malthusianism

Mal·thus   (māl'thəs)    British economist who wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), arguing that population tends to increase faster than food supply, with inevitably disastrous results, unless the increase in population is checked by moral restraints or by war, famine, and disease. Mal·thu'sian (-thōō'zhən, -zē-ən) adj. & n., Mal·thu'sian·ism n.

Main Entry: Mal·thu·sian
Pronunciation: mal-'th(y)ü-zh&n, mol-
Function: adjective
: of or relating to Malthus or to his theory thatpopulation tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence and that unless it is checked by moral restraint or by disease, famine, war, or other disaster widespread poverty anddegradation inevitably result —Malthusian noun
Maláthus /'mol-th&s/, Thomas Robert (1766–1834), British economist and demographer.Malthus presented his theory of population in An Essay on the Principle of Population, which was first published in 1798 but later expanded and documented. A pioneer in modern demography, he wasdescriptive rather than prescriptive in his work. An economic pessimist, he viewed poverty as unfortunate as well as inevitable. His thinking later had a profound influence upon Charles Darwin.