Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has stated that Japan is in danger of extinction if it doesn’t improve its birth rate in response to a Kyodo News article tweet that said Japan’s population recorded its lowest level since records began on 2021.
“At risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world.” Musk, who recently bought Twitter, replied to a tweet on Sunday.
Musk has spoken several times during the last few years about his concerns regarding a global human population “collapse” as the biggest threat to human civilization.
At risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2022
Musk replied to a tweet published by the news agency. The article said that Japan’s population decreased by a record-breaking 644,000 to just 125.5 million in 2021. It was an 11-year streak of decline. This is the most significant drop since 1950, when comparable data was available.
Japan saw 831,000 births during the year, but 1.44 million deaths overshadowed the former number, as per government statistics.
A record-breaking 29 percent of people were over 65. The 14-year-olds and younger made up an all-time low in the range of 11.8 percent.
Alongside Japan’s rapidly declining population and the declining population in 2021 could be attributed to the fewer foreigners in Japan due to more strict border control measures to combat Coronavirus.
The Japanese government has been struggling for years with the issues of an aging population and a shrinking workforce. Japan hopes to reduce the workforce shortage through the number of foreign workers working under a softer visa system.
Source: Kyodo
Also read about Japanese Newlyweds Can Receive Upto 600,000 Yen To Start A New Life