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An Essay on the Principle of Population Kindle Edition

by T. R. (Thomas Robert) Malthus (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 186 ratings
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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
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  1. Print length
    150 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    May 12, 2012
  5. File size
    357 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
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  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

He is also the author of many articles on Malthus, the Poor Law, and the Welfare State. He is currently researching a book on Malthus and poverty.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0082XV0CY
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 12, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 357 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 150 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1619492490
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 186 ratings

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
186 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Old Scot
5.0 out of 5 stars His timing was bad. He underestimated by far the rate of scientific ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2015
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This classic should be required reading in the course of everyone seeking liberal education in the arts and sciences. This recent edition from an unknown publisher presumably is the text of the third edition. I write primarily to correct technical errors in some of the previously posted reviews.
While it is true that in a hypothetical illustration of the basic "principle" Malthus used arithmetic progression to illustrate growth in "the means of subsistence" and exponential progression to illustrate population growth, the principle is stated without reference to the pattern of growth. At base all that Malthus asserted is that in the long run human population grows faster than the means of subsistence. Both could grow arithmetically, both could grow geometrically. All the conclusion requires is that the rate of growth of population be faster than the rate of growth of the means of subsistence. (It would make a difference if one grows arithmetically and the other exponentially.) Moreover, Malthus had a sophisticated view of the "means of subsistence." It is much more than just the food supply. And he understood that in part it is culturally determined. It might change somewhat over time. But in the long run, he argued the basic conclusion will follow. His timing was bad. He underestimated by far the rate of scientific and technological advance that has enabled much larger populations to live at higher and higher standards of living. But Malthus' primary question remains, and it is of vital importance: At some point in the future will the ever-increasing human population on Planet Earth reach a level beyond which still more growth would lead to a decline in the material welfare of the majority of that population?
4 people found this helpful
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Stephen brannon, jt
4.0 out of 5 stars A historical milestone
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2023
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I only ever really read this simply because it's very historic it was 1 of the 1st landmark publications that talked about the population increase and the problems of increasing populations so from that aspect I found it a bit fascinating though scientifically several the persons points are unproven.
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hgWhiz
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspired Charles Darwin
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2013
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Charles Darwin, from his autobiography. (1876)
"In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work."

H.G.Wells -"Perhaps the most 'shattering' book that ever has been or will be written."
6 people found this helpful
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Gary Upshaw
3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Repetitious
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2020
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Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) was a British cleric who wrote influential works on economics and demography. The book is a bit redundant, and gives an interesting perspective of the Enlightenment thinking at the time, best to supplement the reading with a more current read on such articles on the internet.

Malthus lived during the height of the Industrial Revolution in UK where there were large flows of people from rural to cities to take advantage of the new factory jobs. Malthus was concerned with the large increase of population and the filthy conditions they were living in, and the disparity between the rising capitalists and the poor, surmising that the trend was not sustainable. Being a cleric, he attributed large population increases among the poor to sinful morals, and warned that exponential population increase could not be matched by linear increase in food supplies. Although his analysis did not come to immediate fruition, his ideas have remained a current theme among environmentalists, economists and others. The world population continues to balloon, and food supplies have kept pace, but at the cost of environmental degradation, health decline due to obesity, and resource depletion. Lack of food may not be the cause for population decline, but high concentrations of populations subject to pandemics and network failures of transportation distribution, pollution, environmental degradation, energy supplies, automation, social tribal wars, and political mayhem.
One person found this helpful
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Mark
4.0 out of 5 stars The Reverend Malthus contends
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2013
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Every introductory course in economics mentions Malthus and this work, but has anyone really read the whole primary source and decided for oneself what it really means. Now is the chance. The Reverend Malthus contends that the production of food grows arithmetically, while the population grows geometrically which causes mankind’s reproduction results to outstrip its ability to feed and house itself and thus causing famine, war, and pestilence. He also claims with scattered empirical evidence that rapid population growth would ultimately lower workers’ wages to a subsistent level paving the way for Marx’s theory of the exploitation of labor. Malthus’s predicted future did not foresee that technological change could both increase the food supply and limit population growth. Nevertheless, in today’s world with unprecedented urbanization, the urban dominated societies have increasingly subordinated control of its food supply to outside supplier states. It may now be this logistics vulnerability and not the amount of food which gives some possible reverse truth to Malthus’s famous work. M. A. Kehrle
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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JONO5K1
5.0 out of 5 stars 5-hour speed read - great contribution to essay!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2019
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Perfect for jotting class-A quotes for academic writing. Malthus is an efficient writer that lays out theory in straightforward terms.
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Digital Panache
4.0 out of 5 stars Strong assertions backed by data
Reviewed in India on October 26, 2018
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Malthus has made very strong assertions and by the way backed by data around population and production. There is, however, enough doubt on extrapolation. Frankly, the way I read it, Malthus is not expecting readers to extrapolate it in the very long term else the thesis becomes perpetual without the need for any other external factors to change in any way. The premise and calculations suggest a view and that may change over time.
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Digital Panache
4.0 out of 5 stars Strong assertions backed by data
Reviewed in India on October 26, 2018
Malthus has made very strong assertions and by the way backed by data around population and production. There is, however, enough doubt on extrapolation. Frankly, the way I read it, Malthus is not expecting readers to extrapolate it in the very long term else the thesis becomes perpetual without the need for any other external factors to change in any way. The premise and calculations suggest a view and that may change over time.
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bill gates
5.0 out of 5 stars Malthus is a genius
Reviewed in Germany on March 4, 2017
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More relevant today than ever before, I would recommend this to anyone who thinks we can support 7 billion long term at a European level of consumption
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that explains the past but still warns us of the future
Reviewed in Australia on January 14, 2017
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This essay answers so many questions about nineteenth century parliamentary decisions. Malthus identified that having ten to twenty children not only was perilous for women's health but led to the impoverishment of communities. The geometric rise in population and the arithmetric rise in food production destined communities to failure and failure cycles. His rational opposition to welfare as a process that weakened the whole for the sake of supporting the impoverished and therefore encouraging impoverishment reverberates to our own times.
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avatrade
5.0 out of 5 stars Kindleでゼロ円で読める爆笑経済学
Reviewed in Japan on July 14, 2016
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例えば、森永卓郎さんあたりを引き合いに出してはいけないのかも知れないし、トマ・ピケティに至ってはあらぬ誤解を招いてしまうかも知れないけれど、このころの経済学は、有害無益な数学という強面の鎧をまとうことなく、政策担当者や民衆をアジること行動そのものだったかも知れないと、駁論をかましたくなるような面白い本。多くの入門書や教科書で、算術級数がどうしたこうした幾何級数がどうしたこうしたと、一二行で語られてお仕舞いのマルサスだが、実に愉快な表現に満ちた、文字通り、エッセーなのである。人口論だなんて訳してはいけなかった！？19世紀の英国の純文学はもはやわたくしの英語力にとっては難しすぎるが、これはOK。しかも、Kindleでゼロ円だなんて、おかしすぎるでしょ。
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