Population Theories

Within the entire world, we have an extremely high population. With a high population comes many issues. Over time, there were theories created on the fate of human population, and theories on how to stabilize the human population. In this essay, I will write about both types of theories. To begin, I will write about a theory by Thomas Robert Malthus. Thomas Robert Malthus felt that the human population had two strong desires, which were food consumption and sexuality.


He felt that the food supplied to the human population was not enough to maintain restrictions, alongside peace and harmony. He believed that problems such as war and crime could decrease the velocity of population growth. However, Malthus was not accepting of birth control strategies due to his religion, and also felt that the human population would never decline sexuality. With this contradictory statement, Malthus himself felt that there would be no end to the struggles and flaws of the human population. Next, I will write about the Demographic Transition Theory. This type of theory is also a strategy, and is a four-step process.


Stage One of this strategy is based around time periods before 1750. Due to the lack of birth control and a dependence on the hard work of children, the birth rates were very high. However, the amount of death in this time period were very high due to the lack of understanding of disease and health from poor individuals. While Stage One was a preparation step, Stage Two is the start of the Demographic Transition. In Stage Two, the ration of death is less due to lives being lived by higher levels of conduct. However, the amount of child birth is still very high. Today, the lowest income countries in the world are currently in Stage 2.


Within Stage 3, a highly stable economy would exist. Also, the birth and death ratio would be even, along with population itself slowly coming to a halt. The amount of fertility would also partially drop due to the birth of multiple children no longer being necessary. The academic expenses from children would result in financial stress instead of the income of the family. With the availability of birth control, the size of families are reduced, which is beneficial to women who find working outside of the home to be their preference. Stage Four transitions into a post industrial economy condones a calm population total.


The birth and death ratio is low, making the increase in population minimal. To conclude this essay, the Demographic Transition is superior compared to Malthus' theory. However, the issue of population will still continue for many decades more.