... above the food supply. "If the population of the world grows rapidly, then food output may not keep pace with it. There will be diminishing returns to labour as more and more people crowd onto the limited amount of land available". (Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 2nd Ed, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 2001). In many areas of the world, some of the poorest countries, particularly sub - Saharan Africa are suffering as a result of this. The land is hardly coping with the current population levels, therefore all that is required is a few bad harvests and the effects could be devastating. There would be again mass starvation which has previously been the case in both Sudan and Ethiopia in recent years. In his essay on population Malthus stated that, "population when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers ...

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