74 Malthas' Main Thesis Still Holds 



nomic situation. As long as mortality continues to be attacked in the 

 underdeveloped countries by the amazingly effective modern tech- 

 niques, the rapid increase in population growth will continue. 



As long as the death rate is relatively low and the birth rate remains 

 at the physiological maximum, population will continue to grow 

 rapidly. But there is a limit. Death rates can be held down only so 

 long. Actual famine has so far been held off in most parts of the 

 world, but the balance is becoming more precarious. Authorities 

 agree that hunger is becoming more widespread. So with the control 

 of mortality there is desperate need around the world to come some- 

 how to grips with the problem of fertility. I think we fool ourselves 

 when we hope that technology in other areas can give the answer. 



For much of the world today there are no untapped bonanzas to 

 turn to. In grim earnest, Malthus' basic thesis still holds in the face 

 of today's relentless acceleration in population growth which is un- 

 precedented in history. Population pressure is now eroding the tenu- 

 ous subsistence of many, many hundreds of millions of already hungry 

 human beings. 



It does no good to dangle before the eyes of these hungry people 

 a trace-element economy of abundance a century hence. For a ma- 

 jority of the earth's people today, it is simply not true that their de- 

 mand for a better future has any possibility of being realized short of 

 a miracle of loaves and fishes. Human fertility is outrunning human 

 ingenuity today over most of the earth. Here is documentation from 

 competent sources in the field of demography: 



United Nations' Report on the World Social Situation, published in 

 1957, concludes that as a result of the various fertility and mortality 

 trends the present rates of growth in some of the economically under- 

 developed countries are higher than any that have been known in the 

 history of the human race. Though food production has increased, 

 food consumption per capita in many less developed countries where 

 a large part of the world's population lives still remains below the 

 prewar level. Although food production in the better-fed nations has 

 greatly increased, world trade in foodstuffs shows little sign of im- 

 provement. The wide disparities in consumption (including quality of 

 diet) between the better-fed and the more poorly fed nations have not 

 notably diminished. 



