According to Thomas Malthus, what happens if population growth is not checked?

According to Thomas Malthus, what happens if population growth is not checked?

• A. Population and resources grow in balance automatically.
• B. Technology will solve all resource constraints.
• C. Population will outpace resources, leading to checks like famine, disease, and war.
• D. Population growth will slow itself.

Answer: (C)

Malthus argued that population tends to grow faster than the resources available to sustain it, so without something to check it, demand for food and other necessities would outrun supply. When that imbalance happens, natural or “positive” checks like famine, disease, and war reduce the population and restore balance. This idea captures his core warning that unchecked growth leads to scarcity and hardship, rather than automatic equilibrium. The other ideas—automatic balance, technology solving all constraints, or growth slowing on its own—don’t fit his prediction of persistent struggle between population size and resource limits.

Malthus argued that population tends to grow faster than the resources available to sustain it, so without something to check it, demand for food and other necessities would outrun supply. When that imbalance happens, natural or “positive” checks like famine, disease, and war reduce the population and restore balance. This idea captures his core warning that unchecked growth leads to scarcity and hardship, rather than automatic equilibrium. The other ideas—automatic balance, technology solving all constraints, or growth slowing on its own—don’t fit his prediction of persistent struggle between population size and resource limits.