In 1798 an English minister named Thomas R. Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principie of Population As It Affects the Future Improvement of Society. In this essay Malthus said that population was increasing so quickly that the food supply of the world would run out. He urged people, especially the poor, not to marry and have children at a young age.
Malthus believed that overpopulation caused poverty. His theory was much debated during the 1800's. People who disagreed with him said that high birthrates were the result, not the cause, of poverty. Debates about the reasons for population growth and its effects continue today.
