Huh, I always wondered if it was exactly 50/50. In some past and present cultures, plural marriages mean rich men get 100 or so women and the rest get about 0.5 women each on average. That doesn’t add up to a happy culture. That’s why plural marriage is and should be banned.
============================================
We lived in Saudi Arabia five years and I asked the Saudis with whom I worked if they had more than one wife.
To the one they answered: "One wife is enough."
Unfortunately, Saudis marry first cousins...it keeps the assets in the family. They KNOW the dangers of first cousin marriage but they still do it. They aren't the only culture that still does it either.
The gene pool suffers but, hey, it's THEIR culture and they can do what they want.
The problem in Islam about multiple wives is that if you give ONE wife a car or a necklace, you have to give the OTHER wives EXACTLY the same thing...or you have a war. There IS no way to treat wives exactly the same.
The King has multiple wives but that is usually the result of forging alliances with the wealthy families. That isn't a new idea either. MANY wealthy families all over the world did/do the same thing.
Also women USED to die off like flies giving birth. So the King could "hedge his bets." Nowadays that's not so common.