Where are most FTDNA users located?

[EricDu]

I recently sent my kit and I'm expecting results later this month.

Since I am the first member of my family to migrate to the US, and based on my old-fashioned genealogy research, I expect to find the vast majority of my ancestry in western Europe. I expect most matches to come from that region as well.

From what I see in the forums, it looks like most users are located in North America. If that reflects the overall user base, I'm not likely to find many blood relatives here. French laws restricting DNA testing are not encouraging either.

I'm still curious to see whether my ethnic background will confirm my assumptions, but I'm afraid the "Family Finder" feature will be of little value.

[Frank Kelch]

I believe that I once read that 70% of FTDNA's users are from the USA. I know there are a lot of british, irish, scandinavian and finnish people in the database. And there are very few germans.

[Frank Kelch]

And when you get your results, be sure to upload your data to My Heritage (no cost). They now have more people in their database than FTDNA, and they let you sort your matches by country. They also seem to have at least as many europeans in their database as FTDNA.

[georgian1950]

You probably find a surprising number of relatives here. The problem is figuring out the common ancestor.

Jack

[ifiru]

I believe that I once read that 70% of FTDNA's users are from the USA. I know there are a lot of british, irish, scandinavian and finnish people in the database. And there are very few germans.

I have heard that in Finland about 90 % of genealogical dna tests are done at FTDNA.

[ifiru]

How about russian people? Do they use FTDNA to genealogical dna tests?

[dagian]

I am from the UK but currently live in Germany and had my FTDNA Testing Kit shipped to a German Address - no problem. However, I then attempted to Order a Ancestry DNA Test and was informed they are not allowed to Ship to Germany/France/Spain/Italy. In some Countries DNA Testing is only lawful when carried out under Medical Supervision but that is intended (I assume) primarily in respect of Paternity Testing etc. This is possibly the main reason that so few are tested in those Countries.

[khazaria]

How about russian people? Do they use FTDNA to genealogical dna tests?

Yes, many of them use FTDNA. 23andMe and AncestryDNA do not currently ship to Russia. I have seen chatter in Russian genetics forums about their use of FTDNA for Y-DNA and autosomal DNA testing. Some of them set up FTDNA projects such as "RussiaDNA" and "N North Eurasia".

[EricDu]

However, I then attempted to Order a Ancestry DNA Test and was informed they are not allowed to Ship to Germany/France/Spain/Italy. In some Countries DNA Testing is only lawful when carried out under Medical Supervision but that is intended (I assume) primarily in respect of Paternity Testing etc. This is possibly the main reason that so few are tested in those Countries.

I was not aware of the tests being illegal in Germany until now. I found this (slightly outdated) report on the legislation of genetic tests in Europe <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3376265/>. France and Germany represent roughly 75% of my heritage and DTC genetic testing is heavily regulated in both countries. So we'll see what the Family Finder finds.

[Frank Kelch]

How about russian people? Do they use FTDNA to genealogical dna tests?

I have a few russian distant cousin matches with FTDNA.

[Frank Kelch]

I am from the UK but currently live in Germany and had my FTDNA Testing Kit shipped to a German Address - no problem. However, I then attempted to Order a Ancestry DNA Test and was informed they are not allowed to Ship to Germany/France/Spain/Italy. In some Countries DNA Testing is only lawful when carried out under Medical Supervision but that is intended (I assume) primarily in respect of Paternity Testing etc. This is possibly the main reason that so few are tested in those Countries.

Odd, because there doesn't seem to be a problem shipping FTDNA or My Heritage kits to Germany. I have german distant cousin matches from both of those countries.

[KATM]

Odd, because there doesn't seem to be a problem shipping FTDNA or My Heritage kits to Germany. I have german distant cousin matches from both of those countries.

It's possible that because both the 23andMe test (all versions) and the current v. 2 of Ancestry's DNA test both contain markers for medical conditions, their tests run afoul of laws in countries like Germany. While 23andMe has done such testing/reporting since the beginning, and provides health results to customers*, Ancestry has not, as yet, done the same. They may well do so in the future, otherwise why incorporate such markers on their chip?

Family Tree DNA does not test for, or report on, medical results (they "strip out" the health markers), so if MyHeritage is the same way, this may be why they are allowed to sell kits in Germany (and elsewhere) while the other two companies are not. Some customers dislike FTDNA "stripping out" these health markers, but to my mind, I'm glad there is an option for genetic genealogy testing that is ONLY for that: matching to relatives, and providing an ethnicity prediction.

See the following links:

• FTDNA Learning Center: "Is the Family Finder Test Medical?"
• FTDNA Forums, topic "MTHFR"

*23andMe charges for health results in some countries for a separate fee, but not in the U.S.A. In some countries (Germany included), 23andMe sells the "Ancestry" part of their product, but not the "health reports" part. See "Genealogical Testing Around the Globe" for a list of countries in which the various DNA testing companies sell their kits.