Your regional genetic ancestry results may not always be what you were anticipating, and there are several possible explanations for that.
DNA inheritance isn’t always equal
You inherit half your DNA from each of your parents, but that’s as neat as any ancestry division gets. You don’t inherit equal amounts of DNA from each grandparent; you might get more from one than the others, and so on as you go farther and farther back into your ancestral chain. Even siblings can have genetic ancestries that are different. If you are missing a region that you expected to see, you may not have inherited enough DNA from ancestors from particular regions for it to show up in your report.
DNA doesn’t always map to modern geopolitical borders
Throughout history, people have migrated from one place to another. Empires that once contained many modern-day countries have risen and fallen. Borders have been annexed. New nations have been formed. As a result, while our family history tells us we hail from one area, and while our more recent relatives might have, our DNA may tell another story.
Calculating regional genetic ancestry is an emerging scientific field
The science of tracing one’s ancestry through their DNA is still developing. Ancestry reports will only get more accurate over time as more methods for collecting and analyzing data are developed.
We can only compare your DNA to the DNA that is available in our reference data sets. It is possible you have share ancestry with a population that is not in any of our reference sets. If this is the case, you will not see that specific ancestry in your report.