Vampires are found independently in Africa, Asia, North and South America, India, Western and Eastern Europe, and especially in the Balkans. All these incarnations have common attributes of folkloric vampires, though their appearance and origins vary due to the cultural environment and the intent or purpose of the myth (i.e., social control). Thus, the vampire is not culturally specific, nor is it a particular phenomenon, but rather it is almost a universal explanation for the liminal state when coupled with its relatives. Each culture has created these mythical fiends as a way to explain folk hypothesis, thus individually perpetuating their existence.

source: "Living in Death: The Evolution of Modern Vampirism" by Cheryl Atwater