DEMOGRAPHIC fears run deep in western society. In the early days of the industrial revolution, Thomas Malthus was feted for warning that war, pestilence and famine were the inevitable consequences of a “natural law” that unchecked populations grow geometrically, while food supply could only grow arithmetically.
Half a century ago, similar fears about the impact of a global “population bomb” on ecosystems lay behind the emergence of the modern environment movement. Today we hear its echoes in the framing of concerns about rising food prices, migration, civil wars and climate change. Malthus was right, we are told. It’s overpopulation, stupid.…
