ABSTRACT
The 19th century was a period in which a profoundly serious demographic change was experienced in Western Europe. The economic and social issues caused by the rapid population growth in Europe, especially in the UK and Germany, started to be discussed. Some economists began to allege that the surplus of the population brought misery, not welfare. Malthus was the spearhead figure among these authors, and he is still discussed in the field of demography today. Malthus argues that the rate of population growth is greater than the rate of increase in the food supply, which is the main cause of poverty. This opinion has found both great support and criticism. Malthus alleged a pessimistic theory, by noticing that the increase in the UK population was raising poverty in some areas. In his theory of growth, in which he included population and resources, he claimed that food production would increase at decreasing rates due to the law of diminishing yields, by assuming that the amount of arable land was constant. Malthus is a typical liberal philosopher of the period. According to him, the reason for the misery was that the lower classes reproduced too much and had more children than they could care for. In this context, he strongly objects to the ‘Poor Laws’ that regulate the state’s social assistance to the poor.
In 1877, the Neo-Malthusian population approach, which adopted Malthus’s population approach, began to take shape in the UK. The first major advocators of birth control were British radical Neo-Malthusians. Despite Malthus’s opposition to the contraception in principle, these early Neo-Malthusians in the UK considered overpopulation to be a cause of poverty and supported birth control with the idea that it would reduce poverty and improve the living conditions of the working population by ensuring that the poor had fewer children. Criticism of Malthus and Neo-Malthusian opinions was carried out by Anti-Malthusians and Socialists. Anti-Malthusianism is a doctrine that opposes Malthusian thoughts, sees a decline in population growth as a danger, and promotes fertility. In France, where fertility rates fell in an early era, the Anti-Malthusian trend was widely accepted. Another group that opposed Malthus’s thoughts was the socialist thinkers of the period. They were criticizing Malthus’s liberal perspective of poverty. According to the Socialists, to eradicate poverty, it was necessary to change the model of society rather than controlling the population.

KEYWORDS: Malthus, Starvation, Growth, Socialist