Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code bans polygamy: Is the practice more prevalent among Muslims?

Limitations of the data

Government data on polygamy can be obtained from two main sources — the decadal census and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). Both have certain limitations.

The census does not directly collect data on polygamy. Rather its incidence is inferred from the difference in the number of married men and the number of married women in the country. More married women than men point to the prevalence of situations where men have married more than once.

Polygamy among various religious groups in India.

However, polygamy alone may not be responsible for this gap — it can also be explained by men going abroad to work, leaving their spouses back at home.

Moreover, the most recent census was held in 2011, more than a decade back.

The NFHS has been held more recently, and asks women a more direct question: “Besides yourself, does your husband have other wives?” Unlike the census, however, it does not look at the whole population. The most recent NFHS-5 (2019-21) sampled approximately 6.1 lakh households, less than 1% of the total number of households in India.

The last major government study on polygamy was conducted in 1974. It had found that Buddhists, Jains and Hindus had higher rates of polygamy than Muslims.

What the census data say

According to the census of 2011, there are 28.65 crore married men in India, compared to 29.3 crore married women. The difference between the two numbers — 65.71 lakh — can be explained either by the incidence of polygamy or by men going abroad.

The highest discrepancy in the population of married men and women can be found among Hindus (who make up the largest number of Indians), followed by Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists. However, when compared to their respective shares in the total population, Muslims and Christians report the greatest difference (Table 1).

What NFHS data say

The NFHS-5 showed the prevalence of polygamy (the percentage of women who reported their husbands had other wives) was highest among Christians (2.1%), followed by Muslims (1.9%), and Hindus (1.3%), looking at religion. Overall, Scheduled Tribes reported the highest incidence at 2.4%.

A June 2022 study by the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) titled ‘Polygyny in India: Levels and Differentials’ analysed data from the NFHS-3 (2005-06), NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21). It showed that polygynous marriages (one man married to more than one woman at a time) have decreased from 1.9% in 2005-06 to 1.4% in 2019-21, among the whole population.

Based on a recent study, change in the number of polygynous marriages in India over time.

Buddhists, who reported a 3.8% incidence of polygyny in 2005-06, saw the sharpest dip of 65.79% to 1.3% in 2019-21. The incidence of polygyny in the total population fell by 26.31%.