Variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region as detected by sequence-specific oligonucleotide (SSO) probes is described for 595 individuals from six European or European-derived populations. Estimates of diversity for mtDNA types exceed 0.91 in all populations, while 50% of the 158 types which were observed occur only once. Of 68 shared types, most occur rarely ( 0.001), and these groups are virtually indistinguishable with respect to mtDNA SSO types. These results demonstrate the utility of mtDNA typing for forensic investigations.