The historical and demographic problems associated with the transition from feudalism to capitalism attract close attention of many Western European scholars. The study covers such aspects as the demographic situation at different stages of this period, chronological and regional differences in the development of the demographic process, its relationship with economic and socio-cultural factors in the development of society .1 In this area of science, there is a growing struggle between reactionary and historical-materialist concepts of interpreting the demographic development of mankind. This is largely due to the acute demographic problems in developing countries, which are playing an increasingly important role in world history and politics. Complex demographic processes are also taking place in other countries of the modern world. In search of an answer to the questions put forward by the current demographic development of mankind, scientists turn to the experience of the past, attract historical materials about demographic behavior and the factors that determine it. In the West, the name of the English scientist T. Malthus has again become popular, who is mistakenly credited with" discovering " the contradictions between population growth and limited means of subsistence. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. increased attention to the problems of demographic development was objectively caused by the sharp aggravation of population problems, primarily socio - economic ones, in connection with the development of capitalism .2 Already in the first decades of the last century, a profound difference was revealed between approaches to one of the main problems of social history: whether a person is a blind and helpless puppet in the hands of a "divine will" or whether he is able to "create history" by taking into account and transforming existing socio-economic conditions. Malthus 3 argued that the population always grows exponentially (a married couple, according ... Read more