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Redheads constitute approximately 4 per cent of the European population. Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads; 13 per cent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 per cent carries the recessive redhead gene. Ireland has the second highest percentage; as many as 10 per cent of the Irish population has red, auburn, or strawberry blond hair. It is thought that up to 46 percent of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene. A 1956 study of hair colour amongst British army recruits also found high levels of red hair in Wales and the English Border counties.
Red-hair is found commonly amongst Ashkenazi Jewish populations, possibly due to the influx of European DNA over a period of centuries, or in the original founding of their communities in Europe, although both Esau and David are described in the Bible as red-haired. In European culture, prior to the 20th century, red-hair was often seen as a stereotypically Jewish trait: during the Spanish Inquisition, all those with red-hair were identified as Jewish. In Italy, red hair was associated with Italian Jews, and Judas was traditionally depicted as red-haired in Italian and Spanish art. Writers from Shakespeare to Dickens would identify Jewish characters by giving them red-hair. The stereotype that red-hair is Jewish remains in parts of Eastern Europe and Russia.
In the United States, it is estimated that 2-6% of the population has red hair. This would give the U.S. the largest population of redheads in the world, at 6 to 18 million, compared to approximately 650,000 in Scotland and 420,000 in Ireland.
Red or reddish-tinged hair is also found in other European populations particularly in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as parts of the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, France, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Russia and South Slavic countries.