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Publication of An Essay on the Principle of Population

When
1798
Where
Unresolved site
Episodes
2

In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus anonymously published An Essay on the Principle of Population. The work argued that population grows geometrically while food supply grows arithmetically, creating inevitable scarcity. This publication sparked significant debate on population limits and influenced subsequent legislative and intellectual responses.

Episodes

  1. 1798 · Unresolved siteAnonymous First Edition Release

    Malthus's essay was published anonymously in 1798, with his identity soon revealed.

  2. 1798 · Unresolved siteGeometric-Arithmetic Population Model

    Malthus argued population grows geometrically while food grows arithmetically, causing scarcity.

Background and detail

Publication Context. The first edition of An Essay on the Principle of Population appeared in 1798 under an anonymous byline. Although the author was quickly identified as Thomas Robert Malthus, the initial release did not bear his name. The full title included remarks on the speculations of William Godwin, situating the work within contemporary political and philosophical debates.

People involved

Sources

  1. An Essay on the Principle of Population Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.