Tiisetso Motsoeneng’s reference to suggestions of a huge undercount in SA’s population refers (“SA’s population ‘may well exceed 95-million’”, December 2). Fibretime founder Alan Knott-Craig says this undercounting has been compounding for decades. May I introduce Thomas Malthus, an English clergyman whose theories on population growth influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Contrary to contemporary thought, Malthus didn’t believe society was capable of progressing towards utopia, as he believed population growth always outpaces food production. This is because population increases exponentially (by doubling if every person has two offspring, and they too have two offspring ― 2,4,8,16 and so on), whereas food supply increases linearly (if one acre yields 10 bushels, each additional acre will only produce the same amount ― so: 10,20,30). Therefore, Malthus proclaimed, utopia might only come about if we change human behaviour by decreasing birth rates (or through disease, famine and war).
Malthus did not take into account social changes such as family planning and education on contraception, all of which today can influence birth rates and population growth. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments toletters@businessday.co.za. Letters of more than 200 words may be edited for length.
Read Full Article on Business Day
[paywall]
Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
[/paywall]
