Manjit Thakur

"Muslims can have four wives. It’s common among them". You may have come across these generalisations in live television debates and even while sipping tea from a roadside stall. Is polygamy more prevalent among Muslims than other communities in India? Or is this a propaganda, a reflection of our prejudices?

The most authentic data on Polygamy – the practice of multiple wives - comes from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), a large-scale government-conducted survey.

The latest and the fifth NFS, conducted in 2019–21, states that only 1.4 per cent of married women across India reported that their husbands have more than one wife. This means that 98–99 out of 100 marriages are monogamous.

This means that polygamy is not widespread in India, but a small and shrinking phenomenon. Second question: Is the practice of multiple marriages more prevalent among Muslims?

NFS data shows that Muslims are not the most polygamous community in India.

Among Muslim women, 1.9 per cent reported that their husbands had a second wife. Among Hindu women, this figure is 1.3 percent. In other religions, including tribal communities, it’s 1.6 per cent.

The difference in the rate of polygamy between Hindus and Muslims is very small: 1.3 per cent versus 1.9 per cent. This means that out of every 100 married Muslim couples, perhaps two have two or more wives, while among Hindus, it's around one to one and a half. Second, the Hindu population is approximately 4–5 times larger than the Muslim population. So, based solely on numbers, the total number of Hindus with multiple wives cannot be less than that of Muslims.

Therefore, the claim that Muslims are marrying four times, while Hindus are not, simply doesn't hold up against the data.

Was there ever a high prevalence of polygamy among Muslims?

The third question is: Was there ever a high prevalence of polygamy among Muslims? Did every Muslim man marry two, three, or four times? Let's go back a bit, because many people say, "In the past, this practice was much prevalent among Muslims."

The 1961 census was the last time when polygamy data was recorded separately. The picture that emerges from this is even more shocking: it shows that polygamy was as high as 15 percent in tribal communities, about 7.9 percent in Buddhists, about 6-7 percent in Jains, 5.8 percent in Hindus, and 5.7 percent in Muslims.

In the 1961 census, Muslims were at the bottom of the list of communities with multiple marriages. So, history also does not say that "Muslims were uniquely or highly polygamous." This phenomenon was evident across different religions and communities in India, and the trend of decline across all communities is clearly visible in the data.

Which community actually has the highest prevalence of polygamy? NFHS data proves that polygamy is more linked to region and community than religion.

Tribal communities have the highest proportion of polygamy – approximately 2.4 percent in NFHS-5. Traditionally, cases of polygamy are more prevalent in the North-Eastern and tribal areas.

Even among Muslims, compared to the national average for their community, polygamy is more prevalent in Odisha (3.9 percent), Bihar (2.2 percent), Jharkhand (2.4 percent), West Bengal (2.8 percent), Assam (3.6 percent), and Karnataka (2.6 percent).

What is the legal framework?

Since the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, polygamy is a offence for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. Separate laws also prohibit polygamy for Christians and Parsis.

However, under the Muslim Personal Law (Shariah) Application Act of 1937, a Muslim man is permitted a maximum of four marriages. This is the source of the perception against Muslims.

However, statistics show that legal permission does not necessarily mean widespread practice. Most Muslims marry only once a lifetime, just like most Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, or anyone else. It is important to understand the legal framework and the ground reality separately.

What other health surveys reveal:

During NFHS-3, conducted in 2005-06, the proportion of polygamy was high, around 2 per cent; by the time of NFHS-5, (2019-21), this had dropped to 1.4 per cent. And you may be surprised to know that at the time of the 2005 survey, Buddhists were the most prevalent among communities with multiple marriages, with a figure of 3.8 percent. In the same survey, the rate of polygamy among Christians was 2.4 percent, and among Muslims, it was 2.6 percent.

The gap between Muslims and Hindus in the number of multiple marriages has also narrowed over time. This gap was greater in NFHS-3. Polygamy was around 2.6 percent among Muslims and around 1.8 percent among Hindus. Now, by NFHS-5, this difference has narrowed to around 1.9 percent among Muslims and 1.3 percent among Hindus.

Another interesting point from the statistical point of view: In the 2019 survey, polygamy among Buddhists declined to 1.3 percent, but among Christians, it declined only slightly to 2.1 percent. It's also interesting to note that polygamy, or multiple marriages, has increased among Christians since the 2016 NFHS 4 survey. In 2016, the rate of polygamy among Christians was 2 percent, which has seen a slight increase.

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Several research briefs and analyses clearly show that polygamy is steadily declining overall in India, and this decline is visible across all religions, not just Muslims.