ABSTRACT
This chapter considers trends in population and food since the early 1950s. Particular attention is given to developments during the 1980s and early 1990s, because it is these which lately seem to have generated such alarm in neoMalthusian circles. Trends during the recent past are also very relevant to our assessment of future prospects which follows in chapters 4, 5 and 6. The initial focus here is on cereals. But subsequently the scope of the discussion will be widened.
