Thomas Robert Malthus

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a British political economist and demographer best known for his pessimistic views on population growth and its relationship to resources. His seminal work, 'An Essay on the Principle of Population,' posited that population grows exponentially while food production grows arithmetically, leading to inevitable scarcity, famine, and social strife. Malthus's theories sparked significant debate and influenced various fields, including economics, sociology, and even biology, where his ideas were echoed by Charles Darwin in the context of natural selection.