I have read in particular website that in 25% of all the families, the
family  incest  is practiced so therefore I want to know that
mentioned statement is 'correct or false' ??

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Clarification of Question by shoaib-ga on 02 Apr 2005 16:30 PST

badger75-ga and  myoarin-ga commenters please note that I  am
satisfied with your comments  and  links posted below  but  please
note those  links provide family  incest information only about the
countries of South  Africa, U.S.A., India and Pakistan  so therefore I
also  want to know that  25%  of  family incest information  can  also
 be  applicable to all of the countries of the world ??

Where did you read that?

These links may be helpful in researching what % of families experience incest. 

http://www.csvr.org.za/articles/artvoge3.htm

http://www.the-south-asian.com/Feb%202003/Incest.htm

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cm-vee/cishl01/

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/childsexabuse.html

Be cautious of statistics as this is a very difficult topic to
accurately research. The social prohibitions against reporting such
behavior are so severe it may be impossible to get reliable %'s.

Incest or sexual abuse of children?  
There is a great difference, although as badger75-ga's links show, the
title of an article might only used the word "incest," but the article
is about the broader subject.
Incest in the broader definition is not limited to the nuclear family;
having a sexual relationship with a first cousin is incest if the law
says you may not marry him or her, and some folks (maybe laws, too)
would say that having one with a direct in-law is incest.
The statistics do seem generally to indicate that 1 in 4 children have
experienced sexual abuse, but the definition of that can vary greatly.
 One article included parents' exposing themselves before their
children, which could include all the Finnish families that sauna
together  - and maybe - yes - there are people elsewhere who find this
abhorrent and perverse and sexual abuse.  And with this attitude, it
well could be in those people's society, but it certainly is not in
Finland.

NO, I am not belittling the problem, just trying to put the question's
use of "incest" into perspective.
YES, quite possibly 1 in 4 children have had some experience that
meets a definition of sexual abuse, which is not to say that they
experienced it as such. Let that be 1 in 2, and stick with 1 in 4 for
those who later recalled it  as such.

As Badger points out, the statistics are not based on reported
incidents but on more or less well-founded assumptions.  And remember
the cases a few years ago of people pushing cases of purported sexual
abuse that remained unproved and reflected badly on those people.

Excellent points myoarin-ga. Verifiable research with correct
parameters is not likely with the specifc question of incest. Child
sexual abuse is epidemic. What subset of "child sexual abuse" is a
result of "incest"? If a single mother has a boyfriend that is abusing
her child, is that "incest"? The conventional definition would include
parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, siblings, etc. Cultural
differences in family behavior may vary a great deal. An arranged
marriage with a girl who is 14-17 years of age would be unacceptable
in the U.S. Not so in other cultures.

Thanks badger,
A quotation from you:  "What subset of "child sexual abuse" is a
result of "incest"?"
I would put it differently:  Does a subset of "child sexual abuse" imply "incest"?
Only the ulitmate "subset", I would surmise.
But that is not an "apologia" (defense or justification) for any
lesser "subset" of child sexual abuse.

Shoaib-ga,
Below is another link that you may find interesting, though it doesn?t
really support the 25 %.  That is the figure that is thrown around in
Germany, too, for child abuse including incest, but no one is able
really justify it, like everywhere else.  I have sneaking suspicion,
that everyone has latched on to this number, and even if the people
that want to think that it is even worse problem and would like to set
a higher number, they face the problem of suggesting in even a small
group that by odds several present would have to have had personal
experience.
?Raise your hands, folks;  who has?!?   Does siblings? ?playing doctor? count?

OH, and maybe a final word:  child abuse also includes physical abuse
that may have nothing to do with sex, and in some peoples? eyes ANY
form of corporal punishment is child abuse, which would just about
guarantee an even higher percentage, but it is not incest.

http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/IES/norway.html