How Many Human Races Are There?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 25, 2020

Technically there is only one human race, as humans today are 99.9% genetically identical even though physical appearances differ from one person to another. Most of the genetic differences that do exist are due to gender and unique individual traits.

Compared with other species, humans are very similar to one other. In the case of chimpanzees, genetic variation is two to three times more significant than in humans. In orangutans it is eight to ten times more significant. In the past, scientists attempted to divide the human race into multiple groups, however, most modern biological anthropologists agree that there isn’t enough variation in humans to justify defining unique biological races, varieties or sub-species.