For Elon Musk, the world's richest man and owner of one of the world's most valuable companies, humanity is heading for its imminent end, unless people start having more children.
During an event organized by The Wall Street Journal, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX made some statements regarding the low birth rates that have been increasing over the last decades:
"I believe that one of the greatest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and the rapid decline of the birth rate. However, many, even intelligent people, believe that there are too many people in the world and that the population is growing out of control. It is quite the opposite. Please look at the numbers: if people don't have more children, civilization will crumble. Mark my words."
Elon Musk
Elon Musk has 6 children from two marriages, and believes that the low birth rate has a direct impact on the world's work, production and technological development. If people do not start having more children, he claims that humanity will be heading towards its imminent end.
According to information from the The World Bank, Elon Musk is not wrong. Since the 1960s the number of births has been decreasing more and more; however, this does not occur homogeneously across the planet, as there are some areas that are completely overpopulated, generating various problems ranging from lack of access to basic services, to economic and social inequality.
Mexico is no exception, and the number of registered births in the country has also been plummeting, with a marked trend from the 1990s to date, as shown by the birth rate data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
These are not the only numbers that have caught Musk's attention. Since 1960 to date, global life expectancy has increased considerably, from 52 years to more than 72 years.
The tycoon believes that humanity should not insist on trying to live for too long, insisting that the renewal of the species is fundamental to progress and the development of new ideas, trends, technology and profound changes that seek to improve civilisation:
"I think it's important that people die, because most of the time, people don't change their minds. If they live forever, then we could become a static society where new ideas don't succeed"
Elon Musk
New generations are leaning towards a general trend of saying no to children, as is the case with households named "DINK" for Double Income No Kids, which are particularly prominent in the millennial generation, with young adult couples living in the same household choosing not to have babies.
However, nowadays there are also greater possibilities for people who do seek to have children, to achieve it, such as In Vitro fertilization (IVF) and other Assisted Reproduction techniques. IVF and other Assisted Reproduction techniques; which not only gives these people the possibility of seeing their dream come true, but also brings to the world desired, expected and loved babies; who, thanks to this, will have greater opportunities to become happy human beings with a better quality of life.
Elon Musk's predictions are critical: If people do not start having more children soon, humanity will disappear; but the decision is up to each one of us and only time will give us that answer.
