Paternal haplogroups
R1a and
N1a1-Tat are the two most frequent, reaching 39.9% each among ethnic Latvians.
[50] R1a is associated with spread of
Indo-European languages. R1a of Latvians is predominantly M558, and compared to other populations like
South Slavs and
West Slavs, Latvians also have the highest concentration of M558 among R1a. N1a1-Tat mutation originated in
Northeast Asia and had spread throughout the
Urals into Europe, where it is currently most common among
Finno-Ugric,
Baltic and
East Slavic peoples. Latvians and Lithuanians have a predominance of the L550 branch of N1a1-Tat.
N1c1a was present in 41.5%, R1a1a-M558 in 35.2% and
I1 (M253) in 6.3% of the samples analyzed.
[51] In lower levels, 2.5% of
I2b (M223) and 0.6%
I2a (P37.2) – haplogroups historically associated with
western hunter-gatherers – were found as well.
Genetically, Latvians cluster closest with neighboring
Lithuanians and
Estonians; to a lesser extent with
Poles,
Czechs,
Scandinavians,
Germans, and
Belarusians.
