The thesis examines the range of responses to population pressure in rural Beheira Governorate West Delta Egypt. The aims of the study are to examine how and why responses have been differentiated between different rural areas under different population pressures. It is set in the context of the Boserupian/Malthusian debate on the effects of population growth in rural societies. The study develops a model of responses to population pressure, after Grigg (1980) and Bilsborrow (1987), in order to examine the level and mix of four possible responses: economic response (increase in land reclamation or land intensification), demographic response (fertility decline), economicdemographic (rural out-migration), and livelihood response (increase in non-farm income). A field survey was carried out in three villages in Beheira Governorate. A stratified household sample was designed for each village according to farm size (four groups) in order to measure the relationship between population pressure and the range of responses. Questionnaires, interviews, and secondary data collection provided the base data for the analysis. The analysis demonstrated a generally positive effect of population growth on food resources, suggesting a Boserupian view to be more evident in the study area than the classical neo-Malthusian view. However, the growing number of landless and the level of rural poverty and inequality cannot be ignored. The study has successfully demonstrated how the responses are differentiated between and within the study areas under different economic structures and population pressures. It has highlighted that the research model cannot be generalised for all responses at the same scale in all rural areas. The type and extent of response differs according to the ecological, economic and demographic backgrounds of villages and households. An increase in arable land is more evident in the desert area than in the old agricultural area, and land intensification is more evident in traditional farming areas than the others, with different types of crops between the traditional areas. A fertility decline response is found to be stronger in the villages with easy access to urban services and markets. Rural out-migration is found to be higher from the densely populated areas than from the other areas, and is highest among the middle group of farmers. Diversification of rural household livelihood resources is most evident in the areas with access to more alternative non-farm resources (near the urban centres). The results have provided an improved insight into the effects of the role of location on the level of responses to population pressure on cultivated land in rural areas in Developing Countries. The analysis offers suggestions for appropriate policy interventions to facilitate further income growth under conditions of continuing — though falling — population growth.