Global Demography – Module 11

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key terms, theories, and concepts from the lecture on global demography and Malthusian thought.

Global Demography

The study of population size, structure, and trends on a worldwide scale.

Demographic Transition Theory

A model that explains shifts from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as societies industrialize.

Thomas Robert Malthus

English economist (1766–1834) who linked rapid population growth to limited food supply.

An Essay on the Principle of Population

Malthus’s 1798 book introducing his population‐food supply hypothesis.

Malthusian Population Theory

The idea that population grows geometrically while food supply grows arithmetically, leading to scarcity and poverty.

Arithmetic Growth

Increase by a constant amount each period (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4 …).

Geometric (Exponential) Growth

Increase by a constant multiple each period, often doubling (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8 …).

Preventative Checks

Voluntary actions that lower the birth rate, such as delayed marriage and moral restraint.

Positive Checks

Forces that raise the death rate—disease, famine, war, natural disasters.

Moral Restraint

Malthus’s term for postponing marriage and abstaining from procreation to limit population growth.

Famine

Severe food shortage; in Malthusian theory, both a consequence and deterrent of overpopulation.

Population Dynamics

Patterns and processes of change in population size and composition.

Birth Rate

Number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year.

Death Rate

Number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year.

Age of Marriage

Average age at which individuals first marry; influences fertility levels.

Childbearing Patterns

Demographic trends in the timing and number of children born to women.

Economic Factors Affecting Longevity

Income, employment, and living conditions that influence life expectancy.

Technological Advances in Agriculture

Innovations that increased food output and undermined Malthus’s dire predictions.

Industrial Revolution

18th–19th-century period of technological change that boosted productivity and food supply.

Environmental Challenges to Sustainability

Issues such as climate change and pollution that may limit future population support.

Demographics

Statistical study of population characteristics like age, sex, and race used for policy and market research.

Exponential Growth in a Finite World

Kenneth Boulding’s warning that unlimited growth is impossible on a planet with limited resources.