4 ms·

That’s not the case everywhere IMHO. E.g. marrying cousins is kind of norm in some countries

• joe__f 3y ago
  I've read that it was encouraged in ancient Egypt
  • Auracle 3y ago
    Ancient? "As of 2016, about 40% of marriages in Egypt were between cousins." https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Global_prevalence_of_consanguinity.svg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Global_p... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_in_the_Middle_East https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_in_the_Middle_...
    • fireant 3y ago
      First time hearing about this. I'm surprised the whole region isn't massively degenerated after centuries of traditional incest. The numbers are pretty staggering
      • Auracle 3y ago
        I've heard it argued that it could be the reason the middle east is the way it is now as opposed to the world's hub of scientific discoveries and great culture that is used to be. However, that's racist-adjacent so I doubt there's any actual research or scientific basis for it. They certainly have much higher rates of genetic diseases. As noted in that Wikipedia article: "While babies of Pakistani heritage accounted for roughly 3.4% of all births in the UK (2005), "they had 30% of all British children with recessive disorders and a higher rate of infant mortality," according to research done by the BBC.[46]"