Human Population

One of the great economic problems in the world is, there are unlimited needs, but limited resources. With populations growing exponentially each year, this problem of limited resources will become more and more significant. Since recorded time, some 2000 years ago, human populations grew quite slowly never exceeding 1 billion until around 1800. Today after only about 200 years the population has swelled to over 6 billion. How have populations swelled so fast over such a small period of time, and what effects will this have on future generations.

Early humans survived through hunting and gathering. They lived mostly nomadic lifestyles. With the Agricultural Revolution societies began to form and populations rose. However even with this new revolution populations were always kept in check through poor living standards, low food supplies, and more importantly diseases. By 1800, a new revolution was taking place. The Industrial Revolution brought about more efficiency, and people were able to use machines and factories to bring goods cheaply to many.

With the Industrial Revolution underway people already began to hypothesize the results of increasing populations. The economist Thomas Malthus provided an essay on the subject entitled, “Essay on the Principle of Population”. Malthus explained that while human populations were growing exponentially, food supply was growing arithmetically. He predicted that widespread famine would eventually cause widespread deaths across the world. One