What were the social consequences of population expansion during 18th century Europe?

Answer 1

his massive rise in population was to provide crucial labor for the Industrial Revolution. Why did the European population begin to rise in the early-18th century? Historians still debate the causes. The increase was due, at least in part, to a decrease in the Death Rate, itself a consequence of famines having become less common and plagues becoming less endemic. These gains did not generally lead to longer life spans (Europeans in the 18th century had alife expectancyof only about 30 years!), but they allowed more children to survive into adulthood. The population increase might also have been helped along by a climbing Birth Rate (itself perhaps a "recovery" response after demographic decline). In addition, slightly better living conditions in the second half of the 18th century allowed young adults to establish households a few years earlier than they previously could. This, in turn, allowed families to have children a few years earlier.

An exploding population was not necessarily a benefit to countries that were, in the 18th century, generally very poorand organized economically around subsistence agriculture. Traditionally, a rising population had raised the demand for food and goods, but it had also always overwhelmed a land's productive capacities. Population explosions in earlier centuries had often resulted in catastrophic corrections such as famine and plague, which returned the population to a lower level. The increase in population during the 18th century turned out to be quite different. While it raised demand, and hence helped to spur on the Industrial Revolution, the population growth did not outstrip the growth of economic productivity. For the first time in history, the terrible cycle of economic surplus, population growth, overpopulation, and famine was broken.

Answer 2

Industrial Revolution