INTRODUCTION

TO
SOCIOLOGY

Lecture 29
 THEORY OF
POPULATION
GROWTH
Malthusian Theory
• Essay on the
Principle of
Population
by Thomas Robert
Malthus (1798).
Basic Premise:
• Food is necessary
for life.
• Procreation is
necessary for life.
The 2 necessities
grow at different rate
• Population at
geometrical ratio
(2,4,8,16,32,…).
• Food at arithmetical
ratio (1,2,3,4,5, …).
• * Population out-
grows food supply.
• * Population
doubles every 25
years.
Measures to check high
growth of population:
• Preventive checks.
• Positive checks.
Preventive Checks:

• Celibacy
• Marry late
• Abstinence
Positive Checks:
• Famine
• Epidemics
• War
• Natural calamities
Criticism:
• Too pessimistic view.
• Food supply
revolutionalized.
• Use of contraceptive
not advocated.
Theory of
Demographic
Transition:
• Linked birth rates
and death rates to
industrialization
Stages in
demographic transition
• High B.R. and high D.R.
• High B.R. and low D.R.
• Declining B.R. and low D.R.
• Low B.R. and low D.R.
High to low mortality
and fertility:
is ‘demographic
transition’
Pace of transition
varies due to:
• Cultural variation.
• Eco. development.
• Other factors.
Second
demographic
transition where:

Fertility has fallen below

replacement level.
Will all countries
follow the transition
as experienced by
Europe?
Thank you