Karnataka has the highest number of women aged 15-49 married to a first cousin from their mother’s side, according to the recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) report.
While 13.9% of the female population in the State is married to a cousin from the mother’s side, 9.6% is married to a cousin from the father’s side. Marriages to a woman’s second cousin and uncle were at 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively. About 2.5% of consanguineous marriages were to other types of blood relatives and 0.1% to those who were previously brothers-in-law, according to the report.
States with highest consanguineous marriages
National average: 11%
Tamil Nadu: 27.9%
Karnataka: 26.6%
Andhra Pradesh: 26.4%
Puducherry: 19.2%
Telangana: 18.2%
