change.

Eye color is fully formed by the age of 12. And closer to old age it begins to fade. This is due to depigmentation.

Relationship between eye color and other external characteristics of people

Usually eye color is associated with hair color and skin color. In classic cases, dark-skinned individuals have dark color hair and dark eyes(black and brown), such as Africans and Asians. People with lighter skin have blond hair and light-colored eyes (blue, gray, blue). These are Swedes and people of Slavic nationalities.

Eyes and character of a person

In general, the relationship between eye color and a person’s character has not been proven. And yet, studies were conducted in America in which women and girls participated (1000 people from 16 to 35 years old).

Results of a survey about people with brown eyes:

34% of respondents associate brown eyes with people with developed intellect;

13% - with kindness;

16% of respondents believe that people with such eyes can be trusted.

The rarest eye color (green) is associated with the following characteristics of people:

29% of respondents had associations with a sign of sexuality;

25% - with creativity;

20% of respondents associate it with cunning.

The following associations arose about people with blue eyes:

42% are nice people;

21% - sexual;

10% are kind people.

Celebrity eye color

The charming film actor Brad Pitt and Margaret Thatcher have blue eyes.

The rarest eye color in the world is green among Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie and Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova.

Strong historical figures Lenin and Stalin had amber eyes.

The dark-eyed beautiful American actress Salma Hayek.

The famous musician Sting is blue-eyed. This includes Napoleon.

The eyes of the dazzling actress Julia Roberts have a beautiful marsh color.

Eyes are the wealth of every person. This is a window to the outside world. They enable people to see the beauty of nature and the attractiveness of the entire world around them. Eyes of any color are unique to each person. We must be proud of them and take care of them. After all, this is a gift of fate and nature.

Mystery gene

Rare eye colors

Geography of color

Heterochromia

Psychology of color

Perception by others

There are no two people in the world with exactly the same eye color. All children have dull blue eyes at birth due to the lack of melanin, but later they acquire one of the few shades that will remain human for life.

Mystery gene

Back at the end of the 19th century, there was a hypothesis that human ancestors had exclusively dark eyes. Hans Eyberg, a modern Danish scientist at the University of Copenhagen, conducted Scientific research, confirming and developing this idea. According to research results, the OCA2 gene, which is responsible for light shades of eyes, mutations of which disable the standard color, appeared only during the Mesolithic period (10,000-6,000 BC). Hans has been collecting evidence since 1996 and concluded that OCA2 regulates the production of melanin in the body, and any changes in the gene reduce this ability and impair its functioning, causing blue eyes. The professor also claims that all blue-eyed inhabitants of the Earth have common ancestors, because this gene is inherited.

However different shapes alleles of the same gene are always in a state of competition, and the darker color always “wins”, as a result of which parents with blue and brown eyes will have brown-eyed children, and only a blue-eyed couple can have a baby with eyes of cold shades .

Rare eye colors

There are only about 2% of truly green-eyed people in the world, and most of them live in the northern countries of Europe. In Russia, uneven green shades of eyes are often found, mixed with brown or gray pigment. Also an incredible exception are black eyes, although they are much more common than others. The iris of these eyes is different high concentration melanin, which almost completely absorbs light. Many people believe that all albinos have red eyes, although in reality this is the exception rather than the rule (most albinos have brown or blue eyes). Red eyes are the result of a lack of melanin in the ectodermal and mesodermal layers, where blood vessels and collagen fibers “show through”, determining the color of the iris. Very rare color is a variation of the most common - we are talking about amber, sometimes yellow eyes.

This color results from the presence of lipochrome pigment, which is also found in green-eyed people. This rare eye color is characteristic of some animal species, such as wolves, cats, owls and eagles.

Geography of color

Professor Eyberg suggested that geographical coordinates, where the mutation processes of the “blue-eyed” gene began. According to the scientist, it all started, oddly enough, in the northern regions of Afghanistan, between India and the Middle East. During the Mesolithic period, the Aryan tribes were located here. By the way, the division of languages ​​dates back to this period. Indo-European group. Currently, the most common eye color in the world is brown, with the exception of the Baltic countries. Blue and blue eyes most common among the European population.

For example, in Germany 75% of the population can boast of such eyes, and in Estonia all 99%. Blue and blue eyes are common among the European population, especially in the Baltics and Northern Europe, and are often found in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran). Among Ukrainian Jews, 53.7% have this eye color. Gray eye color is common in Eastern and Northern Europe, and in Russia there are about 50% of carriers of this color. There are about 25% of brown-eyed people in our country, 20% of blue-eyed people of various shades, but carriers of rare green and dark, almost black colors total no more than 5% of Russians.

Heterochromia

This amazing phenomenon is expressed in the different colors of the eyes of one person or animal. Most often, heterochromia is caused genetically. For example, breeders and breeders intentionally develop breeds of cats and dogs with different colors eye. In humans, there are three types of this feature: complete, central and sectoral heterochromia. According to the names, in the first case both eyes have their own, often contrasting, shade. The most common color of one eye is brown and the other is blue. Central heterochromia is characterized by the presence of several full-colored rings of the iris of one eye. Sector heterochromia is an uneven color of one eye in several shades. There are three separate pigments that characterize eye color - blue, brown and yellow, the number of which forms the mysterious shades of heterochromia, which occurs in approximately 10 people out of 1000.

Psychology of color

Professor Joana Rob from the University of Lowville, USA, argues that blue-eyed people are more prone to strategic thinking and play better golf, while brown-eyed people have good memory, very reasonable and temperamental.

Astrologers and psychologists like to mention the relationship between eye color and a person’s character. Most often they say, for example, that blue-eyed people are persistent and sentimental, but can be arrogant. Gray-eyed people are smart, but powerless in matters that require a sensual approach, while green-eyed people, for example, are gentle and, at the same time, can be overly principled. Such conclusions are not always based on statistical studies and surveys. There is also a rational scientific grain here. For example, scientists have discovered the PAX6 gene, which plays a major role in iris pigmentation and personality type. It is involved in the development of the part of the frontal lobe that is responsible for empathy and self-control. Thus, it can be argued that a person's character and eye color are biologically interrelated, but there is still not enough research in this area to consider such statements scientific.

Perception by others

A study was conducted in the USA involving thousands of women aged 16 to 35 years. The results are quite interesting: blue and grey eyes give the owner the image of a “sweet” (42%) and kind (10%) person, green eyes are associated with sexuality (29%) and cunning (20%), and brown eyes are associated with developed intelligence (34%) and kindness (13%) .

Researchers at Charles University in Prague conducted an unusual experiment to determine the degree of trust in people depending on eye color. The largest percentage of participants recognized brown-eyed people in the photo as more trustworthy. During the experiment, scientists showed new photographs in which they changed the eye color of the same people, as a result of which interesting conclusions were drawn. It turned out that trust is caused more by the facial features inherent in brown-eyed people, and not by the eye color itself, as such. For example, brown-eyed men are more likely to have raised corners of the lips, a wide chin and big eyes, while blue-eyed people have a narrow mouth, small eyes and drooping corners of the lips. Brown-eyed women appear to be considered more trustworthy, although statistically this is less pronounced than in the case of dark-eyed men.

Have you ever seen a person with amber eyes? What about a person with green or red eyes? No?! Then, you will be a little surprised if you find out that everything is not some myth that has been brought forward for centuries, but is quite real. Although there are not many people with such rare eye colors, they still exist.

However, there is nothing sci-fi or extraordinary about this. Everything is quite natural, since he depends mainly on the pigmentation of the iris.

What is the iris of the eye: light, psycho-emotional and hereditary components

The iris of the eye is an almost impenetrable thin and mobile diaphragm of the eye with a pupil in the center, located behind the cornea (between the posterior and anterior chambers of the eye), in front of the lens. The color of the iris depends mainly on the amount of coloring pigment called melanin (responsible for color and affects the shade of skin and hair), as well as on the thickness of the eye shell itself.

There is a direct dependence of the color of the eyes on the reaction of the pupil to light, that is, the pupil reacts to light. When the pupil is constricted, the pigments of the iris are concentrated and the eyes begin to darken, and when the pupil is dilated, on the contrary, the pigments of the iris are dispersed and the eyes begin to lighten. In addition, the emotions that a person experiences also affect the size of the pupil, and, depending on psycho-emotional state, his eye color may vary.

Eye type. U different people These are combinations of combinations of four main factors:

1. the blood vessels of the iris have a bluish tint: blue, cyan, gray;
2. content of coloring pigment (melanin) in the iris: brown, black;
3. the content of certain substances in the iris (often associated with liver diseases): yellow;
4. bloody iris (only in case of albinism): red.

If you correlate these factors with each other, the result will be a certain color. For example, swamp is a mixture of brown and blue, green is a mixture of yellow and blue, and so on.

Top 5

What color do you think the eyes are? Honestly, it is difficult, or most likely impossible, to determine since there are so many different shades of eye colors, some of which are very rare and very rare.

Below is a list of 5 varieties of eye colors (from the rarest to more or less natural), which are less common, which makes them, in turn, more unique compared to the rest.

1. Purple eye color: hoax or reality!

It turns out that purple eye color is. There is an opinion that it is impossible to have purple eyes by nature. This is not entirely true. Purple eyes come from mixing red and blue shades.

From a genetic point of view, violet eyes are similar blue eyes, namely, a reflection, pigment or variant of blue. However there is scientific facts, which prove that people living in remote and high altitude areas of North Kashmir have purple eye color. However, this unique eye color is very rare.

Varieties purple eyes: ultramarine (bright blue), amethyst and hyacinth (blue-purple).

2. Green eyes: gene for red hair

Green eye color is second only to violet in rarity. This type of eye color is determined by a small amount of the coloring pigment, melanin, which, in combination with the light brown or yellow pigment lipofuscin (distributed in the outer layer of the iris), gives green coloring to the eyes. T

This coloring is usually uneven with many different shades. There is an opinion that the red hair gene may play a role in the formation of green eye color. Purely green color- an extremely rare phenomenon (only 2% of the world's population has green eyes). Carriers of this color are found mainly in Central and Northern Europe, less often in the southern part of Europe. According to a study of the adult population of Holland and Iceland, green eyes are much less common in men than women.

Varieties of green eye color: bottle green (dark green), light green (light green with a yellowish tint), emerald green, grass green, jade, leaf green, emerald brown, sea green (blue) green).

3. Red eye color: albino eye

Red eyes are called albino eyes, although more than usual, since blue and brown eyes are more common. This rare phenomenon is associated with the absence of the coloring pigment melanin in the ectodermal and mesodermal layers of the iris, and therefore the color of the eyes is determined by blood vessels and collagen fibers of the iris. Sometimes, but very rarely, the red color of the eyes, when mixed with the blue color of the stroma, can turn into violet (magenta).

4. Amber Eye Color: Golden Eyes

Amber color is essentially a type of brown. These are clear bright eyes with a pronounced warm golden color. Truly amber eyes are very rare, and, thanks to the existing monotonous light yellow-brown color, the eyes have a rather exotic appearance, like the eyes of a wolf. Sometimes, amber eyes can be characterized by a reddish-copper or golden-green tint.

Varieties amber color Eye: yellowish brown, golden brown.

5. Black eye color: high concentration of melanin

Black eyes, although considered rare, are much more common than all previous ones. Due to the fact that the black iris has a very high concentration of the coloring pigment melanin, the light that falls on it will be almost completely absorbed. This type the eye is common, mainly in the anterior Negroid race: near the Eastern, Southern and South-East Asia. In addition to the black iris, the color eyeball may have a grayish or yellowish tint.

Varieties of black eye color: bluish black, pitch black, obsidian color, pitch black, dark almond, thick black.

Congenital eye defects or heterochromia

Heterochromia is a congenital or acquired (due to disease or injury) eye disorder in which there is a different color of the irises of a person’s eyes, that is, a person has eyes of different colors.

Heterochromia is divided into two types:

• complete (eyes are completely different in color);
• partial or sectoral (part of the eye has a color difference from the rest of the iris).

Although this phenomenon is more typical for dogs and cats, people have cases too heterochromia, such as the famous American actresses Daniela Ruah and Kate Bosworth.

Video - why eyes are so different

Purple, red, green, black, amber! There are very few people with such eye colors, but this in no way diminishes them, but, on the contrary, makes them increasingly unique and extravagant. Violet– this is the color of purity and psychic energies, green is the color of youth and vitality, amber– strength and endurance, black- mysticism and magic, and red– ambition and passion.

Do you have a rare color? Which have you seen most unusual eye color?

Eye color has great importance in a girl's life, even if we don't think about it. Very often, clothes and accessories are chosen directly to match the color of the eyes, not to mention the fact that thanks to existing stereotypes, we, to some extent, form our initial opinion about a person taking into account the color of his eyes.

Therefore, when special lenses appeared that changed eye color, many girls rushed to purchase them in order to create images with different eye colors. And besides lenses, Photoshop helps us, with its help you can achieve any color, but unfortunately this is displayed only on the monitor screen and photographs.

What determines the real color of a person's eyes? Why do some people have blue eyes, others green, and some even boast purple ones?

The color of a person’s eyes, or rather the color of the iris, depends on two factors:

1. Density of iris fibers.
2. Distribution of melanin pigment in the layers of the iris.

Melanin is a pigment that determines the color of human skin and hair. The more melanin, the darker the skin and hair. In the iris of the eye, melanin ranges from yellow to brown and black. In this case, the back layer of the iris is always black, with the exception of albinos.

Yellow, brown, black, where then do the blue and green eyes come from? Let's look into this phenomenon...

Blue eyes
The blue color is due to the low fiber density of the outer layer of the iris and the low melanin content. In this case, low-frequency light is absorbed by the back layer, and high-frequency light is reflected from it, so the eyes turn out blue. The lower the fiber density of the outer layer, the more saturated Blue colour eye.

Blue eyes
Blue color occurs when the fibers of the outer layer of the iris are denser than in the case of blue eyes and have a whitish or grayish color. How higher density fibers, the lighter the color.

Blue and blue eyes are most common among the population of northern Europe. For example, in Estonia up to 99% of the population had this eye color, and in Germany 75%. Only given modern realities, this situation will not last long, because more and more people from Asian and African countries are trying to move to Europe.

Blue eye color in babies
There is an opinion that all children are born blue-eyed, and then the color changes. This is a wrong opinion. In fact, many babies are actually born light-eyed, and subsequently, as melanin is actively produced, their eyes become darker and the final eye color is established by two to three years.

Grey colour it turns out similar to blue, only in this case the density of the fibers of the outer layer is even higher and their shade is closer to gray. If the fiber density is not so high, then the eye color will be gray-blue. In addition, the presence of melanin or other substances gives a small yellow or brownish impurity.

Green eyes
This eye color is most often attributed to witches and sorceresses, and therefore green-eyed girls are sometimes treated with suspicion. Only green eyes were obtained not due to witchcraft, but due to a small amount of melanin.

In green-eyed girls, yellow or light brown pigment is distributed in the outer layer of the iris. And as a result of scattering by blue or cyan, green is obtained. The color of the iris is usually uneven, there is a large number of various shades of green.

Pure green eye color is extremely rare; no more than two percent of people can boast of green eyes. They can be found among people in Northern and Central Europe, and sometimes in Southern Europe. Women have green eyes much more often than men, which played a certain role in attributing this eye color to witches.

Amber
Amber eyes have a monotonous light brown color, sometimes with a yellowish-green or reddish tint. Their color can also be close to marsh or golden, which is due to the presence of lipofuscin pigment.

Swamp eye color (aka hazel or beer) is a mixed color. Depending on the lighting, it may appear golden, brown-green, brown, light brown with a yellow-green tint. In the outer layer of the iris, the melanin content is quite moderate, so the marsh color is the result of a combination of brown and blue or blue flowers. Yellow pigments may also be present. In contrast to the amber color of the eyes, in this case The coloring is not monotonous, but rather heterogeneous.

Brown eyes
Brown eye color results from the fact that the outer layer of the iris contains a lot of melanin, so it absorbs both high-frequency and low-frequency light, and the reflected light adds up to brown. The more melanin, the darker and richer the eye color.

Brown eye color is the most common in the world. But in our life, this - which is a lot - is valued less, so brown-eyed girls sometimes envy those to whom nature has given green or blue eyes. Just don’t rush to be offended by nature, brown eyes are one of the most adapted to the sun!

Black eyes
Black eye color is essentially dark brown, but the concentration of melanin in the iris is so high that the light falling on it is almost completely absorbed.

Red eyes
Yes, there are such eyes, and not only in the movies, but also in reality! Red or pinkish eye color is found only in albinos. This color is associated with the absence of melanin in the iris, so the color is formed based on the blood circulating in the vessels of the iris. In some in rare cases The red color of blood, when mixed with blue, gives a slight violet tint.

Purple eyes!
The most unusual and rare eye color is deep purple. This is extremely rare, perhaps only a few people on earth have a similar eye color, so this phenomenon has been little studied, and there are different versions and myths about this that go back centuries. But most likely, violet eyes do not give their owner any superpowers.

This phenomenon is called heterochromia, which translated from Greek means “ different colour" The reason for this feature is different quantities melanin in the irises of the eye. There is complete heterochromia - when one eye is one color, the other - another, and partial - when parts of the iris of one eye are different colors.

Can eye color change throughout life?
Within one color group color can change depending on lighting, clothing, makeup, even mood. In general, with age, most people's eyes lighten, losing their original bright color.