Malthusian

Malthian (or Malthusian) refers to the ideas associated with Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleric and economist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In classical Malthusian theory, population grows geometrically (exponentially) while the means of subsistence, especially food, grow only arithmetically. Consequently, without checks, population pressure would outpace resource growth, leading to subsistence crises.

To prevent or resolve such imbalances, Malthus distinguished two types of checks on population: positive checks, which raise mortality such as famine, disease, and war; and preventive checks, which reduce birth rates, including delaying marriage, moral restraint, and, in later interpretations, contraception. The concept relies on the idea of carrying capacity defined by available resources.

Historically, Malthus's ideas gained prominence during the early Industrial Revolution and influenced debates on poverty, public policy, and population growth. Critics argued that technology, trade, and social institutions could raise subsistence and alter growth dynamics, making demographic outcomes less deterministic. The term Malthusian is also used in economics and ecology to describe models and policies emphasizing population pressure, and in popular discourse to describe fears of a Malthusian catastrophe—though such predictions remain contested and context-dependent.

Modern usage distinguishes between Malthusian and neo-Malthusian perspectives, the latter often highlighting environmental limits and resource scarcity. In ecology, a Malthusian growth model describes population growth unconstrained by density dependence, contrasting with logistic or carrying-capacity–limited growth. Overall, the term denotes a framework that links demographic dynamics to resource availability and potential stress on the environment or economy.