I received my latest AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate last week.
1) The latest estimate said that I was:
* 68% England & Northwestern Europe
* 13% Scotland
* 10% Sweden & Denmark
* 7% Norway
* 2% Wales.
It also broke down my ethnicity separating out my mother's ethnicity and my father's ethnicity using the new Sideview feature:
* 68% British Isles
* 24% Germany/Switzerland
* 1% Holland/Belgium
* 1% France
* 6% Unknown (perhaps some are French, Dutch, Scandinavian, Belgian, English, Native American, or other places)
3) In past years, my AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates have been:
September 2021:
* 65% England & Northwestern Europe
* 10% Sweden and Denmark
* 6% Germanic Europe
* 6% Ireland
* 5% Norway
* 5% Wales
* 3% Scotland
September 2020:
* 46% England and Northwestern Europe
* 19% Scotland
* 16% Germanic Europe
* 7% Sweden
* 7% Norway
* 5% Ireland
* November 2019:
* 63% - England, Wales, & Northwestern Europe
* 23% Germanic Europe
* 6% - Norway
* 5% - Ireland and Scotland
* 3% - Sweden
August 2018:
* 84% England and Wales
* 13% Norway
* 1 Other Regions
February 2016:
* 66% Europe West
* 18% Ireland
* 9% Great Britain
* 3% Scandinavian
* 1% Italy/Greece
* <1% Iberian Peninsula
* <1% Pacific Islander
* < !% Native-American
September 2013:
* America = < 1%
*** Native American = < 1%
* Europe = 98%
*** Europe West = 66%
*** Ireland = 18%
*** Great Britain = 9%
*** Scandinavia = 3%
*** Italy Greece = 1%
*** Iberian Peninsula = < 1%
* Pacific Islander = < 1%
*** Polynesia = < 1%
4) Can you see why I am confused? All of these ethnicity estimates are from just one autosomal DNA test of mine. But the Ancestry reference groups keep changing. Somehow I lost all of my "Germanic Europe" (from 23% down to 0%) and gained "Sweden & Denmark" and "Norway." What happened to my "Native-American" and "Pacific Islander" percentages? [NOTE: The Native-American segments have appeared in 23andMe ethnicity estimates from the beginning, on my Chromosome 12.]
I understand that there are ranges for each group, and that each reference group is not composed of persons with a mixed ancestry.
I think that the November 2019 ethnicity estimate was the closest to my perceived genealogical ancestry.
I thought that the ethnicity estimates would settle down after several years, but nine years later they are still unsettled.
Are you complaining because they are modifying the estimate as more knowledge and samples become available? That's like telling your oncologist not to change you to a new better medicine because it is confusing.
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