Elon Musk claims 'Japan will eventually cease to exist' because of its declining birth rate
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A tweet from Elon Musk saying “Japan will eventually cease to exist" due to its declining birth rate has sparked online discussions.
On Sunday, the Tesla CEO responded to a tweet that shared a Kyodo News article about Japan’s largest-ever recorded drop in its population.
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
"At the 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," wrote Musk.
According to the article, Japan's population dropped by a record 644,000 people to just over 125.5 million in 2021, which saw 831,000 births and 1.44 million deaths. The East Asian country’s population decline is now in its 11th consecutive year.
Tobias Harris, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, found Musk’s tweet pointless, stating that “the anxieties surrounding Japan's demographic future is not that 'Japan will eventually cease to exist' but rather the profound social dislocations that are occurring as a result of the decline to a lower population level."
What is even the point of tweeting this? The anxieties surrounding Japan's demographic future is not that "Japan will eventually cease to exist" but rather the profound social dislocations that are occurring as a result of the decline to a lower population level. pic.twitter.com/ohU1dSOUmU
— Tobias Harris (@observingjapan) May 8, 2022
Still, many Japanese social media users apparently agreed with Musk’s words, with some blaming their country’s government and education system for not addressing the issue accordingly.
Master, thank you for raising the issue. https://t.co/ZjCq1dkD93
— おやべ親善大使（自称）木矢聖 (@bousaidaiji13) May 9, 2022
That's obviously true. In my opinion as Japanese, we have to change the Education System in Japan. Especially, the way they teach English has to be changed. As you know, we have a few people who can speak English practically even though we study English since junior high school. https://t.co/9MFjw0G0eO
— Tatsu 自然×英語 カナダ留学 (@tako_nature) May 9, 2022
OMG he mentioned about decreasing of birth rate in Japan…
I guess our country's birth rate will goes down more and more, how can we do for this problem??
Japanese educational expenses too expensive…I think this is a big reason… https://t.co/K9GI7Yw61j
— 青月星歌 (@EN6JQgbbfV6n1EH) May 9, 2022
Meanwhile, others pointed out that Japan is one of several countries that are experiencing declining birth rates.
Birth rates are falling across the world which is a good thing. Endless growth is bad. We need less people, but better people. We are overpopulated https://t.co/0gG0e3EZgo pic.twitter.com/U5bbUV4mP1
— Decaf Dorsey 🇺🇦 (@thewiretwo) May 9, 2022
In recent years, the Japanese government has tried to mitigate the declining workforce and aging population by relaxing its visa system and allowing more foreign workers to enter the country.
Feature Image via TED
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