Industrial regions left behind in ‘gene drain’ to the South

Inequalities are appearing that suggest an exodus at a genetic level

TRADITIONAL industrial areas have suffered a “gene drain” with those who are healthier and academically better qualified leaving for urban centres such as London, a study has shown.

Research plotted the movement and DNA of around 450,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank, which has been recording the genetic data of Britons since 2006.

Scientists discovered that social migration – where people leave their home towns to live, study and work elsewhere – has dramatically changed the geographic distribution of genetic traits.

Of 31 traits measured, such as those linked to body mass index, height, educational attainment, mental health, addictions and personality, some 21 showed regional clusters. Although some of the clustering could come from ancestral differences, researchers say some of it seems to have a more recent origin.

The amount of time spent in education showed the strongest geographic patterns, with genes associated with lower educational attainment clustering in poorer areas of the UK, such as former coal mining regions in the North.

“For most of history, people lived and married within about five to 10 miles of their home,” said Dr David Hughjones, a senior lecturer in economics at the University of East Anglia and the lead UK author.

“But there are now genetic inequalities between areas that historically had industries like coal mining and places like London. We talk about areas that are left behind, but this is now happening on a genetic level.

“In one sense we prove that the human capital is lower in these areas. I am very aware that some will think our research is totally unconscionable.

“If these demographic processes continue, the biological inequalities we observe may grow larger each generation, as like keeps marrying like.”

The trend is the opposite to what happened at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution when many labourers and farmers left the countryside to work in the coal mining, steel and shipbuilding regions.

Yet with the decline of heavy industry in the 20th century, these have become among the poorest regions in the UK with high unemployment rates.

The study largely looked at people aged between 40 and 69, many of whom have relocated from the area in which they grew up to major urban centres.

The findings show that people who migrate out of coal mining regions today carry more genes associated with higher educational attainment than the rest of the UK on average. In other words, they are more likely to leave the poorer regions if they have a higher genetic predisposition for educational attainment.

The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, was carried out in collaboration with the University of Queensland, Australia, VU University in the Netherlands and the University of Exeter.

‘Inequalities may grow larger each generation, as like keeps marrying like’