The modern Cuna economy is highly cash oriented, and just about everything from land to esoteric knowledge may be bought and sold. Cuna villages vary in size and degree of modernization, but they exhibit structural similarities. The basic unit is the household, usually comprised of a matrilocal extended family. His wife holds a somewhat analogous authority over the activities of the other females in the household. On the death of the household head, he may be succeeded by the oldest surviving male, or the household may split into several independent units.
Kinship is bilateral, and inheritance follows consanguineal lines.
Marriages are arranged by parents. Beyond restrictions against marriage to close relatives and a preference for marriage between economic equals, there are few restrictions or preferences in the choice of marriage partners. Divorces are permissible. Polygyny, though allowed, is infrequent and confined to the wealthy. Infanticide is known and, in the past, albino infants were frequently put to death.