The question over-population and the reduction in resources is a subject that has assumed contemporary importance, particularly with regard to less developed countries. This situation has also resulted in a resurgence of the Malthusian view that formal measures such as birth control and other methods should be used to reduce increasing populations. This paper will attempt to show that while a problem does exist in less developed countries the Malthusian view is too simplistic and ignores other vital social and cultural factors that should be taken into account. .

             Thomas Robert Malthus was a British economist born in 1766. He was one of the first thinkers to study the correlation between population growth and human social welfare. Malthus wrote in a time when the advent of the industrial revolution was changing the structure and constitution of modern society. In 1798 Malthus published an essay entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population. This was an attack on various theoretical ideas about the idea eternal human progress. (De Angelis, 1997) .

             In essence Malthus argues that, .

             the standard of living of the masses cannot be improved because "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man." Population, he asserted, when unchecked by war, famine, or disease, would increase by a geometric ratio but subsistence only by an arithmetic one. (De Angelis, 1997).

             He therefore posited the theory that increased and unchecked, population growth presents a formidable challenge to the idea of increasing human progress and development. 1 In the middle of the 19th century the Neo-Malthusianism movement emerged. This a movement that, was an advocated, among others, forms of birth control for the poor. (De Angelis, 1997).

             In its extreme, Malthusianism claims that war and famine can be seen as a 'positive' factors in the long term as that decrease population.