Groups With Rh Negative Factors

There are two different Rh blood types: positive and negative. People with a positive Rh factor have special proteins attached to their red blood cells. People who do not have these proteins attached to their red blood cells are Rh negative. Certain groups of people have an unusually high percentage of Rh negative blood. Each group is fascinating in its own special way.

Berbers of Morocco

• The Berbers are a group of people who live in Morocco, a country in northern Africa. Their culture has been estimated to be more than 4,000 years old. They have their own distinct language and have struggled to maintain their way of life through the years as Arab invasions have dominated the region. Arabic is taught is schools, a foreign language to many Berber children.

Basques

• The Basques, known to be the oldest distinct group of people in Europe, have an unusually high percentage of Rh negative blood types. Today, they live in parts of both Spain and France and maintain their distinct culture. According to Rh-NegativeNetwork, "They have an independent spirit, respect for liberty of the individual, and a love of freedom. For that reason, they have struggled to become an autonomous region, with their own government, for years." (See Reference 1.)

Oriental Jews

• The Oriental Jews, also known as Mizrahi, are from the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. They have an interesting historical background, having faced expulsion, poverty and hard situations. The Mizrahi speak several different languages and, as a minority group, their existence has been an uphill struggle.

European/Caucasian

• Compared to these three groups, the Indo-European whites who form the majority of the European population have a lower percentage of Rh negative blood types. Most Asian and Native American populations, however, have few to no Rh negative occurrences. The same negligible percentage is found in the African American population.