Alcohol consumption, life history and extinction risk among Raute hunter-gatherers from Nepal.

ABSTRACT: Hunter-gatherer populations underwent a mass extinction in the Neolithic, and in present times face challenges such as explicit sedentarisation policies. An exception is in Nepal, where the nomadic Raute people receive monthly governmental individual payments. One consequence of the money transfers has been a significant increase in alcohol consumption, with nearly all individuals drinking industrially produced alcohol. Here we investigate the Raute demography based on a full census of 144 individuals. We show that the Raute exhibit the short life expectancies typical of other hunter-gatherer populations from Africa, Asia and America. Bayesian survival trajectory analysis demonstrated that heavy drinking by either parent substantially reduces offspring survival to age 15. Bayesian regressi

SUBMITTER: Derkx I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11658931 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature