Impacts of demographic catastrophes

TL;DR

This paper analyzes historical demographic catastrophes and finds they were generally too weak to impact population growth, challenging the concept of the Malthusian Stagnation epoch in demographic theory.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that most demographic catastrophes did not significantly influence human population growth, questioning the validity of the Malthusian Stagnation concept.

Findings

Most catastrophes did not affect population growth

The Malthusian Stagnation epoch lacks empirical support

Demographic checks were too weak to cause stagnation

Abstract

Analysis of demographic catastrophes shows that, with the exception of perhaps only two critical events, they were too weak to influence the growth of human population. These results reinforce the conclusion that the concept of the Epoch of Malthusian Stagnation, the alleged first stage of growth claimed by the Demographic Transition Theory, is not supported by empirical evidence. They show that even if we assume that Malthusian positive checks are capable of suppressing the growth of population their impact was too weak to create the Epoch of Malthusian Stagnation.