Abstract
While Malthus was already painting a negative picture of the worldwide situation in 1798, he was also drawing up his famous prediction that population would outrun food supply, leading to a decrease in food per person. Indeed, there is a mathematic distortion between human reproduction rate and their capacity to produce subsistence means (production). That is why Malthus advised to reduce and limit the demographic growth, above all within the developing countries, so Marcel BOITEUX is asking for during the World Energy Congress in Montreal in 1989. Developing countries are characterized by high rate of population growth, an increasing demand in energy, scarcity of capital and profound differences in the quality of life between urban and rural segments of the population. Hence, several specialists are pointing the finger at the demographic growth, considered as a burden not only for the developing countries' development but also for the worldwide community's sustainability. In his speech, Marcel Boiteux emphasizes the complex interrelationships among changes in population, economic development, and energy consumption. With respect to energy use, qualitative dimensions of rising demand, as well as any demographic pressures on resource availability, seem to require our attention. Why does population growth evoke so much discussion? Why is it a cause for alarm? Why is M. Boiteux as well as Malthus looking for ways to bring about a decline in the rates of developing population growth? Despite the obvious relevance of those questions, a better one would be to know whether the world has sufficient energy to cope with the future demand while developing countries are seeking to improve the quality of life of the majority of their populations.
