Population theories

Some critics contend that Malthus' theory of population can be used to explain the dynamics of the relationship between population and resources in less developed territories. Since the Caribbean is considered to be less developed in comparison to other nation-states eg the US, France, England etc... we can say to the Malthusian theory of population can be applied to explain population-resource issues in the Caribbean, however it is limited in its scope and explanations, due to the diversity of the individual Caribbean territories themselves.

Marx's theory of population, tends to be a bit more plausible in explaining the relationship between population and available resources, with respect to the Caribbean. From a Historical perspective, given the fact of plantation slavery and colonialism, the Marxist theory of population provides a better explanation of population in the Caribbean when compared with Malthus's theory of population. However, note that Marx's theory of population was developed to explain the dynamics of European population and resources. Therefore it is also limited in its scope to give a comprehensive explanation of population- resource issues in the Caribbean.

Finally remeber that both of these theories are dated and population and resource issues have changed significnatly over the last century, therefore, the best suited theories for explaining Caribbean population issues would tend to take, time and individual territorial factors as well as history into account. In this case perhaps the demographic transition theory, may be even more suited (however this theory also has various short-comings) to explain Caribbean population issues. See George Roberts Demographic Transition Theory of the Caribbean - this is the more precise of all the other theories mentioned!