1766-1834. English economist and cleric,
whose Essay on the Principle of Population
1798 (revised 1803) argued for population
control, since populations increase in
geometric ratio, and food only in arithmetic
ratio. He saw war, famine, and disease as
necessary checks on population growth. Later
editions of his work suggested that `moral
restraint' (delaying marriage, with sexual
abstinence before it) could also keep numbers
from increasing too quickly, a statement
seized on by later birth-control pioneers
(the `neo-Malthusians').