Editing Epicanthic fold (section)

== Ethnogeographic distribution ==

=== High-frequency populations ===
The highest frequency of occurrence of epicanthic folds is found in specific populations or ethnicities: [[East Asians]], [[Southeast Asians]], [[Central Asians]], [[North Asians]], [[Polynesians]], [[Micronesians]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]], [[Sámi people]] and some [[African people]] (especially among [[Khoisan]] and [[Nilotic people]]). Among [[South Asians]], they occur at very high frequencies among the [[Nepalis]], [[Bhutan]]ese,<ref name="LivingRacesofMan">{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qepKAAAAYAAJ |title=The Living Races of Man |first1=Carleton Stevens |last1=Coon |first2=Edward E. |last2=Hunt |author1-link=Carleton S. Coon |author2-link=Edward Eyre Hunt Jr. |date=21 April 1966 |publisher=Cape |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2021|reason=Coon's work contains a lot of valuable data, but as a whole it is considered pseudo-scientific today}} [[Northeast India]]ns,<ref name="LivingRacesofMan" /> [[Kirati people]] and certain [[Adivasi]]<ref name="LivingRacesofMan" /> tribes of [[East India|Eastern]] and [[South India|Southern India]]. It is also commonly found in [[North India|Northern India]], especially in [[Kashmir]]. The [[Hazaras|Hazara people]] in Afghanistan and Pakistan commonly have this trait. Some people in Eastern/Northern Pakistan have this trait. 

In some of these populations, the trait is almost universal. This is especially true in East Asians and Southeast Asians, where a majority, up to 90% in some estimations, of adults have this feature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Yoonho |last2=Lee |first2=Euitae |last3=Park |first3=Won Jin |title=Anchor Epicanthoplasty Combined with OutFold Type Double Eyelidplasty for Asians: Do We Have to Make an Additional Scar to Correct the Asian Epicanthal Fold? |journal=Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery |date=2000 |volume=105|issue=5 |pages=1866-70; discussion 1871 |doi=10.1097/00006534-200004050-00040 |pmid=10809118 |url=https://journals.lww.com/plasreconsurg/Abstract/2000/04050/Anchor_Epicanthoplasty_Combined_with_OutFold_Type.40.aspx}} {{closed access}}</ref>

=== Lower-frequency populations ===
Epicanthic folds also occur, at a considerably lower frequency, in other populations: [[Europeans]] (e.g., [[Scandinavians]], [[English people|English]], [[Irish people|Irish]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/08/science/q-a-061233.html|title=Q&A|date=8 October 1985|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=12 November 2016}}</ref> [[Hungarians]], [[Russians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Lithuanians]], [[Latvians]], [[Finns]], and [[Estonians]]),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=epicanthic fold (anatomy)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189688/epicanthic-fold|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=25 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Montagu |first=A. |year=1989 |title=Growing Young |publisher=Bergin & Garvey |location=Granby, Mass |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-89789-166-0 }}</ref> [[Jews]], South Asians ([[Bengalis]],<ref name="LivingRacesofMan" /> [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]],<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1525/aa.1963.65.3.02a00260 |volume=65 |issue=3 |title=The Physical Anthropology of Ceylon. Howard W. Stoudt. |journal=American Anthropologist |pages=694–695 |year=1963 |last1=Angel |first1=J. Lawrence|doi-access=free }}</ref> among other groups in eastern and southern South Asia),<ref name="LivingRacesofMan" /> [[Nilotes]], [[Cushitic peoples|Cushites]], and [[Amazigh]] people.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Mongolism in Sudanese children|journal=Journal of Tropical Pediatrics|date=September 1962|volume=8|issue=2|pages=48–50|pmid=13905256|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.tropej.a057626|last1=Hassan|first1=M. M.}}</ref>

=== Perception and attribution ===
[[File:Jens Byggmark Schladming 2008.jpg|thumb|Swedish ski racer [[Jens Byggmark]] with an epicanthic fold over his left eye|alt=]]
The degree of development of the fold between individuals varies greatly, and attribution of its presence or absence is often subjective, being to a degree relative to the occurrence of the trait within the community of the specific observer. Also, its frequency varies but can be found in peoples all over the world. Its use, therefore, as a [[phenotypic]] marker to define biological populations is debatable.<ref name="Berel2000" />