As many as 513,000 women and girls in the United States were at risk for female genital mutilation in 2012 — three times higher than in 1990, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 1990, 168,000 girls and women were thought to be at risk, according to the report.
The Daily Mail disclosed the findings on Tuesday.
"The estimated increase was wholly a result of rapid growth in the number of immigrants from FGM-practicing countries living in the United States and not from increases in FGM prevalence in those countries," the report said.
According to the World Health Organization and the United Nations, FGM includes "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons."
The practice is common to Africa, along with some nations in South Asia and in the Middle East, the Daily Mail reports.
FGM has been illegal in the United States since 1996, according to the report.
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