Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington on March 9, 2020. AP file photo An Elon Musk said that Japan would cease to exist without a higher birthrate, which caused a flood of sarcasm and anger on Monday - although much of the angst was directed at a Japanese government many said did not address the issue.
If something changes to the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist, said Musk, head of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. at the weekend. This would be a great loss for the world. The comment hit a nerve among Japan watchers and in Japan, whose population peaked in 2008 and has declined since its low birthrate to about 125 million as of last year despite government warnings and sporadic attempts to deal with the issue.
Japan is the world's third largest economy, host to global heavyweights, ranging from car manufacturers to games developers, and is a key link in global semiconductor supply chains.
What is the point of tweeting this? Tobias Harris, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote.
The concerns surrounding Japan's demographic future are 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. Other countries noted sluggish birthrates plague many nations besides Japan, including Germany - where Tesla opened a new factory - and Japan was simply being hit first.
Many Japanese commentators said that the situation was not surprising and that they slammed their government for not doing enough to fight it, such as by providing more daycare centers and making it easier for women to return to work after having children.
The birthrate is falling, but the government isn't taking thorough steps to deal with it, what can we say? SROFF wrote on Twitter that everything they say and do is contradictory.