Population Growth

1700s – more children meant better support in old age and more labour for factory work
1766: Thomas Malthus – growing population is eventually checked by limits on births or increases in deaths
1968: Paul Ehrlich – population is growing too fast and must be controlled
Disastrous effects on the environment and human welfare

Ehrlich and other neo-Malthusians have argued that population is growing much faster than our ability to produce and distribute food and that population control is the only way to prevent:
Massive starvation
Environmental degradation
Civil strife

Population growth results from technology, sanitation, food
Death rates drop, but not birth rates
Some people say growth is no problem
New resources will replace depleted ones
But, some resources (i.e., biodiversity) are irreplaceable
Quality of life will suffer with unchecked growth
Less food, space, wealth per person

Sheldon Richman – humans find potential stuff and human intelligence turns it into resources
Humankind will always be able to save itself with a “technological fix”
Yet not all resources can be replaced or reinvented once they are depleted (e.g. extinct species, land)
Population growth is much more strongly correlated with poverty than with wealth

Policymakers believe growth increases economic, political, military strength
They offer incentives for more children
3 out of 5 of European nations think their birth rates are too low