Neo-Malthusian Theory Can Be Used as an Effective Policy for Population Control in the Caribbean. Evaluate This Assumption.

Neo-Malthusian theory can be used as an effective policy for population control in the Caribbean. Evaluate this assumption.

Population control has been a major concern for countries worldwide. From the late 18th century to the present, many theorists have tried to come up with successful ways to curb the problem of a growing population. According to statistics, the world’s population is said to reach a figure of 8.3 billion by the year 2030. This steady increase in population not only affects us socially, but also economically as well as environmentally. This essay seeks to highlight the extent to which the Neo-Malthusian theory can be used as an effective policy for population control in the Caribbean. The theory definitely has its pros and cons and by the end of this essay, one can determine whether it would be effective or not.
The Neo-Mlthusian theory was derived from the Malthusian theory. In 1798, Thomas Malthus published “An Essay on the Principles of Population”, highlighting the fact that the world’s population increases at a geometrical rate while the world’s food supply tended to increase at an arithmetic rate. This means that the population of the world increased more rapidly than the food supply needed to sustain it (Mustapha, 2009). Malthus was amazed at the unlimited urge for sex to produce children and the limit of the earth to produce food. According to this theorist, the growing population would eventually outstrip the food supply and this would result in people migrating, starving or in extreme cases, even dying.
There were to major measures which Malthus suggested in order to prevent this uneven relationship between food and population from happening. These are the preventative and positive measures. Preventative measures refer to measures put in place to decrease the birth rate, which include abstinence and chastity. Positive measures are those which increase the death rate, which include wars, diseases, famine and plagues. He was also an advocate for the abolishment of the poor laws which he believed encouraged the poor to increase their numbers, only making the situation worse. It was of his belief that the poor were responsible for the increase in population. Malthus was heavily criticized for this belief. He was also criticized on the fact that, today, food production has indeed kept up with population growth (System Administrator, April 2010).
The Neo-Malthusian theory has agreed with Malthus that the world’s food supply would not be able to sustain the growing population. They see a correlation with not just food and population growth, but population and food, oil, land and water. One thing that they disagree with are the measures Malthus highlights to control population growth. They believe in abortions and birth control as the ways the curb the problem of population growth. However, some of these methods are not legal in some of the Caribbean countries. Abortions, for example, are illegal in Trinidad or Jamaica. In Cuba, however, it is quite legal. According to the Cuban government, 60.2 percent of all pregnancies on the island end in abortions (Anthony Labaido, 2012). Overall, abortions would be negatively sanctioned across the island not only because it is illegal but also because many believe that it is inhumane and the destroying of a life is not an option.
Family planning can be effectively used to control population. Many Caribbean countries have adopted the family planning approach as a route out of the increasing population problem. Countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados have successfully implemented programs to not only decrease the population but also to promote widespread acceptance of fertility control. For example, the crude birth rate in Barbados decreased by 22 percent between 1978 and 1998. This method, as advocated by the Neo-Malthusians, is in fact one of the best ways to address the problem of population growth.
Another method suggested by the Neo-Malthusians to decrease the population is the Eugenicist Movement. This movement sought to control the population by controlling the reproduction of the ‘unfit’ in society, namely the minorities (Africans, Indians and Chinese). Reproduction was reserved for the Whites only, who would overtime populate the earth. This movement is definitely not an effective policy in controlling population not only in the Caribbean, but in the world. It is morally wrong and infringes upon the fundamental human rights of the individual.
In closing, one can derive from the points discussed that the Neo-Malthusian theory is not an appropriate and effective policy that can control the population in the Caribbean. Many of the theory’s methods are unfit for controlling the Caribbean’s population. Family planning is the only effective policy that was successfully implemented as a means of controlling population growth. Essentially, one cannot use this theory to curb the growing population in the Caribbean.