Elon Musk, founder of American electric car maker Tesla (Tesla), retweeted a post on Twitter on May 8 and wrote that if Japan’s fertility rate continues to decline, it will eventually cease to exist. His remarks are very Quickly sparked heated discussions on the Japanese Internet.
WholeMarsBlog’s Twitter account forwarded a report from Kyodo Japan on the 8th. The text quoted the demographic data released by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on April 15, saying that as of October 1, 2021, Japan’s total population was 125.5 million, which is the same as the 10 in 2020. Compared with the previous month, it decreased by 644,000 people. It was the 11th straight year of population decline and the biggest drop since 1950.
Kyodo, citing government data, said 831,000 births in Japan in 2021 would be less than the 1.44 million deaths over the same period. In addition, nearly 29% of Japan’s population is 65 years old or older, but the number of 14 years old or younger is at a record low of 11.8%.
The government’s tightening of entry restrictions due to the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) outbreak has also led to fewer foreign residents in Japan. The government, beset by declining birthrates and an aging population, has sought to relax visas to bring in more workers.
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
Responding to and retweeting the tweet, Musk said, “At the risk of saying the obvious, Japan will eventually cease to exist unless something changes so that the birth rate exceeds the death rate. This will be huge for the world. loss.”
His remarks have sparked heated discussions on the Internet in Japan. As of the evening of the 9th, his remarks had 101,900 likes and 6,700 comments.
He has commented on the issue several times, saying in 2017 that “the world’s population (change) is accelerating toward collapse, but most people are not paying attention.”
Musk said in January 2022: “We should be more worried regarding population collapse. If there is not enough population on Earth, there will certainly not be enough population on Mars.”
We should be much more worried regarding population collapse
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2022
UN projections are utter nonsense. Just multiply last year’s births by life expectancy. Given downward trend in birth rate, that is best case unless reversed.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 18, 2022
The “Nihon Keizai Shimbun” said on the 8th that he sounded the alarm more than once regarding the trend of declining birth rates in the world, but it was rare for him to talk regarding Japan.
Policies do nothing to encourage fertility
Many netizens responded to Musk’s remarks. A netizen named SROFF said: “They (the government) have been saying that the birth rate is declining, but they have not taken thorough steps to deal with it. From this point of view, what can we say? They (the government) are saying one thing and doing one thing. set.”
One netizen said: “In this environment, who would say ‘Okay, let’s have a baby’? I’m desperate for Japan.”
Another netizen said: “Indeed, if this continues, Japan will disappear. But is this painful for the world? I don’t care anymore, I’m tired.”
