A report on An Essay on the Principle of Population

Title page of the original edition of 1798
Part of Thomas Malthus's table of population growth in England 1780–1810, from his An Essay on the Principle of Population, 6th edition, 1826

First published anonymously in 1798, but the author was soon identified as Thomas Robert Malthus.

- An Essay on the Principle of Population
Title page of the original edition of 1798

19 related topics with Alpha

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William Paley, publisher of Natural Theology

Natural theology

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Type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for the existence of a deity based on reason and ordinary experience of nature.

Type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for the existence of a deity based on reason and ordinary experience of nature.

William Paley, publisher of Natural Theology
Title page of Natural Theology by William Paley

In An Essay on the Principle of Population, published during 1798, Thomas Malthus ended with two chapters on natural theology and population.

Census Act 1800

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The Census Act 1800 – also known as the Population Act 1800 – (citation 41 Geo.

The Census Act 1800 – also known as the Population Act 1800 – (citation 41 Geo.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, there were several proposals for a Census Bill and a growing concern about the population of Britain and its demand for food, particularly fuelled by the publication, in 1798 of Thomas Robert Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population.

Different projections of the future human world population

Human overpopulation

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Concept of a human population becoming too large to be sustained by its environment or resources in the long term.

Concept of a human population becoming too large to be sustained by its environment or resources in the long term.

Different projections of the future human world population
UN population estimates and projection 1950–2100
Global fertility rates as of 2020. About half of the world population lives in nations with sub-replacement fertility.
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Map of population density by country, per square kilometer. (See List of countries by population density.)
Table of population growth in England 1780–1810 in An Essay on the Principle of Population (1826) by Thomas Malthus, which would go on to be an influential text on Malthusianism.
American biologist Paul R. Ehrlich generated renewed interest in the topic of overpopulation with his 1968 book The Population Bomb.
Having one less child, on average, saves 58.6 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
Growth in food production has been greater than population growth.
A family planning placard in Ethiopia. It shows some negative effects of having more children than people can care for.
American biologist Paul R. Ehrlich generated renewed interest in the topic of overpopulation with his 1968 book The Population Bomb.

During the 19th century, Malthus' work, particularly An Essay on the Principle of Population, was often interpreted in a way that blamed the poor alone for their condition and helping them was said to worsen conditions in the long run.

Portrait by Henry William Pickersgill

William Godwin

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English journalist, political philosopher and novelist.

English journalist, political philosopher and novelist.

Portrait by Henry William Pickersgill
James Northcote, William Godwin, oil on canvas, 1802, the National Portrait Gallery
Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1797)

In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population in response to Godwin's views on the "perfectibility of society."

William Cobbett, portrait in oils possibly by George Cooke, c. 1831 National Portrait Gallery (London)

William Cobbett

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English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey.

English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey.

William Cobbett, portrait in oils possibly by George Cooke, c. 1831 National Portrait Gallery (London)
William Cobbett's birthplace.
Cartoon of Cobbett enlisting in the army. From the Political Register of 1809. Artist James Gillray.
The Hampshire hog in the pound
Rural rides in the southern, western and eastern counties of England, 1930.
The introduction of horse-powered threshing machines to farms was one of the principal causes of the Swing Riots.
William Cobbett (left foreground), John Gully (middle) and Joseph Pease (right) (the first Quaker elected to Parliament) arriving at Westminster, during March 1833. Sketch by John Doyle.
The tomb of William Cobbett in the churchyard of St Andrew's church in Farnham.

In 1829, Cobbett published Advice To Young Men, in which he criticised An Essay on the Principle of Population by the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus.

Original image of a logistic curve, contrasted with a logarithmic curve

Logistic function

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Sometimes simply called the sigmoid. It is also sometimes called the expit, being the inverse of the logit.

Sometimes simply called the sigmoid. It is also sometimes called the expit, being the inverse of the logit.

Original image of a logistic curve, contrasted with a logarithmic curve
Pierre-François Verhulst (1804–1849)
Generalized logistic function (Richards growth curve) in epidemiological modeling
Extrapolated infection trajectories of 40 countries severely affected by COVID-19 and grand (population) average through May 14th

The Verhulst equation was published after Verhulst had read Thomas Malthus' An Essay on the Principle of Population, which describes the Malthusian growth model of simple (unconstrained) exponential growth.

Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.

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Short essay written in 1751 by American polymath Benjamin Franklin.

Short essay written in 1751 by American polymath Benjamin Franklin.

The notion of the population doubling every 25 years influenced Thomas Malthus, who quotes paragraph 22 of the essay, with attribution, in his 1802 work An Essay on the Principle of Population.

A self-portrait from about 1802

William Hazlitt

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English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher.

English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher.

A self-portrait from about 1802
House in Wem, Shropshire where the Reverend William Hazlitt and his family lived between 1787 and 1813
Portrait of Charles Lamb by William Hazlitt, 1804
The back of No. 19, York Street (1848). In 1651 John Milton moved into a "pretty garden-house" in Petty France. He lived there until the Restoration. Later it became No. 19 York Street, belonged to Jeremy Bentham, was occupied successively by James Mill and William Hazlitt, and finally demolished in 1877.
Roman road toward Middle Winterslow, and the route which Hazlitt preferred to take to the village
William Hazlitt in 1825 (engraving derived from a chalk sketch by William Bewick).
Plaque in Bouverie Street, London, marking the site of William Hazlitt's house.
The site of Hazlitt's grave in the churchyard of St Anne's, Soho, with a new memorial commissioned following a campaign led by Tom Paulin.

Hazlitt also contributed three letters to William Cobbett's Weekly Political Register at this time, all scathing critiques of Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population (1798 and later editions).

The Limits to Growth first edition cover

The Limits to Growth

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1972 report that discussed the possibility of exponential economic and population growth with finite supply of resources, studied by computer simulation.

1972 report that discussed the possibility of exponential economic and population growth with finite supply of resources, studied by computer simulation.

The Limits to Growth first edition cover
World3 Model Standard Run as shown in The Limits to Growth
Researchers from China and Indonesia with Dennis Meadows

An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus (1798);