West Asian ethnicity - top countries
West Asian ethnicity is common in the following countries, according to MyHeritage DNA users' data.
Select another ethnicityWest Asian ethnicity
The people in the region extending from modern-day Iran to Türkiye largely trace their genetic heritage to the ancient Persians and the Turkic ethnic people. The ancient Persians were nomads who entered the region in the 10th century BCE, while Türkiye was home to early hunter-gatherers in its prehistory and was eventually Hellenized by Alexander the Great. The predominant cultures and languages of Western Asia are Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, and Arabic and its largest religious groups are Shia and Sunni Islam with religious and ethno-religious minorities such as Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Yazidis, and Baha'is also present. The Persian rug is a well-known component of local culture; Iranians were the earliest people in history to weave carpets and today produce more rugs and carpets than the rest of the world put together. Many historians also link the advent of human rights to this region, with the Cyrus Cylinder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire often referred to as the world’s oldest declaration of universal human rights.