Population and agriculture in Sweden,<i>circa</i>1700–1830

Abstract

Abstract How far can the growth of population be considered as a factor in the development of agriculture? This is the main theme of this article, and it presupposes an answer to the question how far population growth was independent of economic conditions. In the long run, of course, it is obvious that one essential condition of an increase in population is a definite increase in the supply of food. If population growth in a pre-industrial period is regarded mainly as a reflection of agricultural expansion, then the significance of an increase in population as a factor in this development is severely limited, reduced in fact to a mere question of reactions. Population figures can then be used as a rough yardstick for the growth of agriculture in both the long run and the short. If, however, population growth can be regarded as being to some extent independent of the development of economic activity, it can be regarded as a primary—and not merely a secondary—factor affecting the development of agriculture. In that case it will of course become less useful as a yardstick for the growth of agriculture, particularly for short periods.