What Are the Rarest Eye Colors?

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Plus, the science behind eye color & how it relates to your health
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Depending on where you live, you probably see lots of shades of brown or blue eyes, or maybe the occasional hazel or elusive green—but which one is the rarest of all? Are there more, even rarer eye colors to behold? In this article, we’ll explore all human eye colors, ranked from most to least rare around the world, plus explain the science that causes all these different hues. Read on to learn more!

The Top 3 Rarest Eye Colors

  1. Red, pink, or violet eyes occur in 0.01% of the global population due to albinism.
  2. Green eyes occur in 2% of people and are the rarest naturally occurring eye color.
  3. Gray eyes occur in about 3% of people because of a lack of melanin in the iris.
Section 1 of 4:

Eye Colors Ranked from Most to Least Rare

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  1. Red, pink, or violet eyes are not caused by pigments in your iris, but by albinism. Albinism is a total or near total lack of melanin, which colors your hair, skin, and eyes. [1] When there is no melanin in the eye at all, the iris appears red because the light that hits it is reflecting off of red blood vessels rather than pigment particles. When there is a small amount of pigment (below the levels needed to make a clear blue color), this red light bounces around the melanin particles and may appear violet. [2]
    • How rare is it? Only about 1 in 20,000 people in the world has albinism, and not all albino people have red or violet eyes. [3] It’s hard to estimate an exact percentage of people with this eye color, but some estimate the number is as low as 0.01%.
    • Most albino people actually have incredibly faint blue eyes (though they can be brown or hazel, too). It’s the way the light hits the eye that makes it appear red or violet.
    • Albinism can affect the whole body (oculocutaneous albinism), or it can be localized to only the eyes (ocular albinism).
    • Many genes can affect albinism, but the most prominent is the OCA2 gene (after which oculocutaneous albinism is named).
  2. Green is the most rare naturally occurring eye color that’s not due to a special circumstance like albinism. The green color comes from a complex interaction of genes and melanin; green eyes have more melanin than blue eyes, but less than brown. Green-eyed people typically have alleles (alternative forms of genes caused by mutation) that would normally create brown eyes, but with one gene “switched off” that allows the green color to come through. [4] Other factors, like hints of brown and yellow pigments, also contribute to the overall green color.
    • How rare is it? Only 2% of the global population is estimated to have green eyes. [5]
    • Green eyes are most common in Central, Western, and Northern Europe. European Americans with recent Celtic or Germanic ancestry make up about 16% of all green-eyed people.
    • The genes responsible for green eyes are also believed to be linked to having red hair.
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  3. Gray eyes used to be considered a subset of blue eyes and can come in shades from dark gray to blue-gray to green-gray and more. Gray eyes happen when the front layer of your cornea has very little melanin while the back layer has lots of brown melanin. The thin layer of collagen between these layers may also be slightly thicker in gray-eyed people, which causes a “cloudy” effect that may appear gray, blue, or green. [6]
    • How rare is it? Only about 3% of the world population has gray eyes, making gray the second rarest naturally occurring eye color. [7]
    • Gray eyes are most common in Central and South Asia and the Middle East.
  4. Amber-colored eyes are the third rarest in the world after green and gray. They contain more melanin than hazel eyes (which are primarily brown with spots of green, gold, yellow, and/or amber) but less than fully brown eyes. Their rich, golden-yellow tint comes from a yellowish pigment called lipochrome. Unlike hazel eyes, which may appear to shift colors or have flecks in it, amber eyes consist of a single hue. [8]
    • How rare is it? About 5% of the global population has amber eyes.
    • Amber eyes are most commonly found in Pakistan and the Balkans, but are also present in Europe (especially southern France, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula), the Middle East, and the “southern cone” region of South America.
  5. Hazel eyes can be brown- or green-dominant, with brown-dominant eyes being the most common. The iris displays flecks of green, lighter brown, or gold, giving hazel eyes their characteristic complexity and ability to “change colors” with the light (the eye doesn’t really change color, but onlookers see it differently based on how the light hits it). Hazel eyes are a dominant trait, like brown eyes, so if one parent has them, it’s highly likely their child will as well. [9]
    • How rare is it? About 5% or more of people have hazel eyes, making them just barely more common than amber eyes. [10]
    • Hazel eyes are most common in the Middle East, North Africa, Brazil, and in people of Spanish ancestry.
  6. Blue is the second most common eye color. Blue eyes can range from dark to light and are caused by a lack of melanin in the front layer of the iris (the back layer is brown with melanin). This means that longer, darker light waves are absorbed by the eye while shorter, lighter waves are reflected back, giving the iris a blue color. [11]
    • How rare is it? About 8 to 10% of the world population has blue eyes. [12]
    • Blue eyes are most common in Northern and Eastern Europe (especially in the Baltics). However, they can also be found in other places like North Africa and Central, South, or West Asia.
    • Did you know? It’s believed that all blue-eyed people have a common ancestor. Scientists speculate that a genetic mutation occurred in the people of northern Europe and Scandinavia about 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, and all blue-eyed people are (very distantly) descended from the first person to have this mutation. [13]
  7. Brown eyes are by far the most common eye color on the planet. They occur when both layers of the iris and the stroma between them contain melanin, which can absorb both long and short wavelengths of light. Basically, the more melanin you have, the browner your eyes are. [14]
    • How rare is it? Up to 80% of all people worldwide have brown eyes, making it overwhelmingly the most common eye color.
    • Brown eyes are found all over the world. Darker brown eyes are common to Africa, East Asia, and South Asia, while lighter brown eyes can be found in Europe, West Asia, and the Americas.
    • It’s believed that almost all humans had brown eyes up until 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, when the first blue-eyed mutation is thought to have occurred.
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Section 2 of 4:

What determines your eye color?

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  1. The amount of melanin in your iris (especially in the front layer) ultimately dictates what color your eyes will be. Lots of melanin leads to a darker, richer brown color on one end of the spectrum, while very little melanin causes light blue or gray eyes on the other end. [15]
    • The iris is the circular muscle that wraps around your pupil, or the dark circle in the center of your eye. When it contracts, it partially closes the pupil and limits how much light can enter your eye.
  2. Scientists used to believe that a single gene controlled your eye color (maybe you remember learning about dominant and recessive alleles in biology that cause brown or blue eyes, respectively). However, new research shows it’s more complicated than that. Today, it’s estimated that there are about 16 genes that can influence your eye color. [16]
    • The OCA2 and HERC2 genes are the most important to eye color. OCA2 creates a protein that helps make and store melanin, and HERC2 controls whether the OCA2 gene is “on” or “off.” When HERC2 turns OCA2 off, there is less melanin in the eyes and the color is lighter.
    • Other genes play smaller roles in eye color. These include the SIP, IRF4, SLC24A4, SLC24A5, SLC45A2, TPCN2, TYR, and TYRP1 genes.
    • All these interacting genes mean that a baby’s eye color can’t be 100% accurately assumed based on the parents’ eye colors alone.
  3. In rare cases, a genetic condition, illness, or injury can affect the color of one or both of your eyes. These may include specific conditions like:
    • Heterochromia: People with heterochromia have eyes that are different colors because one eye produces more melanin than the other. This can be genetic or caused by an injury, surgery, illness like diabetes or glaucoma, or certain medications (like those that treat glaucoma). [17] Only about 1% of humans have this condition, but it’s more common in animals.
    • Anisocoria: This condition causes the pupils to be different sizes, which can make one eye appear darker than the other (especially if the iris is dark brown). Some may be born with anisocoria, but it’s more often a suddenly occurring symptom of a larger health problem or injury. About 15% of people experience anisocoria at one point in their lives. [18]
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Section 3 of 4:

Eye Color & Your Health

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  1. The differences are pretty minimal, but studies show minor pros and cons to having dark or light eyes. People with light colored eyes (like blue, gray, or red) may be more likely to abuse alcohol, suffer from light sensitivity (especially those with albinism), or develop conditions like macular degeneration (a loss of your central field of vision) or ocular melanoma (eye cancer). [19]
    • Dark eyes, however, seem more resilient. People with dark eyes may be more resistant to age-related hearing loss, are less sensitive to light, and have a lower risk of macular degeneration or melanoma. [20]
    • Light eyes aren’t all bad, though. Other studies show that women with blue eyes may have a higher pain tolerance during childbirth than dark-eyed women. [21] Light-eyed people also have a decreased risk of vitiligo (a skin condition where patches of skin lose their pigment). [22]
  2. Cataracts is a condition that clouds up the lens of your eye, making it appear milky or more gray. If you didn’t have gray eyes before and they begin turning gray, cataracts may be to blame. It’s common with aging and can affect your vision, but is thankfully fairly simple to correct with surgery. [23]
  3. Yes, even your eyes can freckle! Iris freckles look like small brown dots and appear on the surface of the iris. These are typically harmless and don’t require intervention. [24]
    • Large, dark freckles or growths are called iris nevi and are caused by pigment cells called melanocytes. These are also usually harmless, but should be monitored over time as they’re a cancer risk.
  4. With this condition, structures in the eye (including the front of the iris) are inflamed, leading to a gradual lightening of the iris color. The causes of this condition aren’t fully known, and it can lead to glaucoma or other vision impairments if left untreated. [25]
  5. Most notably, glaucoma medications called prostaglandins can permanently darken your natural eye color over time. Other conditions like pigment dispersion syndrome simply change the concentration and location of pigments in your eye, changing the color all over or in certain spots where there’s less melanin. [26]
    • If you’re concerned about the changing color of your eyes, visit your doctor for an exam and diagnosis.
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Section 4 of 4:

Frequently Asked Questions: Eye Color

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  1. No, your mood or emotions cannot change the color of your iris. However, changes in the light, tears in your eyes, and your facial expression can all affect how much light is reflecting out of your eyes, possibly making them seem slightly darker or lighter than normal (but definitely not a different color or hue).
  2. No, your iris cannot be colored true black. “Black” eyes are usually just very dark brown and may appear to blend in with the pupil, giving the eye an overall black look.
  3. Which eye color someone finds attractive is subjective, but surveys show that there are some general preferences between men and women. In an experiment by Lenstore, dating profiles for men and women were shown to prospective matches with digitally altered eye colors. According to the results: [27]
    • Hazel was the most attractive eye color in women, followed by blue, then brown, then green.
    • Blue was the most attractive eye color in men, followed by brown, green, and hazel.
  4. The only safe way to change your eye color is to wear prescription colored contact lenses. There are color-changing eye drops and surgeries available, but these are considered unsafe and come with big risks of side effects including vision loss, light sensitivity, injury to the cornea, or infection. [28]
  5. Yes, a baby’s eyes may change color over their first year. When they’re born, some babies have an eye color that’s more blue-gray than their adult eye color. The eye will darken with age and reach its mature color after about 9 months to a year. [29]
    • Outside of this, your eye color shouldn’t change throughout your life unless affected by a medication or condition.
  6. One of the easiest ways is to wear colors that accentuate your eyes. For blue eyes professional stylist Hannah Park suggests wearing “pastel colors like pinks, blues, and purples to bring out blue eyes. Even white brings out blue eyes.”
    • For brown eyes, she suggests choosing “something that’s a contrast. [Colors like] green, white, and yellow offset brown eyes.”
    • For green eyes, Park suggests “bright colors like orange, more green, yellow, blue, and red” to bring out green.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/albinism/symptoms-causes/syc-20369184
      2. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg2010126
      3. ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21747-albinism
      4. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg2010126
      5. ↑ https://www.worldatlas.com/society/the-world-s-population-by-eye-color.html
      6. ↑ https://myvision.org/eye-health/gray-eyes/
      7. ↑ https://www.worldatlas.com/society/the-world-s-population-by-eye-color.html
      8. ↑ https://www.worldatlas.com/society/the-world-s-population-by-eye-color.html
      9. ↑ https://www.visioncenter.org/conditions/hazel-eyes/
      1. ↑ https://www.worldatlas.com/society/the-world-s-population-by-eye-color.html
      2. ↑ https://myvision.org/education/blue-eyes/
      3. ↑ https://www.worldatlas.com/society/the-world-s-population-by-eye-color.html
      4. ↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg2010126
      5. ↑ https://myvision.org/education/brown-eyes/
      6. ↑ https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/traits/eyecolor/
      7. ↑ https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/traits/eyecolor/
      8. ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/25112-heterochromia
      9. ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22422-anisocoria
      10. ↑ https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/condition/macular-degeneration
      11. ↑ https://www.nvisioncenters.com/education/eye-color-guide/
      12. ↑ https://inside.upmc.com/can-eye-color-predict-pain-tolerance/
      13. ↑ https://www.nvisioncenters.com/education/eye-color-guide/
      14. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyes-changing-color
      15. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyes-changing-color
      16. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyes-changing-color
      17. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyes-changing-color
      18. ↑ https://www.readers.com/blogs/news/most-attractive-eye-colors
      19. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/change-eye-color-surgery-eyedrops-safety-risk
      20. ↑ https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/why-are-my-eyes-changing-color

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