Malthusian Theory Of Population

Malthusian theory of population was first documented in 1798 in Thomas Robert Malthus’s book “An Essay on the Principle of Population”. He was an English theorist and economist. There are three major theories of population namely Malthus’s theory, Marx’s theory, and the theory of demographic transition. These theories provide important information about the population. Malthusian theory was the first theory of population which illustrates various fundamentals of the population like the growth rates and its relation with food supply. He also suggested some solutions to humankind so that they could deal with the impacts of population growth.

What is the Malthusian Theory of Population?

Malthusian theory of population is defined as the theory of exponential population and arithmetic food supply growth. This theory was given by Thomas Robert Malthus. He wrote about this theory in the year 1798 in his book “An Essay on the Principle of Population”. After that, he modified his publication in the year 1803. The main reason behind this theory of publication by Thomas Robert Malthus is the rapid increase in the population and he saw some dangers of overpopulation in the region, due to which he thought of writing this crucial theory of population which signifies major concern of nature. Malthusian theory defines the growing population of humans in an exponential format, it is increasing based on the birth rate while the food supply is slower than this. If the statistical data of humans keeps on increasing then there will be a shortage of food. This can be balanced by preventive and positive checks. This theory was the first to describe this phenomenon in detail.

Major Elements of Malthusian Theory

There are some major elements of the malthusian theory which are as follows:

Population and Food supply

According to Malthus, population grows in the progression of geometric, it’s in the sequence of digits in which each term after the first is the result of multiplying the previous term with a fixed non-zero digit known as the common ratio. For instance, a sequence of 3, 9, 27, 81, 243 has the common ratio 3. Moving towards food availability and its resources, food’s progression inclines in an airthmetic progression in which number is in a sequence of constant difference between consecutive numerals. For example, in sequence 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, the constant difference is 2. Mathus determined this conclusion from the law of dimnishing returns. This only means that the population will continue to increase and it will result in shortage of food resources.

Positive Checks

Increasing population is a debatable issue in every phase of life. Nature has its self ways to keep its check on this rise of population. It has a power of bringing a balance between level of food availability and the population level. This includes earthquakes, floods, drought, famines, epidemics, wars, etc. Nature only interfere when the situation goes out of control as in the case of overpopulation.

Preventive Checks

The word “preventive” means to stop something to be happen by any cause. This element of malthusian theory of population also has a same meaning. Preventive measures like late marriages, self-control, and simple living are beneficial in balancing population growth and food supply. Overpopulation can be controlled from such measures so that it can be limit to some extent.

Criticism of Malthusian Theory of Population

The malthusian theory was criticised in 19th and 20th century on the basis of following observations:

• This theory illustrates that one of the reasons for limited supply of food is due to the non-availability of land. But, the amount of food supply in several nations has increased due to the increase in globalization.
• In the region of western europe, there was a rapid increase in the rate of population and at the same time the food supply had also increase due to the advancement in technology.
• Numerous times the production of food rised more than the population. For example, 2 percent of the total population is working in an agricultural sector in US, but still, the total GDP is more than 14 trillion dollars.

Malthusian Trap

The malthusian trap is also known as malthusian check. This means that as population increases, the world would not be able to sustain crop production for the future generation. The malthusian trap also ensures that gains in income per person from technological development has been lost through the growth in population. The malthusian trap is also called sustainability trap because it is an expression of sustainable problem. Malthus point out this problem of sustainability. He also states that population increase has been firstly triggered by profit in food production. However, as the population increases it surpass the limit where production of food can support the entire population, resulting in food shortages.

Application of Malthusian Theory of Population

The Application of Malthusian Theory of population are as follows:

• The theory is applicable while formulating agriculture and food policies as food production need to keeps pace with population growth to avoid scarcity and hunger.
• Unchecked population growth could strain natural resources aligns with modern concerns about overconsumption, deforestation, and depletion of non-renewable resources.
• The theory finds application in econoic policies as the unchecked poputlation growth can hinder economic progress if resources are not efficiently managed.
• Governments and policymakers may consider Malthusian principles when formulating population control policies.

FAQs on Malthusian Theory Of Population

1. What is Malthus Theory of Population?

Malthus theory of population is best known by sociological theory of popuation growth. He proposed this crucial theory as the danger of overpopulation. It defines the growing population of humans in an exponential format, it is increasing on the basis of birth rate while the food supply is slower than this.

2. What are the Elements of Malthus Theory of Population?

The major elements of malthus theory are population and food supply, preventive checks, and positive checks. Some of the examples include famine, wars, pandemic etc from which a population can be controlled.

3. What is Malthusian Trap?

Malthusian trap is known by different names such as malthusian crises, malthusian checks, population trap. It refers to the theory which means as the population increases there is an increasing pressure on resources of earth and its availability to the population.

4. Why was Malthus Theory Criticised?

Malthusian theory of population was criticised because of its principles. He somehow was not able to explain the proper concept of his theory and this leads to misconception. He made false forecast about the economic conditions for upcoming generations on the basis of population growth.

5. What did Malthus Predict about the Human Population?

Malthus had already predicted that population will increase in future and there would be scarcity of food due to overpopulation. But he also gave some solutions to overcome this problem.