Question

What is the principle of population proposed by T.R. Malthus?

1) The population grows at an exponential rate
2) The population grows at a linear rate
3) The population grows at a decreasing rate
4) The population remains constant

Answer 1

The correct option is 1) The population grows at an exponential rate.

Thomas Robert Malthus proposed that the population grows at an exponential rate and will outpace food production, leading to a 'Malthusian trap' where famine, disease, and war reduce the population to sustainable levels.

Step-by-step explanation:

The principle of population proposed by Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleric and scholar, is that the population grows at an exponential rate when resources are abundant.

Malthus posited that this growth would eventually outpace the arithmetical increase of food production, leading to a scenario where famine, disease, and war would reduce the population to sustainable levels. In Malthus's view, populations tend to double in size, with each generation having the potential to be twice as large as the one before it, while food production increases by only a set amount each period.

This disparity between the rates of population growth and food production capacity would eventually result in what is known as a 'Malthusian trap,' where the population growth reaches a limit set by the subsistence level of food production, and cannot be sustained without a reduction in size.