Elon Musk again warned against low birthing rates, a position he has noted puts him at odds with the so-called “smart people” of the world, particularly climate alarmists.
“Most people in the world are operating under the false impression that there are too many people,” the Tesla and SpaceX boss told Axel Springer. “This is not true. Earth could maintain a population many times the current level. And the birth rate has been dropping like crazy.”
Musk went on to ridicule the “ridiculous population estimates from the [United Nations],” which he said need to be “updated, because really, they don’t make any sense.”
The tech billionaire focused in on Japan to illustrate his point. The nation has an alarming “negative trend for birth rate,” he said.
The World Economic Forum in January reported on Japan’s birthing rate shrinking faster than experts expected.
“Using the health ministry’s calculation formula and preliminary birth figures, the Asian newspaper [The Asahi Shimbun] has calculated that in 2021, birthrates in Japan declined to around 805,000 – a figure not expected until 2028,” the World Economic Forum said, adding that in 2021 “the Japanese government announced that the number of births fell to 840,832 in 2020, a dip of 2.8% from the year before and the lowest since records began in 1899.”
"Most people in the world are operating under the false impression that we've got too many people. This is not true. Earth could maintain a population many times the current level. The birth rate has been dropping like crazy." — @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/5BpOYThLRM
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) April 19, 2022
Earlier this year, Musk classified low birthing rates as “one of the biggest risks to civilization.”
“I can’t emphasize this enough, there are not enough people,” he told The Wall Street Journal in January. “And I think one of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birth rate.”
“And yet, so many people, including smart people, think that there are too many people in the world and think that the population is growing out of control,” Musk continued.
“It’s completely the opposite,” he asserted. “Please look at the numbers. If people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words.”
Studies have shown more and more people are opting out of having children due to fears surrounding climate change alarmism, or other reasons.
Morgan Stanley analysts told investors this summer the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline,” CNBC highlighted.
Watch the full interview, below:
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