An Essay on the Principle of Population

"An Essay on the Principle of Population" examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources. Written in 1798 as a polite attack on post-French revolutionary speculations on the theme of social and human perfectibility, Malthus' book argues that checks in the form of poverty, disease, and starvation are necessary to keep societies from moving beyond their means of subsistence. Malthus's arguments were controversial in his time, and are no less so today. In 1957 the world population was just under 2.9 billion. It is now over 6 billion, and projected to reach 9.3 billion by 2050. Even if we assume the environmentalists exaggerate our circumstances, even the most scientifically illiterate can clearly see that the capacity of the earth to support life is limited. In the face of such issues, Malthus's "incontrovertible truths" are as relevant now as on the day they were written. Because it dumps cold water on humanitarian hopes and can be used in support of abortion rights or restrictions on family size, many have hated Malthus's essay. Evidence is clear, however, that if we do not put a check on population, as Malthus puts it, "necessity" will check it via "misery and vice." The writings of Malthus encouraged the first studies in demography, and are also critical to an understanding of our modern day problems with food production, distribution and innovative techniques to manage a series of continuing crises in the third world countries.