Thomas Robert Malthus stated this theory, which indicated that the population would increase geometrically, while food production would only increase in arithmetical proportion, thus creating the conditions for a shortage in the long term that would require an adjustment lowering the birth rate.
Nowadays, we call Malthusianism a doctrine, strongly influenced by the theory explained above, which recommends that the world’s population should stop increasing since resources and the available capacity of the biosphere are insufficient to meet future needs. This doctrine promotes birth control, primarily through measures of delayed marriage and of contraceptive character.