Polygamy in India: What the data show

• The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly recently passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2024 after a two-day discussion.
• The Bill aims to bring uniformity in personal laws governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance across communities in the state, except for tribals.

Monogamy Rule Extension to Muslims

• The UCC Bill extends the rule of monogamy to the Muslim community.
• The condition for solemnizing a marriage states that neither party should have a living spouse at the time of marriage.
• This clause already exists in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, but Muslim personal law hitherto allowed men to have up to four wives.

Data Limitations on Polygamy

• Government data on polygamy is sourced from the decadal census and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), both with certain limitations.
• The census does not directly collect data on polygamy; it indirectly infers polygamy from the difference in number of married men and women.
• Moreover, the most recent census was held in 2011, more than a decade back.
• The NFHS directly asks women about their husbands' other wives but samples less than 1% of Indian households.

Census Data Insights

• According to the census of 2011, there are 28.65 crore married men in India, compared to 29.3 crore married women.
• This discrepancy between married men and women in India, potentially indicates polygamy or men working abroad.
• Hindus (who make up the largest number of Indians) and Muslims exhibit the highest gaps between married men and women.
• Though in terms of proportion to their population, Muslims and Christians report the greatest difference.

NFHS Data Findings

• The NFHS-5 reveals polygamy prevalence was highest among Christians (2.1%), followed by Muslims (1.9%) and Hindus (1.3%).
• Overall, Scheduled Tribes reported the highest incidence at 2.4%.
• A 2022 study indicates a decrease from 1.9% in 2005-06 to 1.4% in 2019-21 in polygynous marriages across various religious groups, with Buddhists showing the sharpest decline.
• The study titled Polygyny in India was conducted by the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS).