Malthus' Theory of Population

A British economist Malthus'(1778) proposed a theory that population grows at geometric proportion and after the imbalance between population and resources is set in, population is automatically checked by natural disasters (like famine, epidemic, disease, earthquake, flood) called positive checks.

Even in Hindu mythology, the concept of 'pralaya' to destroy a part of population reflects the same concept.

He also proposed the theory of population explosion or population holocast - which is relevant in some parts of world. This indicates that an over - grown population explodes like a bomb on the available resources, beyond which positive checks are naturally applied. Exponential growth of population will invariably lead to population explosion.

Growth of Human Population Through Ages and Shows the Recent Exponential Growth

Malthus' theory of population is relevant to global population is general as well as to some parts of world - where the population is growing at a geometric rate.

Rate of Growth of Population

Year	Global population	Growth	Year	Indian population (million)	Growth % annual
1850	1 billion	-	1901	236	-
1930	2 billion	1 billion / 80 yrs	1911	252	1.4
1965	3 billion	1 billion / 35 yrs	1921	251	0.1
1980	4 billion	1 billion/15 yrs	1931	279	2.8
1990	5 billion	1 billion/10 yrs	1941	318	3.9
2000	7 billion	2 billion/10 yrs	1951	361	4.3
			1961	439	7.3
			1971	547	10.8
			1981	684	13.7
			1991	844	16.0
			2001	1024	18.0

 

Although Indian population has followed geometric growth pattern, it is showing gradual trends of stability in the last two decades.

Exponential Curve

Popularly called as J-curve. In this pattern the population grows continuously at an increasing rate after an initial lag period. This rapid growth in population leads to holocast.

Global population growth as well as population growth of many countries is following exponential curve pattern.