At the meeting of the Institute of Actuaries on 26 March 1956, it was brought out very clearly that the population problem for the world in general is very different from anything within the present experience of this country. In many areas the population is already outstripping the capacity for food production, and the rate of population increase, consequent upon improving mortality, gives cause for fears about the future.

One of the areas where this problem is becoming acute is the British Caribbean, where the island territories are already thickly populated, and there is no prospect that the rapidly increasing population can be adequately provided for. Lord Simon of Wythenshawe illustrated this very effectively in his 1954 report on the Population and Resources of Barbados. The report was printed privately, but the paper presented to the Institute described the position.