| Criteria | hpAfrica1 | hpAfrica2 | hpNEAfrica | hpEurope | hpAsia2 | hpSahul | hpEastAsia | Remarks |
| Geographic Origin | Central and West Africa | Southern Africa | Northeastern Africa (e.g., Sudan, Ethiopia) | Middle East, Western Eurasia | South and Southeast Asia | New Guinea, Indigenous Australia | China, Korea, Japan | Reflects geographic localization of ancestral human populations |
| Ancestral Components | High admixture; ancestral to other lineages | Ancient divergent lineage | Intermediate between hpAfrica1 and hpEurope | Hybrid of AE1 and AE2 ancestral populations | Related to AE2; shares links with hpEurope | Highly divergent and isolated | Derived from AE1; unique East Asian ancestry | Lineage ancestry correlates with human migration and hybridization |
| Phylogeographic Distribution | West, Central, and parts of East Africa | Indigenous groups in Southern Africa | Horn of Africa and Nile Valley | Europe, Middle East, India | India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia | Papua New Guinea, Aboriginal Australia | East Asia, Pacific Rim | Some lineages remain localized; others spread with colonization and trade |
| Virulence Gene Profile | CagA+ prevalent; VacA s1/m1 dominant | Lower prevalence of high-virulence alleles | CagA+; diverse VacA types | Mix of CagA types; VacA s1/s2 alleles | Commonly CagA+; mostly VacA s1/m1 | Reduced virulence; incomplete T4SS components | Highly virulent East Asian-type CagA (EPIYA-D); VacA s1/m1 | Correlates with regional disease burden and host interactions |
| Clinical Relevance | Moderate to high risk of ulcers and cancer | Low association with severe disease | Underexplored; possible moderate risk | Associated with peptic ulcers and gastric adenocarcinoma | Variable; some populations show high disease rates | Limited data; thought to have lower clinical impact | Strong link to gastric cancer, especially in East Asia | Virulence correlates with CagA EPIYA motif type and host immunity |
| Genetic Diversity | High genetic diversity and recombination | Low diversity; highly divergent | Moderate diversity | High admixture; mosaic genome | Moderate diversity with regional clusters | Low diversity; evidence of bottlenecks | Structured; moderate recombination within clade | hpAfrica1 is a reservoir of ancestral alleles; hpSahul is a bottlenecked relic |
| Evolutionary Significance | Most ancestral and diverse lineage | One of the oldest extant lineages | Important for understanding lineage divergence | Example of recombination and hybrid evolution | Reflects southward spread of hpEurope-like strains | Remnant of ancient dispersal to Sahul continent | Specialized evolution and coadaptation with East Asian populations | Evolutionary history mirrors human demographic events over 60,000 years |
