Elon Musk calls for parents to have three children each to combat declining birth rates, warning that civilization could face collapse.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is once again urging people to have larger families, warning that the global population is at risk of collapsing. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the comment in response to a post on X (formerly Twitter), where a user cited a study claiming that each woman needs to have at least 2.7 children for the human population to sustain itself.
“People who have kids do need to have 3 kids to make up for those who have 0 or 1 kid, or population will collapse,” Musk wrote in his reply.
Musk, who has 14 children with several women—including musician Grimes and Shivon Zilis, an executive at his brain-tech company Neuralink—has long spoken about the risks of declining birth rates. The user’s post, citing a Fortune article from May, claimed Musk had been raising this concern for years.
Musk Links Low Birth Rate to the Fall of Civilizations
Musk also argued that a declining population has historically led to the downfall of civilizations, including the Roman Empire. “Shockingly overlooked by most historians,” he said.
The 53-year-old billionaire, often ranked as the world’s richest man, has previously said that his growing family is part of his personal effort to combat what he sees as a looming demographic crisis.
“I’m doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis. Good for big families,” Musk said in 2022. “I want to have as many children as I can, to spend time and be a good father.”
Past Comments on Who Should Have Kids
Musk has also made controversial remarks in the past, suggesting that intelligent people should be encouraged to have more children. According to author Walter Isaacson, who wrote Musk’s biography, the billionaire even offered to “donate” his sperm to Shivon Zilis to ensure that “smart people” passed on their genes. Zilis and Musk welcomed twins in November 2021.
Musk’s comments have once again sparked debate online, with some praising his pro-family stance and others questioning the implications of his ideas on reproduction and intelligence.
