The rarest blood group in humans - world statistics. What is the rarest blood type in the world? Blood groups of the world's population

Designated by the absence or content of special substances (antigens) of type A and B: I – 0 (antigens are absent), II – A (type A antigen is present), III – B (type B antigen is present in the blood), IV – AB (contains both types of these substances).

Blood is also classified according to the presence or absence of the Rh factor. Rh factor is an antigen found on the surface of red blood cells. The rarest is determined by both indicators. According to statistics, the fourth with a negative Rh factor has this status. Less than one percent of the planet's population (mostly) has it.

It is allowed to transfuse only blood of the same group and rhesus between the patient and the donor. If absolutely necessary, it is allowed to transfuse other groups with the first blood group, which has the same Rh factor.

How did the fourth blood group appear?

According to scientists, in ancient times almost all people had one blood type - the first, and therefore it is the most common on most continents. Thanks to mutations, the second and third blood groups arose. Such mutations arose due to the restructuring of the body of primitive man, who learned to eat, in addition to meat, fish, berries, leaves, and vegetables. According to scientists, the third blood group appeared on the territory of South Asian countries, whose inhabitants ate products obtained from domestic animals (milk, cottage cheese, cheese, thermally processed meat, and so on).

The rarest fourth group appeared no more than 10 centuries ago; the reason for its occurrence remains unknown. However, there are suggestions that it arose as a result of race mixing. Since such marriages are a rare occurrence, there are very few people with the fourth blood group. There is also an opinion that this type of blood appeared due to a significant increase over the past five hundred years in the human diet of processed foods, as well as synthetic and semi-synthetic foods.

According to one version, the fourth blood group was formed as a result of damage to the human body by viral infections.

People with the fourth blood group have unique abilities to adapt to nutritional conditions and the environment, and their body has a high resistance to diseases. Such people have a sensitive digestive system and a very tolerant immune system.

There are many classifications that divide blood into groups. All are designed to target different antigens and antibodies—small particles that are either attached to the red blood cell membrane or float freely in the plasma.

The first experiments with blood transfusion most often ended in the death of the patient. The thing is that then people did not have the slightest idea about blood groups. Today, the most common classifications are the AB0 system and the Rh factor system.

According to the ABO system, blood is classified as follows:

  • 0 – first,
  • A - second,
  • B - third,
  • AB is the fourth.

What determines the rarity of a blood group?

The rarity of blood groups, like many other features of our body, depends on natural selection. The fact is that throughout the entire two-million-year history of mankind, people have had to adapt to new conditions of existence.

The climate changed, new diseases appeared, and our blood developed with them. The oldest and most common group is the first. Scientists believe that it was she who was the original, and all the groups known today came from her.

Rare groups appeared much later, so they are not so common in the population.

Which group is the least common?

In the world, the leader in rarity is 4 negative blood group. Despite popular belief, 4 positive is approximately 3 times more common. There are more people with it than people with negative blood type 3.

Why is group 4 the least common?

The fact is that its very appearance can be considered a peculiar phenomenon. It combines the properties of two opposing blood types - A and B.

People with blood type 4 have a strong immune system that easily adapts to environmental conditions. By biological standards, this group is the most complex.

This type of blood appeared only a couple of thousand years ago. At the moment, it is the most in demand at any blood transfusion station, since there are still not many carriers of it.


The youngest and rarest group is the fourth

What blood is most common?

The most common blood is the first group (or zero according to the AB0 classification). The second is a little less common.

The third and fourth are considered rare. The total percentage of their carriers in the world does not exceed 13–15.

The most common types (1 and 2) arose at the dawn of mankind. Their carriers are considered the most susceptible to allergies of various origins, autoimmune processes and other diseases. Blood of this type has changed little over hundreds of thousands of years, so it is considered the least adapted to modern conditions.

The percentage of blood types is also determined by the Rh factor. Positive is much more common than negative. Even 1 negative group, which is the leader among negative blood types, occurs in 7% of people.

The distribution of blood groups also depends on race. A person of the Mongoloid race will have Rh positive blood in 99% of cases, while for Europeans, Rh positive is about 85%.

Europeans are the most common carriers of group 1, Africans are carriers of group 2, and group 3 is the most common among Asians.

Blood types: percentage prevalence

As statistics show, different types of blood vary greatly in prevalence in the world. People with type 0 can be found without much difficulty, and type AB blood is unique in its own way.

The following table will help you finally understand which groups are the most common and which are much less common:

0+ 40%
0- 7%
A+ 34%
A- 6%
B+ 8%
IN- 1%
AB+ 3%
AB- 1%

Who should donate blood?

Medical sources say that it is always preferable to transfuse a person with blood of the exact group of which he is a carrier. Therefore, it is very important that blood banks have all types of blood.

The main rule of blood transfusion is that people with positive blood can be given negative blood. If done the other way around, the person who needs the transfusion will die. This is due to the biological characteristics of the antigen-antibody system.

Although type 1 is considered rare, its uniqueness lies in the fact that in emergency cases such people can be transfused with blood of any type, provided that the Rh factors are compatible. At the same time, other types of blood are not so universal.

Group AB can only be transfused to people with the same blood type.

No matter what kind of blood you have, by donating it you will help save a person’s life. The most expensive and sought after blood is Rh negative. If you are one of the 15% of people who carry it, be sure to think about the possibility of becoming a donor. Periodic blood donation is not only charity, but also a way to improve the functional state of your hematopoietic system.

Video: The rarest blood type

Blood has not been fully studied, so research is still ongoing. Nowadays, it is customary to determine it by group and Rh factor. According to the AB0 system, proposed at the beginning of the last century by K. Landsteiner, there are four varieties that differ in composition:

  • 0 – first;
  • A – second;
  • B – third;
  • AB is the fourth.

Distribution in the world

According to statistics, approximately 40% of the world's population has type I blood, 32% have type II, 22% have type III, and the rarest blood type - fourth - is found in only 6%.

In addition, it can be Rh positive or Rh negative, depending on whether an antigen, called the Rh factor, is present on the surface of red blood cells. On average, 85% of people are Rh positive, 15% are negative. To be more precise, this ratio is true for Europeans; as for representatives of the Negroid race, 93% of them have Rh-positive blood, among the Mongoloids there are the most such people - 99%.

Blood groups are unevenly distributed among representatives of different races. It is believed that Europeans most often have the second one, the inhabitants of the African continent have the first one, and Asians mostly have the third one.

Sometimes they say that there is a predisposition to certain diseases depending on the group. However, these are just observations and not supported by scientific evidence.

Theory of origin

There are several theories about the emergence of different groups. According to one of them, at first all people on Earth had one, the rest appeared as a result of mutations, which is associated with a change in lifestyle.

The oldest is the first. The ancient people who hunted had it. Today it remains the most common on the planet.

The second appeared when a person’s diet changed: they stopped eating raw meat and added greens, roots, and plant fruits to their diet.

The third originated in Asia. Her education is also associated with the diet in those regions: milk and meat from livestock.

The youngest and rarest blood group is the fourth. It is believed that it appeared not due to changes in human conditions, but as a result of the fusion of species A and B in mixed marriages of Indo-Europeans with Mongoloids. Supposedly, she is only 1000 years old.

The rarest blood

Thus, group IV is the least common. Which blood type is the rarest based on the Rh factor? Again, the fourth one is negative. On Earth, approximately 0.4% of people have such blood, that is, one person out of 200 thousand. It is unevenly distributed across the planet. For example, in China such people make up only 0.05% of the population.

The youngest and rarest group in the world is the fourth

The fourth positive is much more common than the negative. If we talk about the prevalence in the world, then its carriers are about 5% of the population. This figure may be different in some countries. About 7% of residents of Turkey, China, Israel, Finland, and Poland have such blood.

Rare ones include the third negative - about 1.5%, the second negative - 3.5%, the first negative - 4.3%.

Bombay phenomenon

This name was given to a very rare variety that was first discovered in a resident of the Indian city of Bombay (nowadays Mumbai) in 1952. In the world it occurs in 0.0001% of the population, in India in 0.01%. It does not have A and B antigens and is defined as I, but at the same time it also lacks H antigen.

Conclusion

In addition to the above, there are other rare varieties that are still being researched. The rare species does not affect human life or health in any way. Difficulties may arise if blood transfusion is required. The ideal option is to donate your own blood in advance, in case a transfusion is required.

Blood is the personification of mobile connective tissue, consisting of plasma, as well as formed components, including leukocytes, platelets and erythrocytes. Even from a school biology course, we know that there are generally accepted classifications of this liquid, which include the ABO system and the Rh factor. How to determine a person's blood type? To accomplish this task, a simple medical test is performed in which monoclonal antibodies are added and the reaction is observed. It is thanks to these tests and statistics that today it is not difficult to identify the rarest blood groups, taking into account the Rh factor.

Percentage of blood groups

Thus, the ABO system provides for the conditional division of different blood groups according to the presence of three antigens. At first, there was only Group I, which was considered the primary source of the others. Currently, about 40% of the population of the entire planet are its owners. They mainly live in South and Central America. Blood type II is rarer - it is characteristic mainly of Europeans, it belongs to about 30% of the world's population. Even less common are carriers of blood group III, who are predominantly Asian residents. In total, about 22% of people have this type of blood. And only 5.5% of the population, regardless of location, have group IV. Considering how difficult it is to find a donor for those with the latter type of blood, in some states it is customary to force such people to donate it for storage.

5 rarest blood groups according to the ABO system and Rh factor

It is no secret that in addition to ABO, the Rh factor is used to classify blood groups. There are only two: positive and negative. The first case is widespread. Rh negative is extremely rare and indicates the absence of the D antigen, which in some people is found on the surface of red blood cells. Despite this fact, owners of even a positive fourth blood group are very rare, since there are only more than 5 percent of them in the world.

It is important to understand that it is extremely difficult to find a donor for this blood transfusion. Fortunately, medicine has long been developing the topic related to the creation of blood substitutes. Perhaps in the near future the ABO system and Rh factors will remain only part of the story.


One of the rarest blood groups is considered to be the first negative, whose carriers make up only 4.33% of the total population in the world. It is believed that owners of this fluid are universal donors. That is, their blood is suitable for representatives of other groups. At the same time, in medicine they try to use not only the ABO classification, but also the Rh factor. Accordingly, if possible, for people with the first negative group, they try to look for the same donors. Not at all, they are not easy to find. Therefore, the first positive group is often used in case of emergency situations.


The same trend is observed here as with a positive Rh factor - the higher the group, the less common its owners are. For example, the ratio of second negative blood is only 3.52% of the total number of people on Earth. Only negative groups 1 and 2 are suitable for transfusion.

It is believed that the presence of such blood in a woman, provided that the partner is Rh positive, provides a number of difficulties in bearing a fetus. Actually this is not true. The fact is that Rh conflict can occur not with a man, but with a child. And then only if he inherits a positive factor. As practice shows, children more often accept their mother's Rhesus. However, you will still have to pay due attention to the examinations.


If we take the total population as 7.5 billion people, it turns out that only 97 million of them have a third negative blood group. This figure is 1.3% of the total number of people. Nothing is a small result. Accordingly, in some countries there may be only a few dozen people who can act as a “net donor”. Consequently, the inhabitants of the planet have a hard time with this group. But we should not forget about progress in the field of medicine, and that alternative options are already known. We need to wait a few more years, and artificial blood substitutes will be used everywhere. In any case, that's what I want to believe.


The rarest blood group in the world is the fourth with a negative Rh factor. About 0.40% of the population can boast of having this blood, although there is nothing particularly to be happy about.

Finally, I would like to add that there is a tiny percentage of people in the world whose group it is impossible to define due to the lack of appropriate classification. In 1952, a grandiose scientific discovery took place, for which there is no explanation to date. Experts called the phenomenon the “Bombay Phenomenon.” This happened as part of a study of a malaria epidemic. As a result, three people were found in whose blood antigens could not be found to determine their group and rhesus. It turned out that agglutinogens are not synthesized on the membrane of their blood. We are talking about universal donors.

Human blood is distinguished by groups, there are 4 of them, and by the Rh factor, which can be positive and negative. According to statistics, 80% of the world's population have a positive Rh factor. Only 20% of people in the world have a negative Rh factor. Therefore, Rh with a "-" sign is less common. In addition, there is a blood type that is common, and there is one that is rare. Which group is considered the rarest - this is the question we will consider further.

According to statistics, the first blood group is more common in the world. 40% of the population have it. 32% of people in the world have the second blood group. Then comes the third blood group, which accounts for 22%.

The rarest blood group is group 4. Only 6% of all people in the world have it. And the rarest group with Rhesus is fourth group Rh negative, it affects 0.4% of people.

She appeared later than everyone else, so she is considered young. This blood type arose due to mixed marriages, and not external influence, like the others. It has a complex chemical composition, due to which a laboratory technician with little experience may confuse it with the second or third blood group. The only group with which the fourth group has nothing in common is the first. Even a doctor who does not have much experience in conducting tests will not confuse them.

Very rare blood

The first blood group is common, and the fourth is the least common. As for the Rh factor, there are some nuances here. Thus, fourth positive blood is more common than negative blood. If we talk about exact data, then group IV with Rh “+” is present in 5.6% of the world’s population, and group IV with Rh “-” accounts for only 0.4%.

From the point of view of the Rh factor, there are other rare blood groups - this is the first negative. 4.3% of the world's population has it. Then comes the second group with a Rh factor with a “-” sign; 3.5% of the population has it. As for the third negative blood group, only 1.5% of the population has it. Groups with a positive Rh factor are quite common, as already mentioned.

The uniqueness of the fourth blood group

The fourth blood group is the rarest and most unique. If a person with such blood needs a transfusion, then any other blood will do. Therefore, there is no point in looking for a donor with this particular blood type, which would be difficult, since it is rare. You can take any other blood type from the blood bank and use it for transfusion. In this case, only the Rh factor is taken into account. If a person has the fourth negative blood group, then they take any other negative Rh blood, and vice versa, if a person has the fourth positive blood, then any other group, but positive, will be required.

However, such blood can only be transfused to people with the fourth blood group. This is where its uniqueness lies. It will not suit a person with the first, second or third blood group, even if they have the same Rh factor. Even doctors don’t know why this happens.

This blood group is “responsible” for human creativity. For such people, emotions dominate over reason. They are prone to fantasy, they have developed intuition and are distinguished by impeccable taste and a thirst for beauty. There are many artists, poets and musicians here. Therefore, the fourth blood group is considered bohemian. Such people are compassionate and kind. They are unlikely to remain indifferent to someone else’s grief and will try to come to the rescue. They easily forgive insults, although they take everything to heart. However, communicating with such people is not easy. They require increased attention. They are ready to be offended even by an innocent remark made to them. A harsh word can hurt them. Among people with this blood type there are many fanatics and people with unstable psyches.

Still, it cannot be said that people with the fourth blood group are more talented than people with the first or any other blood group. It’s just that this case has its own characteristic features that are difficult not to notice.



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