Elon Musk, the person behind SpaceX, made quite a stir on social media. He seemed to back a controversial opinion: taking away voting rights from people who don’t have children. He agreed with a comment on Twitter that pointed out that people without children might not be as invested in the future.
Democracy is probably unworkable long term without limiting suffrage to parents.
Helps solve the procreation problem, too. https://t.co/9zZ6eV56W1
— ~~datahazard~~ (@fentasyl) July 2, 2023
One Twitter user suggested that maybe only parents should be able to vote in a democracy. They thought this could help fix problems related to fewer and fewer people having babies. Musk’s reply? A simple “Yup.”
Musk is a dad of ten kids, nine of whom live. He’s clarified that he thinks he’s doing his share to prevent a lack of people worldwide.
Earlier this year, Musk voiced his worries about fewer babies being born. He reacted to a post about the U.S. running out of Social Security funds sooner than we thought.
The Tesla boss has always been vocal about his fears of a population collapse. He believes it’s a huge threat to our future. Last year, he made a bold claim. He said that a decline in population from low birth rates is even riskier to society than global warming, which he also considers a major risk.
According to Musk, many people mistakenly believe that the Earth is overcrowded. But, he argues, the trends show that we are headed towards having fewer people, not more.
Now, what about the birth rate in the U.S.? Well, it didn’t change much in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It hasn’t gone back to what it was before the pandemic hit.
Interestingly, even before COVID-19 came along, the number of births in the U.S. was already declining. It dropped a significant 4% from 2019 to 2020. But in 2021, it slightly increased by about 1%. This small increase was probably because some couples delayed having a baby when the pandemic started.
Lastly, let’s not forget what the United Nations says. They expect the world’s population to grow by nearly two billion over the next 30 years. Just last November, the global population hit an impressive 8 billion. So, while Musk fears a population collapse, the world as a whole is still growing.
