Consanguinity means reproduction between people who are biologically related, such as first or second cousins.
Pakistan has historically had very high rates. Older nationally representative data found about 63% of marriages were consanguineous, with roughly 80% of those being first-cousin marriages. More recent studies continue to find extremely high rates in some communities; for example, a 2026 study in rural Punjab found 77.7% of couples were related.
