THOMAS MALTHUS
- Thomas Malthus - one of the first to argue that the world's rate of population increase was outrunning the development of food supply. He wrote an essay about the matter called An Essay on the Principle of Population.
- Population vs. Food Supply
- Today : one person, one unit of food
- Fifty Years : four people, three units of food
- One Hundred Years : sixteen people, five units of food
- Neo-Malthusians
- Argued that Malthus did not take into consideration the fact that relatively poor countries woulod have the most rapid population growth because of transfer of medical technology.
- Also argued that the world population growth is going to outrun not only food production, but a wide variety of resources.
- Malthus's Critics
- Esther Boserup and Simon Kuznets criticize Mathus's theory; they believed that technology would advance and save society from lacking proper food supply.
- Julian Simon theorized that the human mind is the greatest resource, therefore making overpopulation a good thing.
- World Health Threats
- Epidemiology - the branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that affect large numbers of people.
- Epidemiologic Transition - causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition.
- Stages One and Two: black plague and cholera.
- Stages Three and Four: heart attacks and various forms of cancer.
- Stage Five: infectious and parasitic diseases.
- Below is an article about global overpopulation.
- http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/childfree_by_choice/46451
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