There's something about green eyes that we can't help but be fascinated by. Maybe it's the fact that they're rare, or maybe it's just that they stand out more, but studies have found that we find green more attractive than any eye color. While they're most common in places like Ireland and Scotland (where green is actually the most prevalent eye color), green eyes can occur in any location and in any race of people. From the origin of Shakespeare's famous quote about green eyes to the green eyes of the animal kingdom, let's take a look at the truth about green eyes.
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00:00Green eyes have always been captivating. However, their timeless mystique has inspired legends
00:05and many outright misconceptions about emerald-colored peepers. Here's the truth behind one of the
00:10most talked-about eye colors.
00:12If your eyes are green, you'll be happy to know that the intrigue surrounding the color
00:15has worked in your favor. In a comprehensive online survey conducted by AllAboutVision.com,
00:20people revealed what they thought to be the most attractive eye color. Congrats, all you
00:24green-eyed folks, your eyes are at the top of the list.
00:27Over 20 percent of those who participated in the survey voted for green eyes as the
00:30most appealing eye color, followed by 16.9 percent for light blue, 16 percent for hazel,
00:36and 15.2 percent for dark blue.
00:38People who sport this desirable eye color also share something in common with some of
00:42the coolest celebs. Adele, Emma Stone, and Scarlett Johansson are just a few famous faces
00:47with green peepers. In fact, Johansson's eyes are so green that a Vanity Fair profile of
00:51the actress called her eyes as pure green as a cat. To put it simply, you and your green
00:55eyes are in good company.
00:57While it may seem like there are a whole lot of celebrities who have green eyes, this eye
01:01color is actually estimated to be one of the rarest eye colors in the world. According
01:05to World Atlas, those with brown eyes make up anywhere from 55 to 79 percent of the world's
01:10population, whereas those with green eyes make up just 2 percent of the global population.
01:14You heard that right, just 2 percent.
01:17Coming in rarer than green is gray, and that means true gray, not blue that sometimes looks
01:21followed by violet and then heterochromia, meaning two different colored eyes. Much like
01:25having green eyes, only 2 percent of the population is estimated to have red hair. But there's
01:30actually a fairly decent chance that a person can wind up with both rare traits. We're looking
01:34at you, Jessica Chastain.
01:36We know we just told you that green eyes are incredibly rare, and they definitely are.
01:40However, if you were to take a trip to Europe, you'd probably start to doubt this fact. Edmund
01:44Custers, a biostatistician, revealed in an article for Owlcation that a whopping 68 percent
01:50of the population in Ireland and Scotland have either blue or green eyes. The situation
01:54is similar in Iceland, as 87 percent of men and 89 percent of women have one of the two
01:58colors.
01:59The expert explained,
02:00"...among European Americans, green eyes are most common in people of recent Celtic or
02:04Germanic ancestry."
02:05In fact, if you were to visit Britain, you might start to believe that green eyes are
02:08more prevalent than brown. According to a study of over 12,000 people, brown eyes are
02:12rarer than green in Britain, despite the fact that brown eyes make up much of the world's
02:16population.
02:18Although we may label people's eyes as green, no one really has green eyes. If you're confused,
02:23allow us to explain.
02:24Irises aren't actually green, they only appear to be. According to eyesight opticians, green
02:28eyes don't contain the color green. Instead, they're a
02:31"...curious blend of light brown pigmentation, a yellowish lipochrome pigment, and a splash
02:36of Rayleigh scattering."
02:37Basically, green eyes only contain a small amount of the brown pigment called melanin.
02:42In the absence of a lot of melanin, Rayleigh scattering occurs. As Custers explained, Rayleigh
02:46scattering happens when
02:47"...longer wavelengths of light pass straight through the eye. Then they are absorbed at
02:51the back of the eye and shorter blue wavelengths are reflected and randomly scattered by the
02:56opaque layer of the iris."
02:58Brown eyes, on the other hand, absorb light because they contain more melanin. Although
03:01Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for making blue eyes, blue-green eyes are especially
03:06unique because of this curious blend of blue wavelengths and yellowish pigmentation.
03:12In a 2014 study about the correlation between eye color and pain conducted by researchers
03:16at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania, healthy female participants
03:20were split into two groups — those with dark eyes like brown and hazel, and those
03:24with light eyes like blue and green. What researchers discovered is that the women with
03:28dark eyes experienced increased anxiety, sleep disturbance, and higher levels of pain during
03:33childbirth.
03:34Ah! Where's the doctor?!
03:37Interestingly, the women with green and blue eyes experienced less anxiety and were better
03:41able to tolerate the pain associated with childbirth. According to researchers, despite
03:45limited sample size, this pilot study revealed patterns that suggest relationships between
03:49eye color and pain-related traits in this population. Unfortunately, researchers don't
03:53yet know why this unique correlation between pain tolerance and eye color exists.
03:58You may not know if your child will have green eyes until quite a while after giving birth.
04:02When a baby is first born, the little one has one of two eye colors — gray or blue.
04:07As HealthyChild.org explains, immediately after birth, cells called melanocytes begin
04:12to secrete melanin — the brown pigment — in the baby's irises. This process starts
04:16happening because melanocytes react to light, and as you can probably guess, there aren't
04:20exactly any sunny days in the womb.
04:22However, this doesn't work like some kind of human glow-in-the-dark technology. You
04:25can't just take your baby into the sunshine and expect to see their true eye color after
04:28stepping back inside. In fact, melanocytes can take up to a year to finish producing
04:33pigment.
04:34That said, you should begin to have an idea of your child's eye color at around the six-month
04:37mark because the process usually starts wrapping up when your baby is half a year old. If
04:42your little one has green peepers after a year, it's safe to say they always will.
04:47Women are more likely than men to have a set of green eyes, though the science as to why
04:50that's the case isn't exactly clear. According to a 2013 study published in the Journal of
04:55Statistics Education, researchers from Iowa State University found that only 12 percent
04:59of male participants surveyed reported having green eyes, while nearly 18 percent of the
05:04female participants had green.
05:05The Daily Beast reported that the 1985 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth reported that
05:10more women than men had green eyes, and an additional study published in Nature Genetics
05:14in 2008 revealed comparable results. In Iceland, over twice as many female participants than
05:19male participants were discovered to have green eyes, and this was also proven to be
05:23the case in the Netherlands. Dutch women really have the guys outnumbered, as they're three
05:27times as likely to have green eyes.
05:30Green eyes are more prevalent in Europe, but this eye color isn't reserved solely for light-haired,
05:34fair-skinned folks. According to biostatistician Edmund Kusters, people of any race can have
05:39green eyes. Kusters explained in Owlcation that countries like Spain, Brazil, Iran, Pakistan,
05:44Afghanistan, and Central Asia have all had populations of people with green eyes, however
05:49small in number. Though rare, green eyes seem to have made their way across a large portion
05:54of the globe.
05:56You might think that people are the only ones that can possess this rare eye color, but
05:59researchers discovered an insect in 2013 with what they described as olive green eyes. Called
06:04the Minestrimon genevacroi, this species can be found in Texas, Costa Rica, and Venezuela,
06:09and of course, on the internet.
06:10But this pretty butterfly isn't the only non-human with green eyes. Man's best friend has also
06:15been known to sport this color. Veterinary ophthalmologist Laura Proieto explained to
06:19the Dodo,
06:20Much like many other details of our body who make us who we are, DNA is the culprit. The
06:24color of the eye is determined by multiple genes that program how much pigment is present
06:29in the iris itself. Your kitty cat can also have a set of green peepers, especially if
06:33she has a fluffy white coat or is all black.
06:36Got any strays in trouble?
06:37No.
06:38Still want to take over the world?
06:39Yes.
06:40Wait, no, I meant no! Nooooo!
06:44If you've ever been teased about your green eyes, you can thank good ol' Billy Shakespeare.
06:48After all, he was perhaps the first person to connect green eyes to envy, one of the
06:51seven deadly sins. As you might remember from English Lit, The Merchant of Venice reads,
06:56"...how all the other passions fleet to air as doubtful thoughts and rash-embraced despair
07:00and shuddering fear and green-eyed jealousy."
07:03A few years later, the famous playwright again referenced the eye color in relation to envy,
07:08writing in Othello,
07:09"...oh, beware my lord of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the
07:12meat it feeds on."
07:14Did Shakespeare have it out for someone with green eyes, or did he just really hate the
07:18color? While we may never know for sure why Shakespeare chose green eyes to symbolize
07:21jealousy, Phrases.org gave it their best guess. According to the website, the color green
07:26was and still is often linked to sickness, possibly because of the light yellowish-green
07:30tinge a person's skin sometimes turns during illness.
07:34In a study published in the International Journal of Indian Psychology, 29 percent of
07:37participants were determined to consider green-eyed people as creative and a bit devious. Dig
07:42that, Shakespeare. Ophthalmologist and researcher Hamedi Khalel says that people with green
07:47eyes do share some similar personality traits, and envy isn't one of them.
07:51According to Khalel, green-eyed people have an air of mystery and a quiet self-sufficiency.
07:56They are often unpredictable but slow to anger. They are original, creative, and perform
08:00well under great pressure. Who's jealous now?
08:04Having green eyes might make you seem cool and mysterious to others, but they unfortunately
08:08come with a few health risks. In fact, all people with light eyes might just be more
08:12prone to developing a particular kind of cancer. As Everyday Health explained, blue and green
08:16eyes contain less pigment than brown eyes, and since pigment is what protects the eye
08:20from cancer-causing ultraviolet light, people with light eyes have an increased risk of
08:24developing melanoma, specifically in the middle layer of the eye.
08:28Ruth Williams, ophthalmologist at the Wheaton Eye Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, and former
08:32president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told Everyday Health,
08:36"...people with light iris color need to be diligent in wearing UV-protected sunglasses.
08:40Light-color irises do tend to be more light-sensitive."
08:43Thankfully, a simple pair of sunglasses with UV protection, of course, can cut your skin
08:46cancer risk and help you avoid any of the eye irritation that comes with light sensitivity.
08:51It's long been a stereotype that those of Irish descent can drink more than their non-Irish
08:56buddies, but like many stereotypes, this hasn't exactly been proven by science. In fact, experts
09:00don't think your ability to hold your liquor has anything to do with genetics. Michael
09:04Fingerhood, associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine,
09:08told ABC News,
09:09"...if you're in an environment where a lot of people drink, it's more common to find
09:13drinkers. In this case, it's very culturally dictated."
09:15However, there might be more to the story. In 2001, researchers evaluated archival samples
09:20from two older studies, one of over 10,000 Caucasian male prisoners and another of nearly
09:252,000 Caucasian women. The researchers found that people with light eyes, quote, consumed
09:29significantly more alcohol than individuals with dark eyes. These findings were similar
09:33to other past studies, which cited that,
09:35"...dark-eyed people exhibit more physiological arousal and more sensitivity to some medications
09:39than light-eyed people."
09:40Based on their findings, the researchers speculated that people with brown eyes may be more sensitive
09:44to alcohol, and because of this, don't tend to drink as much. Whatever the reason, it
09:48appears that green-eyed people can indeed out-drink their brown-eyed cohorts.