Health - Wellness
How Rare Are Green Eyes?
By NIKO VERCELLETTO
Between 55% and 79% of the world's population has brown eyes, and scientists have determined that roughly 10,000 years ago everyone on Earth did. However, that all changed when someone was born with a gene mutation that resulted in less melanin in the eye, leading to different eye colors.
Today, people with blue eyes make up 8% to 10% of the population, while those with green eyes make up only 2%. Green-eyed people have the ultra-rare combination of low melanin and high amounts of a pigment called lipochrome.
Having green eyes requires the perfect blend from your parents' eye colors, as well as genetic luck from your ancestors. Of course, there are even rarer conditions — like being born with two different color eyes — but green is the rarest of the standard colors.