# Thomas Robert Malthus

> An English cleric who declared that hunger and misery were built into the human condition — not because people were cruel, but because they bred faster than they could feed themselves. His 1798 essay made scarcity permanent and progress impossible, and the argument has haunted policy and science ever since.

*British political economist (1766–1834)*

**Canonical URL:** https://fame.am/person/thomas-robert-malthus

## Identity
- **Profile type:** Academic ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631))
- **Category:** Academics
- **Country:** United Kingdom
- **Born:** 1766-02-13
- **Died:** 1834-12-23
- **Status:** deceased
- **Gender:** male

## Bio

Malthus was an economist, cleric, and scholar working in the fields of political economy and demography. In 1798 he published An Essay on the Principle of Population, observing that whenever food production improved, populations grew until the lower classes were pushed back into hardship, want, and greater susceptibility to war, famine, and disease. He called it inevitable: "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man." As an Anglican cleric, he saw the trap as divinely imposed to teach virtue. He opposed the Poor Laws, saying they caused inflation rather than helping the poor, and supported grain import taxes. His pessimism — that real progress toward a better society was precluded by biology — cut against the prevailing 18th-century belief in human perfectibility. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace read him; so did Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. His failure to foresee the Industrial Revolution became a standard critique, but his framework laid the theoretical foundation for nearly two centuries of debate on hunger and famine.

## Fame
- **Popularity score:** 71.1 / 100
- **Momentum:** 15.0 / 100  (trend: RISING)
- **Historical depth:** 24.9 / 100
- **Now attention:** 26.1 / 100
- **Source confidence:** 60.0 / 100
- **Profile completeness:** 70.0 / 100
- **Category rank:** #135

## Topics
#Academics, #Academic, #Economics, #Mathematics, #Literature, #Early Modern Era

## Sources
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13526)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)
- [Pantheon 2.0](https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Thomas%20Robert%20Malthus)
- [توماس مالتوس](https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Tomas Maltus](https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Maltus)
- [Мальтус Томас](https://ba.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%81_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%81)
- [Томас Роберт Мальтус](https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%81_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82_%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%81)
- [Томас Малтус](https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%81_%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%82%D1%83%D1%81)
- [টমাস ম্যালথাস](https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%9F%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8_%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%A5%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B8)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [تۆماس ماڵتۆس](https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%DB%86%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D9%85%D8%A7%DA%B5%D8%AA%DB%86%D8%B3)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://co.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Robert Malthus](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Robert Malthus](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)
- [Τόμας Ρόμπερτ Μάλθους](https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CF%8C%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%82_%CE%A1%CF%8C%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%84_%CE%9C%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%B8%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Robert Malthus](https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [توماس مالتوس](https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Thomas Malthus](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Wikiquote](https://bs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)
- [Wikiquote](https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Malthus)
- [Wikiquote](https://fa.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3_%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B3)
- [Wikiquote](https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus)

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