Ayo, Miguel P.

BSMA 2-5
Economic Development (ECON 40163)
Prof. Alyssa Dale I. Ahorro

Does the Malthusian Theory on Population still applicable to this day?

Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleric and scholar, developed a theory in 1798 called
Malthusian Theory of Population wherein population grows in a geometric progression while food
supply grows in an arithmetic progression. In other words, it signifies that population grows faster
than food production, hence, may lead to shortage of food supply. Moreover, he believed that the
population will be controlled with two ways which are: (1) positive or natural checks wherein the
natural forces such as earthquakes, epidemics, and even human-made actions like wars; and (2)
preventative checks wherein having measures like late marriages, family planning, chastity and
such. In that, this term paper focuses on the criticisms of the Malthusian Theory of Population as
well as its applicability to this day.

Foremost, Agarwal (2020) explained that the growth rates of population and food supply
are not consistent with Malthus’ calculations. Advancements in technology resulted to the increase
of food supply as well as with large capital investments in the agriculture sector and this can also
be supported by the study of Pingali (2012) about Green Revolution, wherein there is an extreme
food crop productivity growth over the past 50 years in spite of increasing land scarcity and land
values. On the other hand, population had not increased as extremely as predicted by Malthus,
thus, food production kept up with it as there are an abundance of supply. Another argument is
that he believed that the increase of population is due to rising birth rate but in some studies, there
are also other factors like developments in the field of medical sciences that led to the decrease in
death rate making human life longer.

In line with this, I do consider that there are positive impacts that can arise because of
population growth like increased innovation. China is a good example for this as it had a rapid
population growth but still can be seen as one of the biggest contributor economies in the world
and one of the top exporters according to a study of Morrison (2019) entitled “China’s Economic
Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States.” Moreover, I do believe
that the increased in population will result to more people who will exert more effort to deal with
limited resources using various strategies. Another criticism is that Malthus sees that there is a
limited supply of food because of non-availability of land but this was also resolved due to
globalization that increases the amount of food supply a country can have.

These are some disapprovals about Malthus’ theory but there are still more as he failed to
consider other aspects in formulating his ideas and I can’t blame him for that as he only based his
ideas in his time as well as the conditions. As a result, there are “some” parts or certain “extent”
where I do believe that the Malthusian Theory of Population is not applicable to this day. However,
I view it as applicable to this day or not depending on the situation, or specifically, the points or
scope I will be focusing on. For instance, I think that Malthusian Theory is applicable to this day
observing it in some countries like Africa who faces starvation issues and that according to Hajjar
(2020) with the basis of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, two in every five children in
the world will be born in Africa by 2050, doubling its population. Furthermore, according to Voice
of America (2019), an international news and broadcast organization, there are Nigerian authorities
who provides family planning methods and advice to Nigerian families to slow the growth as
Nigerian’s population is expected to double by 2050, and this can be considered as preventative
checks. In line with this, there are also forces we can see today that limits population growth such
as COVID-19, and World Wars in the past that resulted to million deaths which can be regarded
as positive or natural checks.

To conclude, I explained before that I view this theory as applicable to this day or not
depending on the situation or the scope that will be focusing on. I assess that this is not applicable
if we will focus on the inconsistency of the theory or parts of it and look to the wealthy or
developed countries, nevertheless, it is valid or relevant to this day as well as the other points or
postulates of his theory if we will aim it at poor or underdeveloped countries like Africa. In that, I
believe that this theory is valid or applicable to this day to a particular “area.”
 REFERENCES

Agarwal, P. (2020). Malthusian Theory of Population. Retrieved January 21, 2021 from
https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/malthusian-theory/

BYJU’s. (n.d.). Malthusian Theory of Population. Retrieved January 21, 2021 from
https://byjus.com/biology/malthusian-theory-of-population/

Hajjar, B. (2020). The Children’s Continent: Keeping Up with Africa's Growth. Retrieved
January 21, 2021 from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/the-children-s-
continent/#:~:text=But%20in%20Africa%2C%20the%20average,world%20will%20be%
20born%20here.

Mondal, P. (n.d.). Malthusian Theory of Population: Criticisms and its Applicability. Retrieved
January 21, 2021 from https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/notes/malthusian-theory-of-
population-criticisms-and-its-applicability/39642

Morrison, W. (2019). China’s Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for
the United States. Retrieved January 21, 2021 from
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33534.pdf

Pingali, P. (2012). Green Revolution: Impacts, Limits, and the Path Ahead. Retrieved January 21,
2021 from https://www.pnas.org/content/109/31/12302

Seth, T. (n.d.). Malthusian Theory of Population: Explained with its Criticisms. Retrieved January
21, 2021 from https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/articles/malthusian-theory-of-
population-explained-with-its-criticism/1521

Voice of America. (2019). Nigeria’s Population Projected to Double By 2050. Retrieved January
21, 2021 from https://www.voanews.com/africa/nigerias-population-projected-double-
2050