Male line information: Y-group N

All members of Y-group N can trace their Y-chromosomes back to one man, who is thought to have lived about 15 to 20 thousand years ago, possibly in Northern Asia. This man belonged to a group of hunter-gatherers, who were descendants of the first modern humans to migrate from Africa to Eurasia and may initially have made their home in Western Asia and later migrated to Siberia, Mongolia, or China. Y-group N is one of the most widespread Y-groups in Eurasia (Europe and Asia combined). More recently, males belonging to Y-group N expanded from this region both westwards (towards Europe) and eastwards (towards Kamchatka and the Chinese coast). These migrations may have been responsible for the spread of the so-called Uralic languages in these regions.

Today, members of Y-group N are widely distributed throughout the Northern parts of Eurasia, from Scandinavia in the west to Kamchatka in the east. The highest concentration of Y-group N members is found among the peoples of Siberia, such as the Nentsi and Khants, where 80 to 100 percent of males belong to this Y-group. Members of Y-group N are found at a frequency of about 50 percent among the Saami people of Northern Scandinavia and at 30 to 40 percent among the Baltic populations of Latvia and Lithuania, but are rarer elsewhere in Europe.