In this review, we describe recent empirical and theoretical work on the ex
tent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) in the human genome, comparing the pred
ictions of simple population-genetic models to available data. Several stud
ies report significant LD over distances longer than those predicted by sta
ndard models, whereas some data from short, intergenic regions show less LD
than would be expected. The apparent discrepancies between theory and data
present a challenge-both to modelers and to human geneticists-to identify
which important features are missing from our understanding of the biologic
al processes that give rise to LD. Salient features may include demographic
complications such as recent admixture, as well as genetic factors such as
local variation in recombination rates, gene conversion, and the potential
segregation of inversions. We also outline some implications that the emer
ging patterns of LD have for association-mapping strategies. In particular,
we discuss what marker densities might be necessary for genomewide associa
tion scans.