population theories

• negative theories


  • Malthus
  • Neo-malthus
• positive theories


  • Boserup
  • Simon
• what did Malthus argue?

  populations grow exponentially (rapid) while food supplies grow arithmetically (constant rate)

  • food shortages lead to positive and preventative checks
  • positive checks increase death rate as populations exceed carrying capacity
• positive checks


  increases death rate e.g war , famine , epidemics
• preventative checks


  happens when individuals realise there's not enough food to support a family = opt for later marriages or no sex to reduce birthrate
• what did Malthus say about positive and preventative checks?

  positive checks are inevitable

  • preventative checks will never reduce population
• what do Neo-Malthusians think?

  rapid population growth is an obstacle to development and should be slowed down

  • Club of Rome (1971) argued that in 100 years that overuse of resources = sudden decline in population and economic growth
  • humans can ONLY live on Earth if population growth is limited and resources are used more sustainably
• what did Boserup argue?


  however large the world's population grew , people would always provide sufficient amounts of food to meet its needs

  • farming = become more intense as population increased , population growth would encourage new methods and tech to be developed
• what did Simon argue?

  'ultimate resource' is the human mind , the world would produce enough intelligent people to solve problems therefore resources wouldn't run out
• criticisms of the malthus theory

  his theory is based on the idea that the rate of growth in food production can't increase yet it has increased due to technological advances
• criticism of neo-malthusians theory

  people think that there's enough resources to go around to support a growing population , it's just unevenly distributed
• criticism of Boserup

  it's uncertain as to whether food production can keep up with rapid population growth in the future - climate change may slow down food production rates
• criticism of Simon


  he argued that quality of life has improved due to population increase yet due to a change in climate , some conditions have gotten worse