The world’s richest person has told the public for years that there is a growing problem with not enough children being born and the risk of population collapse building in some countries.
Elon Musk uses a new chart to illustrate exactly what he means.
Countries Going Extinct
Musk has told the public he has done his part by having 14 children during his time on Earth. Others, he thinks, need to have more children, with a growing number of parents only having one child or no children.
The billionaire recently shared a chart on fertility rates of some countries and the growing risk of how small their population will get over 100 years if rates don’t increase, or other factors change.
“Fertility rates are so abstract that people struggle to understand the scale of the catastrophe we’re experiencing,” X user @IterIntellectus said in a post that was shared by Musk.
The chart shows 14 countries that have a risk of their population being smaller by 90% or more 100 years from now, based on current statistics.
“I don’t think people really understand what that means,” Musk tweeted, while sharing the post and chart.
Musk has been a proponent of couples having more children for years and has been highly critical of some countries, such as Japan, where population collapse fears are heightened.
Countries Most at Risk
While Japan is often targeted by Musk, the country ranked outside of the 15 most at risk for the smallest percentage of the current population in 100 years.
Taiwan has a fertility rate 1.14, which would mean the country’s population would be 86.9% smaller in 100 years and over the course of three generations.
Here are the 14 countries that all have a risk of the population being 90% smaller in 100 years:
- Taiwan: 0.70 fertility rate, 97.4% smaller population in 100 years
- South Korea: 0.80, 96%
- Andorra: 0.83, 95.5%
- Singapore: 0.87, 94.7%
- San Marino: 0.96, 92.6%
- Malta: 0.98, 92.1%
- Ukraine: 0.99, 91.8%
- Chile: 0.99, 91.8%
- Colombia: 1.00, 91.6%
- China: 1.01, 91.3%
- Belarus: 1.03, 90.7%
- Thailand: 1.03, 90.7%
- Lithuania: 1.04, 90.4%
- Argentina: 1.04, 90.4%
A fertility rate of around 2.1 is currently needed globally to maintain the current world population trajectory. For some regions, such as the U.S., that rate is lower, like 1.7.
The 14 countries listed are most at risk based on the data shared by Musk, and all could risk a level of population collapse and significant changes if fertility rates do not improve.
Image via Shutterstock
