Table 1.
Descriptive statistics
| Prevalence of polygyny | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Full Sample | Low | Average | High |
| %/Mean (SD) | ||||
| Region-level | ||||
| Prevalence of polygyny (%) | 27.83 (14.98) | 6.43 (3.51) | 25.65 (7.53) | 46.93 (5.77) |
| Socioeconomic factors | ||||
| Rurality (%) | 71.26 (23.76) | 60.95 (33.86) | 69.63 (24.68) | 84.34 (8.16) |
| Access to electricity (%) | 19.81 (21.12) | 24.62 (25.88) | 21.13 (22.84) | 9.92 (7.37) |
| Gender inequality | ||||
| Female-to-male education ratio | 0.67 (0.22) | 0.89 (0.17) | 0.73 (0.18) | 0.44 (0.08) |
| Family-level | ||||
| Family structure | ||||
| Monogamous (ref) | 54.62 | 58.73 | 55.24 | 50.3 |
| Polygynous | 24.47 | 4.86 | 21.56 | 43.75 |
| Cohabiting | 10.40 | 18.17 | 11.89 | 2.29 |
| Lone mother | 10.51 | 18.24 | 11.31 | 3.65 |
| Household size | 7.34 (4.37) | 6.12 (2.70) | 7.16 (4.14) | 8.73 (5.43) |
| Mother is Muslim | 37.51 | 6.00 | 32.53 | 70.13 |
| Mothers' age at child's birth | ||||
| <20 years old | 18.88 | 16.12 | 19.04 | 19.57 |
| 20–34 (ref) | 67.56 | 69.85 | 67.82 | 66.02 |
| 35+ | 13.56 | 14.03 | 13.14 | 14.41 |
| Sibship size | 4.17 (2.54) | 3.74 (2.38) | 4.13 (2.53) | 4.56 (2.64) |
| Mothers' education | 3.31 (4.01) | 4.90 (4.20) | 3.92 (4.09) | 1.07 (2.62) |
| Household wealth factor score | −0.14 (0.90) | 0.07 (1.03) | −0.06 (.93) | −0.40 (.72) |
| Individual-level | ||||
| Preceding birth interval | ||||
| First born (ref) | 20.72 | 24.87 | 21.07 | 17.13 |
| <36 months | 44.53 | 40.48 | 44.92 | 47.53 |
| 36+ months | 34.75 | 34.65 | 34.01 | 35.34 |
| Female | 49.46 | 49.31 | 49.48 | 49.54 |
| Birth order | 3.78 (2.51) | 3.40 (2.34) | 3.74 (2.49) | 4.16 (2.63) |
| Child is twin | 3.32 | 2.38 | 3.49 | 3.53 |
Source: Demographic and Health Survey
N=236,336 births