# Genealogical terminology: "low confidence region"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 12, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458 "2017-08-12T19:15:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/1 "2017-08-12T19:15:12Z")

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My sister got a report from the [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) website after giving them her information, which, of course, applies to me too. In the subheadings for each region appeared the term “low confidence region.” What does this mean?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/2 "2017-08-12T20:49:29Z")

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From [here.](https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/ka215000000MVJYAA4/Getting-the-Most-from-your-AncestryDNA-Test-Results-Part-2-of-3-1460089700555)

> [@](#):
>
> Low confidence regions are areas for which there’s a small amount of DNA evidence found in your sample. All ethnicities with predicted percentages of less than 4.5% appear as low confidence regions.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/3 "2017-08-13T05:08:51Z")

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Or in other words, DNA matching, particularly in terms of assigning you to ethnic classifications, is a set of statistical artefacts, not a 100% exact science - and whatever the arguments about the classifications, the statistics are only going to be as reliable as the information in the underlying database.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/4 "2017-08-13T15:35:17Z")

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What puzzles me is that while the qualifier appeared after “African,” “Asian,” and “Pacific Islander”–each of which showed only “\<1%”–Europe was the only other component, with 97%, and it too was described as a “low-confidence region.” 😕

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**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/5 "2017-08-13T23:15:19Z")

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You’re not from around here, are you.

Otherwise, I have nothing. ANCESTRY is a black hole.

😊

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**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/6 "2017-08-13T23:30:55Z")

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> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> What puzzles me is that while the qualifier appeared after “African,” “Asian,” and “Pacific Islander”–each of which showed only “\<1%”–Europe was the only other component, with 97%, and it too was described as a “low-confidence region.” 😕

I think you have a web interface problem, not a DNA testing problem.

I’ve never done the [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) thing, but I don’t think you are reading the report correctly. Look at what’s shown here, where the unsub is also 97% European:

[https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/ka215000000MVJYAA4/Getting-the-Most-from-your-AncestryDNA-Test-Results-Part-2-of-3-1460089700555](https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/ka215000000MVJYAA4/Getting-the-Most-from-your-AncestryDNA-Test-Results-Part-2-of-3-1460089700555)

Below European, after the initial breakdown of high percentage European areas, there is indeed a button “(+) Low Confidence Region”. But it is not an _attribute_ of the European region. I think it probably indicates that _additional_ low confidence regions in the breakdown of Europe are hidden, and can be revealed by hitting the button (hence the plus sign).

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genealogical-terminology-low-confidence-region/793458/7 "2017-08-14T00:11:01Z")

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I see what you mean…but I saw the chart on a page of my sister’s communication on Messenger–a reproduction, so I couldn’t do anything with the line on the chart. I’d have to ask my sister.