Cytidine deaminase, encoded by the CDA gene, catalyzes anti-cancer drugs gemcitabine and ara-C into their respective inactive metabolites. In CDA, two functionally significant non-synonymous polymorphisms, 79A>C (Lys27Gln) and 208G>A (Ala70Thr), have been found and their minor allele frequencies (MAFs) were reported in Japanese and Chinese patients and a relatively small numbers of healthy volunteers in Caucasians and Africans. In this study, we determined the MAFs of both polymorphisms in 200 healthy volunteers of Koreans, along with 206 Japanese, 200 Chinese-Americans, 150 Caucasian-Americans and 150 African-Americans to reveal ethnic differences. MAFs of 79A>C (Lys27Gln) were 0.153 in Koreans and 0.327 in Caucasian-Americans, 0.204 in Japanese, 0.155 in Chinese-Americans and 0.087 in African-Americans. MAFs of 208G>A (Ala70Thr) were 0.005 in Koreans and 0.022 in Japanese and the minor allele was not detected in Chinese-Americans, Caucasian-Americans or African-Americans. Thus possibly, MAF of 208G>A in Japanese is likely to be somewhat higher than in Koreans and Chinese-Americans. These data would provide fundamental and useful information for pharmacogenetic studies on cytidine deaminase-catalyzing drugs.