Thirty Years of Consanguineous Marriages in Pakistan

Abstract

Almost half of all marriages in Pakistan are consanguineous. Despite its high prevalence, little is known about the change over time in consanguineous unions in Pakistan. Examining the patterns of the cousin marriages is particularly important given the substantial improvement in women’s education which is often associated with the decline in consanguineous unions across the world. Our analysis, based on four waves of nationally representative Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys - PDHS (1990-91, 2006-07, 2012-13, and 2017-18), shows that the prevalence of consanguineous unions remains stable over time. Further, women’s education is negatively associated with cousin marriages. Hypergamous (husband is more educated than her wife) unions are more prevalent, but a consistent rise in educational hypogamy (wife is more educated than her husband) is observed during this time. The results show that consanguineous marriages are more likely to be hypogamous than non-consanguineous marriages. Moreover, contraceptive use is lower among women in consanguineous unions. An inverse relationship has been found between the mean fertility and cousin marriages. Women in consanguineous marriages are likely to have fewer children than women in non-consanguineous marriages. Overall, the results show that consanguinity patterns are stable, and there is no evidence that the societal changes such as improvement in women’s education and urbanization over time have led to a decline in cousin marriages in Pakistan.