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I'd be interested to see statistics on first cousins marrying, and find out more about their demographics. It may be that as a whole, they are younger people in more rural areas and that they simply don't meet as many other people that they aren't related to.

Here's a paragraph from a USA Today story on this:

"Cousin marriage has been widespread in rural societies, where it serves to keep money and property within families. The practice is still popular in much of the Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Genetics researcher Alan Bittles estimates that 20% of marriages worldwide are between relatives who are first cousins.

"Genetics counselors say there are no exact figures for the USA, but experience suggests that about one marriage in 1,000 is between first cousins."

Here's the whole story:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2002-04-04-cousins.htm

January 13, 2009 - 9:37am

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