Europeans and people of European descent are at least 25% neanderthal

Recent findings say EVERYONE EXCEPT AFRICANS have from 1 to 4% but earlier studies referenced below say that europeans have at least 15 to 25% neanderthal DNA

Although this observation is consistent with the RAO model, it does not prove that Neanderthals and modern humans did not interbreed—the two groups may have mixed but Neanderthal mtDNA may have been lost by the chance action of genetic drift. Subsequent studies have concluded that the data are consistent with a Neanderthal contribution of up to 25% of the modern gene pool

only Neanderthal contributions larger than 25% to the modern gene pool could be statistically excluded under a simple model of instantaneous mixing of Neanderthals and modern humans (Nordborg 1998; Serre et al. 2004). Thus, the problem of the genetic relationships between Neanderthals and modern humans remains fully open. 

This initial estimate (25%) was, however, based on a simple but unrealistic model of evolution, assuming no population subdivision, constant population size, and a single and instantaneous admixture event between Neanderthals and modern humans

interbreeding rates as high as 25% could not be excluded between the two subspecies. In this study, we introduce a realistic model of the range expansion of early modern humans into Europe, and of their competition and potential admixture with local Neanderthals

recent genetic simulations suggested that 5% of human DNA can only be accounted for by assuming a substantial contribution of Neanderthaler to the European gene pool of up to 25%. REFERENCE Plagnol V, Wall JD: Possible ancestral structure in human populations.

plos-biology, (Nordborg 1998; Serre et al. 2004),

Subsequent studies have concluded that the data are consistent with a Neanderthal contribution of up to 25% of the modern gene pool REFERENCE (Ovchinnikov IV, Gotherstrom A, Romanova GP, Kharitonov VM, Liden K, et al. (2000) Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the Northern Caucasus. Nature 404: 490–493)

According to the scientists, the Neanderthal DNA does not appear to offers any evolutionary benefit and is merely a genetic relic.

Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., states: “The fact that they found it across the board says that the evidence must be very widespread across modern humans… If you can find evidence [of Neanderthals] after 30,000 years of [human] genetic shifting, then it must have been pretty important or prominent then

Trinkaus speculates that the genetic flow between Neanderthals and early modern humans might have been as high as 10% to 20%.

Human fossils dug up in France, Romania, the Czech Republic and other places support the mixed ancestry theory based on skeletal studies and craniological measurements

Furthermore, years of further interbreding and genetic mixing have crowded outed and diluted down the neanderthal’s legacies. According to experts the genetic flow between Neanderthals and early modern humans might have been as high as 15% to 25%, but today it is at 3% to 4%.