Elon Musk Warns Of Population Crisis In U.S., Says 'Big Reckoning Coming'

Elon Musk, who has been encouraging the public to have more babies, is back with concerns about a population collapse amid a falling birth rate. 

In a tweet on Friday, Musk said that the U.S. would face consequences as a result of a declining birth rate and that "Japan is a leading indicator."

Big reckoning coming due to low birth rate. Japan is a leading indicator.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2023

The billionaire entrepreneur was responding to a tweet about a report regarding the projected depletion of Social Security funds by 2033.

Reuters reported that the country's Social Security system's central trust fund's reserves will be depleted in 2033 — one year earlier than estimated — while finances surrounding the nation's Medicare program have improved slightly. 

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 3.7 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2021, about 46,000 more than were born in 2020, but the 1% increase still put the number short of 2019 levels.

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Births have also dropped by an average of 2% yearly since 2014, including a decline of twice that much between 2019 and 2020.

Last month, Japan's prime minister said that the country was on the brink of being unable to function amid a steep fall in the country's birth rate. In 2021, Japan's population registered at 125.5 million, according to CNN. 

In a tweet shared in January, Musk reiterated his warning of a population collapse, saying, "Population collapse is a major risk to the future of civilization." He also shared a link to World Bank data, which showed that the world's fertility rate was at its lowest since the 1960s. 

Last August, Musk warned that "population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming." 

In a podcast, he also said that "people are living longer —that's the only reason why the population of Earth isn't plummeting."

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This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.