Red-green colorblindness occurs in approximately 1 in 180 human males.
"We are trichromats, unless we're red-green colorblind, which is like 1 in 180 males, I think." (said at 2:16:26)
Red-green color vision deficiency is substantially more common in human males than claimed. Large-scale epidemiological studies and systematic reviews establish that red-green color blindness affects approximately 4% to 8% of males worldwide (roughly 1 in 12 to 1 in 25 males, depending on ancestry). A prevalence of approximately 1 in 180 to 1 in 200 (around 0.5%) describes the rate in human females, who carry two X chromosomes and thus require two mutated alleles to express the X-linked recessive trait.
- contradicts: Global Prevalence of Congenital Color Vision Deficiency among Children and Adolescents, 19… (Ophthalmology 2025)
"The global prevalence of CVD was estimated at 2.59% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.20-3.03; I 2 = 99.37), with higher rates observed in male patients (4.38% [95% CI, 3.93%-4.88%]) compared with female patients (0.64% [95% CI, 0.46%-0.89%])... In terms of CVD types, the highest prevalence was observed for deutan in both sexes (male, 3.66% [95% CI, 3.02%-4.44%]; female, 0.46% [95% CI, 0.30%-0.69%]), followed by protan (male, 1.54% [95% CI, 1.30%-1.82%]; female, 0.30% [95% CI, 0.21%-0.43%])" (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - contradicts: A Global Perspective of Color Vision Deficiency: Awareness, Diagnosis, and Lived Experienc… (Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) 2025)
"The prevalence of CVD varies by population, with red-green CVD affecting up to 8% of males and 0.5% of females of Northern European descent and lower rates reported in Asian and African populations." (abstract, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)