World Population Policies: Their Origin, Evolution, and Impact

At the beginning of the 18th century, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, maréchal de France, sent a letter to Louis XIV, as part of his efforts to persuade the King to help his poverty-stricken subjects. Vauban’s attempts to arouse royal empathy with the suffering French masses having proven fruitless, he invoked an ancient axiom of the monarchy, all in capital letters: ‘THE GREATNESS OF KINGS IS MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF THEIR SUBJECTS’. While Louis appeared indifferent to the numerical imperative, Vauban’s focus on statistics was picked up by a number of French reform-minded individuals who became more and more interested in the number of Louis’s subjects. In the words of Pierre Goubert, ‘after the publication of Vauban’s Enquête of 1697–1700, what is called public opinion ... seemed to become passionate about what was not yet demography’.(1) Demography as a seemingly neutral, objective, mathematical discipline went on to develop great influence and respect during the century of the Enlightenment and has only increased its importance in the modern world. Its function as a means of assessing the value of governments has continued to imbue its findings with critical significance.