The majority of the world does not practice polygamy. In 1882, it became illegal to have a marriage-like relationship with more than one person living under the same roof in the United States. In the United States today, people who live with multiple romantic partners are rarely prosecuted, but every state has laws against getting married while already married. By making polygamy a low-level offense that is not punishable by jail time, the state of Utah passed a bill in February that reduced the penalties for adults who voluntarily live in multiple relationships. Polygamy is legal but not widely practiced in other parts of the world, including swaths of the Middle East and Asia. Additionally, the practice is frequently legal and widespread in some nations, particularly in the polygamy belt of West and Central Africa.
Views of UN and Polygamy Sites –
You can check online the polygamy sites to know more about polygamy relationships and others. In a 2019 report on living arrangements in 130 countries and territories, the Research Center looked at the number of people living in polygamous and other types of households. The report and a separate study of global customs and laws yielded the following key findings: Only about 2% of the world’s population is made up of polygamous households, and in the vast majority of nations, this percentage is less than 0.5 percent. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated that “polygamy violates the dignity of women” and called for it to “be definitely abolished wherever it continues to exist.”
Polygamy in Africa –
Polygamy is prohibited in a significant portion of the world. However, marriage administration by the government frequently has restrictions. Because marriages are governed by religious or customary law in many nations, clerics or community leaders are in charge of keeping an eye on them. Most of the time, people don’t live in polygamous households. However, in some African countries, a sizable minority of people do. Polygamy is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, where 11% of people live with more than one spouse. A group of countries in West and Central Africa, including Burkina Faso (36 percent), Mali (34 percent), and Nigeria, practice polygamy. Polygamy is, at least in part, allowed in these nations.
Practise of Polygamy –
Muslims in Africa are more likely than Christians to live in this arrangement (25% vs. 3%), but the practice is also common among folk religion followers and non-religious individuals in some countries. In Burkina Faso, for instance, polygamy is practiced by 45% of folk religion adherents, 40% of Muslims, and 24% of Christians. Christians (21%) are more likely than Muslims (10%) to live in this arrangement in Chad, the only country in this analysis. A significant number of the nations that grant polygamy have Muslim dominant parts, and the training is uncommon in a considerable lot of them. In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, and Egypt—all countries where the practice is at least legal for Muslims—less than 1% of Muslim men live with more than one spouse. Due to data limitations, the study did not include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, or any other neighbouring nations where polygamy is legal.
