Thomas Robert Malthus was a British economist born in 1766. He was one of the first thinkers to study the correlation between population growth and human social welfare. Malthus wrote in a time when the advent of the industrial revolution was changing the structure and constitution of modern society. In 1798 Malthus published an essay entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population. This was an attack on various theoretical ideas about the idea eternal human progress. (De Angelis, 1997)

...the standard of living of the masses cannot be improved because "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power of the earth to

While the birth rate is declining in most developed countries, the opposite is often true in LDC countries. This aspect has received a wide range of research attention. Studies suggest that while the world generally processes sufficient food to feed the population, there is also an uneven production of food in relation to various countries and population groups and "the long-term production outlook is ominous." (Motavalli, 2004, p.26) In this regard Worldwatch reports that "...the growth in agricultural production has slowed steadily since the 1960s as populations soar, crops approach their biological maximum yield, arable land is lost and global fisheries crash. Genetic engineering, seen by some as a panacea for increasing yields, could actually backfire and make the situation even more desperate .... "(Motavalli, 2004, p.26)

produce subsistence for man." Population, he asserted, when unchecked by war, famine, or disease, would increase by a geometric ratio but subsistence only by an arithmetic one. (De Angelis, 1997)

A number of factors need to be taken into consideration in regard to the concept of Neo-Malthusianism in the contemporary world. Firstly one has to assess whether there is a real correction between over-population and economic and social conditions in the developing world.

This is particularly the case with regard to the less developed countries and cultures. For example, the rapid population growth in Haiti has led to various human right and economic problems. In this country with a fertility rate of 4.3 in 2002, "...a substantial share of poverty is also traceable to rapid population growth pressing upon limited endowments of soils and clean water." (Motavalli, 2004, p.26) The statistics also point to the fact that there is a disparity between sustainable population growth and resources. "Nearly 70 percent of all Haitians depend on subsistence agriculture in one of the most devastated environments on Earth, where only 30 percent of the land is suitable for cultivation." (Motavalli, 2004, p.26)

This situation can also be extended to other areas which are less developed. India has an increasingly high birth rate and it is estimated that while the population of the country is set to increa

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