Among the most famous theories of demography is the one associated with the English political economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834). Malthus’s theory of population growth – outlined in his Essay on Population (1798) – was rather pessimistic.

What are the two types of checks on population described by Malthus?

Suggestive: Spread consciousness among people to reproduce less and control the population. Rejective: Revoke citizenship for the people who have more than two children Urbanizing checks: Rapid urbanization will decrease space, so the size of families will be limited. Industrializing checks. Making people workers in modern industries which do not need more labour will reduce the need for a big family as in the feudal set up. Contraceptives: distribute contraceptives to couples as an initiative from the state. Surveillance. Make reproductive health a part of community medicine and focus on reducing population. Preventive checks: celibacy, postponing marriage and Positive checks: Wars, famines, pandemics.

Preventive checks: celibacy, postponing marriage and Positive checks: Wars, famines, pandemics.

Humanity has only a limited ability to voluntarily reduce the growth of its population (through ‘preventive checks’ such as postponing marriage or practising sexual abstinence or celibacy). Malthus believed, therefore that ‘positive checks’ to population growth – in the form of famines and diseases – was inevitable because they were nature’s way of dealing with the imbalance between food supply and increasing population.