Question

Explain which position you find more convincing ----The demographic transition theory or Malthus’s?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) A demographic transition is when a country changes from having a high birth and death rate to a lower birth and death rate. This transition takes place when a country shifts from a pre-industrial to an industrial era.

Whereas, the Malthus’ theory proposes that the human population of a region would grow exponentially, while the food production would grow at an arithmetic or uniform rate.

The DT theory might have a few errors as it was observed during the industrial age that even medical innovations came about. When this happened, there were fewer death rates, which caused an increase in population. Perhaps it is not industrialisation but rather the literacy rate that would determine the birth rate and the death rate.

Malthus’ theory is a lot more convincing simply because it points out a simple fact that sometimes the demand can be greater than the supply. With a rise in population, it is only common that the rate of production would also increase gradually. If the population growth were to be somehow controlled, it would even result in an economic equilibrium, where the demand and supply are equal.