MyHeritage surpasses 5 billion historical records

Historical Big Data helps users worldwide make breakthrough family history discoveries 

TEL AVIV, Israel & LEHI, Utah – April 28, 2014: MyHeritage, the popular family history network, today announced that its searchable collection of historical records has passed the 5 billion milestone. The vast digital collection, containing record archives from dozens of countries and user-generated family trees from every corner of the globe, is one of the world’s fastest growing and most internationally diverse family history resources.

During the last two years, MyHeritage has added an average of five million records every single day to its searchable database. In addition its users add more than one million family tree profiles daily. Alongside its phenomenal growth in data, MyHeritage currently ranks in Europe's top 10 fastest growing technology companies revenue-wise according to accounting firm Deloitte. The historical content brings substantial value to the millions of families worldwide who use MyHeritage to discover, share and preserve their family history.

The treasure trove of 5.18 billion records on MyHeritage is derived from a wide range of sources, including birth, marriage, death, census, immigration, military and other records. It includes the complete US censuses available from 1790 to 1940, the world’s largest historical newspaper collection, and large collections of gravestone photos. In addition, the site is home to more than 1.5 billion family tree profiles and 200 million historical photos contributed by 75 million users from all around the world. MyHeritage enjoys a strong network effect on its content, with additional records attracting new users, who in turn contribute more user-generated historical data, both fueling discoveries for the entire user base. 

While MyHeritage established itself as the leading online destination for creating family trees almost a decade ago, its expansion into historical records is more recent – these were first introduced when the company launched its SuperSearch search engine for historical records in April 2012. Since then the company’s phenomenal growth in historical records is credited to its aggressive strategy of procuring content via digitization, crowdsourcing, licensing and partnership, headed from its content division based in Utah.  The growth has also been fueled by the company’s multiple acquisitions in recent years, including World Vital Records and Geni.

“We are providing Historical Big Data”, said Gilad Japhet, MyHeritage Founder and CEO. “Data all around us is exploding as we enter a new era, the Internet of Things, with humanity poised to produce even greater quantities of digital information every minute. In this abundance of data, vetted information about past periods, as needed for family history research, is harder to come by, and providing it in high quality and quantity is our specialty. We're proud of our growth over the past few years and the beneficial impact this has had for users on a global scale. Every day brings us closer to fulfilling our mission of making family history easier and more accessible to all. We expect to surpass 7 billion historical records by the end of the year."

“MyHeritage is the fastest growing, and the most internationally diverse company in the family history industry.” Said Russ Wilding, Chief Content Officer of MyHeritage. “Much of the content on MyHeritage is exclusive and available nowhere else, making it a must-have resource for anyone interested in their family history.”

In recent years, MyHeritage has invested heavily in developing technologies designed to help users make breakthrough discoveries in their family history research, regardless of the origins of their roots. Users with family trees on MyHeritage benefit from MyHeritage's advanced discovery technologies - Smart Matching™, Record Matching™ and Record Detective™, which automatically match family tree profiles and identify historical records relevant for a user's research. With a 97% accuracy rate, users can discover a lot more about their family past with minimum effort.

Available in 40 languages, SuperSearch is the industry’s most multilingual family history search engine, breaking down geographical and language barriers and bringing people and their ancestors closer together all over the world.

How records are counted
On SuperSearch, each collection of historical records includes its precise record count. For example, MyHeritage’s recently added U.S. Public Records Index contains 816 million records. The count of 5.18 billion is calculated as follows: in structured collections, each name is counted as one record, so a marriage document naming bride and groom is counted as two.  Synonyms are not counted in cases where the same person is found under multiple names. In family trees, each profile is counted as one record, even when it is available in more than one language. Each photo is counted as one record. In unstructured collections (e.g. newspaper pages), each page is counted as one record.

About MyHeritage
MyHeritage is a family history network helping millions of families around the world discover and share their legacy online. As technology thought leaders and innovators, MyHeritage is transforming family history into an activity that’s accessible, exciting and easier than ever before. MyHeritage empowers its global community of users with unique social tools, a massive library of historical content and powerful search and data matching technologies. The service is available in 40 languages. For more information visit www.myheritage.com

Press Contacts
Aaron Godfrey, PR Manager for MyHeritage 
US +1-347-329-5461 | UK +44-208-816-7571
aaron@myheritage.com

Schelly Talalay Dardashti               Mark Olsen

US Genealogy Advisor                   Business Development Manager

schelly@myheritage.com              mark.olsen@myheritage.com

(505) 994.1554                              (801) 687.0599