23andMe Hits 10 million DNA Customers

Updated to reflect conflicting participant numbers for Geno 2.0 Next. Added a link to the new post I made about the conflicting participant numbers – Conflicting Participant Numbers Between Geno 2.0 Next on Two Different Sections of Their Website.

From the 23andMe website: https://mediacenter.23andme.com/company/about-us/

Big Data

• 23andMe has more than 10,000,000 customers.

• More than 80 percent of our customers have opted-in to participate in our research.

• To date, the company has collected one billion phenotypic data points (individual survey responses).

• On average, one individual contributes to 200 different research studies.

• To date, 23andMe has published more than 100 peer-reviewed studies in scientific journals.

Out of the various DNA companies, only FamilyTree DNA (FTDNA) and Geno 2.0 Next by National Geographic bother to post how many people have tested and keep it updated daily. It’s a shame that 23andMe, AncestryDNA, LivingDNA, FindMyPastDNA, MyHeritageDNA, and Helix haven’t followed suit.

For example, if you go to FTDNA, https://www.familytreedna.com/why-ftdna.aspx, the stats were current as of 3:37 P. M. U. S. Central Time April 1, 2019:

About The Family Tree DNA Database

Our databases are the most comprehensive in the field of Genetic Genealogy. As of April 1, 2019, the Family Tree DNA database has 1,036,530 records. Total numbers include transfers from the Genographic Project and resellers in Europe and Middle East. We also have:

• 10,373 Group Projects
• 635,263 unique surnames
• 706,665 Y-DNA records in the database
• 384,659 25-marker records in the database
• 363,164 37-marker records in the database
• 195,380 67-marker records in the database
• 329,865 mtDNA records in the database
• 167,078 FGS records in the database

It’s worth noting that FTDNA does not give specific autosomal DNA stats which is a shame.

Compare the above stats to my post on March 28, 2019: Why Y-DNA and mtDNA Are Useful for Genealogy

About The Family Tree DNA Database

Our databases are the most comprehensive in the field of Genetic Genealogy. As of March 28, 2019, the Family Tree DNA database has 1,035,983 records. Total numbers include transfers from the Genographic Project and resellers in Europe and Middle East. We also have:

• 10,368 Group Projects
• 634,506 unique surnames
• 706,124 Y-DNA records in the database
• 384,138 25-marker records in the database
• 362,649 37-marker records in the database
• 195,081 67-marker records in the database
• 329,859 mtDNA records in the database
• 167,078 FGS records in the database

Likewise, Geno (all versions) has the following information (as of April 1, 2019): https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/collections/geno-2-0-dna-ancestry-kit-usa-delivery

903,543 participants in the Genographic Project in over 140 countries.

It’s been a while since I saved a screenshot from Geno 2.0, but it was at 833,916 in 2018.*

This number is a lot lower than what shows up on my Account page:

1 of 992,092 participants

It’s a wasted opportunity for those DNA companies who don’t regularly update the number of kits processed. It’s estimated that AncestryDNA is around 15 million; MyHeritageDNA is around 2.5 million; I haven’t seen good numbers for LivingDNA / FindMyPastDNA or Helix.

I use The DNA Geek’s numbers for rough estimates – https://thednageek.com/dna-tests/. And I estimate based on the number of kits sold compared to what has been announced or hinted at by the DNA companies that don’t report kits processed on a consistent basis. For example, here was my last estimate: https://upsdownsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2018/09/08/estimated-stats-by-dna-testing-companies.