“We’re facing population collapse” claimed billionaire Elon Musk in an interview with the Nelk boys for their You Tube Channel.
He clearly shocked the presenters as he told them:“This worry will soon take over from climate change as the biggest problem facing mankind.”.
“China has a declining birth rate currently 40 % below replacement rate, and the USA has a declining birth rate which has been below replacement rate for fifty years”.
He added that the declining birth rate facts were widely available and would create a slow death rate for our civilisation, with the world “dying with a whimper and adult diapers”.
Population experts have been quick to disagree, with Joseph Chamie, a consulting demographer and former director of the United Nations Population Division telling CNN: “He’s better off making cars and engineering than at predicting the trajectory of the population”.,
Having written several books about population issues she says:
“The world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion by mid-November of this year, according to the United Nations. The UN predicts the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in just 8 years”
“Some countries have a declining population” she added, “but for the rest of the world, that’s just not the case.”
Globally, the fertility rate has not “collapsed,” nor should it, but it has dropped significantly.
In 1950, women typically had five births each; globally, last year, it was 2.3 births. By 2050, the UN projects a further global decline to 2.1 births per woman.
In terms of population growth, the 20th century was an anomaly.
“That century was the most impressive demographic century ever. It had more gold medals than all the other centuries,” Charmie said.
The human population nearly quadrupled, something that had never happened before in recorded history. That’s largely because of improvements in public health.
For the full interview check out the Nelk boys podcast on their you tube channel.