Thomas Malthuss overpopulation theory

A little over two hundred years ago a man by the name of Thomas Malthus wrote a document entitled “An Essay on the Principle of Population” which essentially stated that there is an imbalance between our ability to produce food and our ability to produce children. He said human beings are far better at making babies than they are at finding food for survival. His entire essay is based on these two assumptions. “ First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. And second, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state.” When taking into account what is said in this essay, it is obvious that his original analysis of population has been proven right. Today, in the twenty-first century, people still rely on food to live and stay healthy, and many people consume more food than ever before, especially here in the United States. In addition, the natural attractions between men and women exist more so today than they did in Malthus’s time. When discussing the issue of population, it is important to note that it is one of the most controversial issues facing the world today.

Overpopulation is a major global crisis because of a number of reasons. Most of the problems we have today, such as ocean depletion, water shortages, water pollution, food shortages, global warming, and air pollution are the effects of overpopulation. The more people there are, the more resources consumed and the more waste created. A child born today in the United States for instance will produce fifty-two tons of garbage and consume 11 million gallons of water by the age of seventy-five. Freshwater, drinkable water is the most critical natural resource to humans. As time goes by, the world’s population expands more rapidly, but there is no more freshwater on the Earth than there was two thousand years ago. Overpopulation has also increased industrial development, which contributes to massive urbanization and rising of living standards. The rising in living standards causes people to consume more, which creates more waste and raises life expectancy, which causes more people to live longer and more people to live in the same place, earth.

The United Nations projects that the global population, currently at 6 billion, will peak at about 10 billion in the next century and then stabilize or even decline; can our plan...

... middle of paper ...

...e brought declining death rates. Diseases that would wipe out hundreds of thousands of people are now non-existent. We now give more care to the elderly causing longer and fuller life spans. While in the early nineteenth century farming was all done by hand and pull plows, mechanized farmers are now getting more food out of an acre of land than Malthus ever could have imagined. These changes and more have really altered the way population growth occurs naturally.

When taking into account Malthus principle of population it is evident that his fundamental theory of population has been proven right, yet human’s natural instincts still come out in all of us. We were born to procreate and survive. We still have thus far not run out of resources, but since the earth resources are finite, one day malthus’s predictions will come true.

Bleier, Ronald. The International society of malthus. 10 Oct. 2004

Internet History Sourcebook Project. Ed. Paul Halsall. 22 sept. 1997.

10 Oct. 2004.

Stephan, Ed. 10 Aug. 1997. Home Page. 10 Oct. 2004.

Linked from

World Population Awareness. 10 Oct. 2004.