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Inbreeding in Humans: Culture against the Science?
The degree of consanguinity is determined by the number of generations between the two individuals and the number of shared genetic markers they possess due to their common ancestry.
In current demographics, Pakistan, Qatar, and Burkina Faso rank among countries with highest inbreeding (>50%), followed by Sudan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Bahrain (ranging between 40–49%), Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAW, Libya (ranging between 30–39%) and Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Palestine (20–29%). United States, Russia and European countries represent the minimum incidents (<1%) of consanguineous marriages. This article discusses about biological, evolutionary, social, cultural aspects of same blood marriages (inbreeding/consanguineous marriages) and inspect through present day knowledge of genetics and birth defects.
Consanguineous marriage, also known as a blood-relative marriage or inbreeding, is a union between individuals who are closely related by blood.
The word ‘consanguineous’ is derived from word ‘consanguinity’ that refers to the biological relationship between two individuals who share a common…