Malthus was both right and wrong but we've solved that problem anyway

As we might have noted before the Rev Malthus was absolutely right about all of history until he sat down to write and absolutely wrong about near all that has followed. Population growth can indeed - and often will - outstrip food production growth yet this is a problem that capitalism and industrialisation solve. Rich people have fewer children:

South Korea’s fertility rate is expected to fall to an all-time low this year, setting the country up for a host of problems including underfunded pensions, expanding debt and economic decline.

The average number of babies born per woman of reproductive age is due to be as low as 0.96 this year, falling below one for the first time in history, according to a study commissioned by the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

That sort of fertility rate pretty much solves the overpopulation concern. And while that rate is alarmingly low by anyone's standards it's also true that every rich country, absent immigration, is below the 2.1 which is replacement level. The world is expected to be below it when he world is as rich then as we are now, around 2100 or so.

It's not even access to contraception which drives this - although obviously those who wish to use it should be able to buy it if they so wish. It's desired fertility which falls like a stone.

We know how to solve overpopulation, that's one through economic growth. You know, that thing caused by capitalism and free markets? Or as we might put it, economic freedom is the most effective contraceptive we know of yet. 

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