Polygyny in Iran has a long history. It has been practiced even in the pre-Islamic period. Jackson (1928:136) states: it must be remembered that among the ancient Iranians polygyny and concubinage were doubtless the rule, or at least they were not uncommon .. . In spite of its old history, knowledge about polygyny in Iran is based more on myth than on facts. Very little, if any, systematically collected information on this topic exists. Using the census data and other available statistics and employing the principle that if every man had only one wife there would have been exactly the same number of men-withspouse as there are women-with-spouse, this paper attempts to assess the extent, regional variation, and the changes in the rate of polygyny in Iran.
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Djamchid A. Momeni (1975) studied this question.