Population Size: A Historical Mystery

Document Type : Review Article

Author

Ph.D in Demography, Statistical Center of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The number of population and its rate of growth have long been the focus of rulers, politicians and then demographers. But the opinions of demographers in this regard, not only in different times and places, but also in the same time and place are not the same and aligned with each other. A group of predecessors are in favor of a large population and its rapid growth, while another group does not accept these conditions and do not consider its consequences to be anything but misery, poverty, and corruption, and this is how a mystery has emerged. As if it is the cognate of human population and civilization and continues from the dawn of history to the present day. The current research tries to find a joint principle for these theories by examining the population opinions and thoughts of the predecessors throughout history and help to solve this mystery. The result of the research shows that there is almost a common point of view among the opinions of scholars, namely the increase in the number of people is not unlimited and has a certain ceiling, furthermore, this ceiling, which is called the ceiling or limit of subsistence, differs in different societies. According to them, this ceiling is the maximum number of people that the society can provide for their livelihood.

Keywords


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