Hair, Skin and Eye Color Statistics in Ireland Circa 1940s
C. Wesley Dupertuis conducted a survey of Irish people in the 1940s under the guidance of the Department of Anthropology of Harvard University, and gathered the following data:
At the time, the hair color of the Irish was predominantly brown. Less than 15% had black or ashen hair; 50% had dark brown hair. Medium brown hues made up another 15%. Persons with blond and light brown hair accounted for close to 5%, while approximately 10% had auburn or red hair. Both golden and dark brown shades could be seen in the southwestern counties of Ireland, but fairest hair in general is most common in the Central Plain. Ulster had been evidenced to have the highest frequencies of red and blond hair, with the lowest found in Wexford and Waterford.
Studies have indicated the Irish are "almost uniquely pale skinned when unexposed, untanned parts of the body, are observed" and "40% of the entire group are freckled to some extent". Moreover, "in the proportion of pure light eyes", data shows that "Ireland competes successfully with the blondest regions of Scandinavia", as approximately 42% of the Irish population have pure blue eyes. Another 30% have been found to possess light-mixed eyes and "less than 1 half of 1% have pure brown".
Read more about this topic: Black Irish
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