Elon Musk: The ‘Biggest’ Threat to Civilization Is Declining Birth Rates
'I can’t emphasize this enough: There are not enough people'
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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has warned that population decline will be the death of civilization.
While speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, Musk warned the world is becoming underpopulated
“I can’t emphasize this enough: There are not enough people,” Musk said via a video call from a new Tesla factory.
“One of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birth rate.”
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He went on:
"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."
"It’s completely the opposite. Please look at the numbers — if people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble, mark my words."
Population collapse is potentially the greatest risk to the future of civilizationhttps://t.co/VVN8kElTlS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2021
Musk sounded the alarm of the dangers of population decline and the demographic winter amid declining birthrates.
Musk tweeted in 2017 in response to a New Scientist article about a “population bomb” going off.
“The world’s population is accelerating towards collapse, but few seem to notice or care."
“Real issue will [be] an aging & declining world population by 2050, *not* overpopulation,” he tweeted in 2019.
“Demographics, stratified by age, will look like an upside down pyramid with many old people & fewer young.”
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Musk shared a WSJ article earlier this year about the decline in population growth, warning it is “potentially the greatest risk to the future of civilization.”
The global birthrate has fallen from 3.2 live births per woman in 1990 to 2.3 live births per woman in 2020, according to the world population datasheet.
“The world population, currently 7.8 billion, is expected to peak at around 9.7 billion by 2050 but decline to 8.8 billion in 2021, researchers predicted in a report published in the journal The Lancet,” reported The Hill.
“In the U.S., birth rates have fallen for the past six years, with 1,637 births per 1,000 women,” the report added.
“The 2020 U.S. Census showed the population in the country climbed just 7 percent from 2010 to 331 million people.”
