Comparing the 2026 DNA update with prior years

My AncestryDNA 2026 update.

Ancestry's 2026 DNA release is out, and while we're still waiting on Regions by Grandparent, it's time to dive into the comparison with prior years. Last year I had 11 regions, so this year's 22 regions is pretty cool. It is helpful to see how much as improved when I look back at the 2023 and 2022 updates, the new regions might be more actionable now, especially when paired with Shared Matches of Matches and seeing the regions of known cousins.

This year Ancestry is launching SideView 2.0 with the Regions by Grandparent feature. The original SideView appeared in the 2022 update.

I am disappointed some long standing trace percentages have dropped off (Nigeria, North Africa for me, our Indigenous Andes for Bolivia & Peru, Indigenous Mexico - Yucatan). In their place, the strengthened Sephardic Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean is represented equally across the kits for my Mom and her sisters. It is nice to see Spain is back in my results again (12%, plus an additional 3% Northern Spain). Madeira and Northwestern Italy have dropped away. Switzerland is new at 6%, and that makes sense as my 4th-great-grandmother Ursula Fellme was fully Swiss, and our Lamon branch descending from Rudolph Lehman was Swiss.

Indigenous Americas - Mexico is now Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast (Mexico & USA) at 5%. While the name is new, the percentage is about the same as prior years. I had expected to see more sub-regions in Mexico across the kits I manage. Fortunately shared matches of matches allows me to see the sub-regions of known cousins. For example, my cousin Catherine has Gulf of California (Mexico), which is not surprising, and I am hoping these appear in the Regions by Grandparent feature launching soon.