96 



Malthusianism and the 



Belgium. 





Marriages 



in 1000 

 annually. 



7-5 

 7-0 

 7-2 

 7-1 



Births 

 in 1000 

 annually. 



Deaths 

 in 1000 

 annually. 



Average 

 Life Term. 



Births 



in 100 



Marriages. 



I 864-1 873 



I 874-1 883 

 I 884-1 893 



I 894-1 903 



32-0 



3i-4 

 29-5 

 287 



24-1 



21-4 



20-4 



18-0 



Yrs. Days. 

 4 I 29 

 46 266 



49 7 

 55 203 



427 



444 

 407 



354 



In this table there is only one feature requiring 

 notice — the continuous decline of the birth-rate since 

 1874 in face of the continual elevation of the marriage- 

 rate. In the last decade the birth-rate makes an 

 extraordinary decline, the births per 100 marriages 

 falling from 407 in the previous decade, and from 

 444 in the decade prior to that, to 354. The only 

 possible explanation is the adoption by a considerable 

 proportion of the population of Belgium of the system 

 which prevails in France, of married people limiting 

 the number of their children. Were it not for its 

 adoption by the French people, the proportion of 

 marriages to population, which is as high in France as 

 in the Netherlands, would yield an increase far beyond 

 what there is room for in the labour market of France. 



It is now impossible to doubt that Paulin has proved 

 the famous Malthusian doctrine to be one of those 

 creeds of science which holds the minds of men for one 

 or even several generations, but which ultimately 

 melts away before the accumulating light of truth. He 

 has proved that population never tends to outrun the 

 means of subsistence ; that population recedes when 

 industry and commerce do, and rises again with a 

 period of commercial prosperity. He has shown that 

 war, pestilence, and famine do not limit population ; 



