An Essay on the Principle of Population
Thomas Malthus's 1798 argument that population grows faster than the food to feed it.
At a glance
Key ideas
Geometric against arithmetic, Preventive and positive checks, The cycle of distress …
See all 4Criticism
Engels and Marx
Connections
Thomas Robert Malthus and Charles Darwin
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Malthus argues that population grows in a geometric progression, doubling every 25 years, while food grows only arithmetically.
- Unless birth rates fall, the gap leads to want and famine.
- Growing population raises the supply of labour and lowers wages, so continued growth leads to poverty.
- He wrote it against the optimism of Godwin and Condorcet about the future improvement of society.
Why it matters
- It helped bring about Britain's first national census, and Darwin and Wallace each cited it as a key influence on natural selection.
Key facts
- Author
- Thomas Robert Malthus, first published anonymously1
- Published
- 17981
- Second edition
- 1803, heavily revised; Malthus said it "may be considered as a new work"1
- Later editions
- 1806, 1807, 1817 and 1826 (the 6th)1
- Summary
- A Summary View on the Principle of Population, 18301
- Census
- Contributed to the Census Act 1800, which set up a national census from 18011
Key ideas
-
Geometric against arithmetic1
Population can double every 25 years while food production grows by a fixed amount.
-
Preventive and positive checks1
Lower birth rates (later marriage, celibacy) or higher death rates (hunger, disease, war) keep population within resources.
-
The cycle of distress1
Population grows in plenty until wages fall and food prices rise, then pauses until food catches up.
-
Poor laws1
Poor relief tends to "create the poor which they maintain"; he proposed abolishing it gradually.
Criticism
-
Engels and Marx1
They argued the pressure is of the means of production on population; Engels called it "the crudest, most barbarous theory".
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
Is something on this page wrong or out of date? Tell us
The line under a date fills as time passes: empty when new, then one equal share each for a day, a week, a month and a year. For episodes and other items it is full at 2 years; for "last checked", at a year. A striped line means the date is known only to the month or year.