Elon Musk’s tweet “Japan will no longer exist” provokes outrage, but not only against him

Elon Musk’s tweet Japan remains the world’s third-largest economy, home to global heavyweights ranging from automakers to game developers, and an essential link in the worldwide semiconductor supply chain.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweet about Japan’s low birth rate sparked confusion and outrage. The billionaire speculated that the island nation “would eventually cease to exist” if current trends continued. Japan’s population peaked in 2008 also has declined since then due to its low Total Fertility Rate (TFR).

In response to reports that Japan’s population will drop by a record 644,000 to 125.5 million in 2021, Musk tweeted. “At the risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to bring the birth rate down, the deaths.” exceeds, “Japan will finally stop.

There, which will be a huge loss to the world.”

Despite warnings from the Japanese government and sporadic efforts to increase the birth rate. The TFR remains well below the replacement rate of about 2.1 children per woman. While the tweet sparked outbursts of sarcasm and anger, much of the concern was directed at the Japanese government. Which many say is doing little to address the issue.

“What’s the point of tweeting this?” wrote Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Consequences of the decline occurring to lower population levels.”

Some consumers have noted that the problem of low birth rates affects many countries other than Japan. Including Germany, where Tesla recently opened a new factory. Japanese commentators say the situation is not surprising as they criticize the government for not doing enough to combat it, Reuters reports.

“They keep saying that the birth rate is falling, but since the government is not taking deep steps to deal with it, what can we say? Everything they say and do is contradictory,” wrote Twitter user SROFF.

In this environment, who will say, “Okay, let’s have kids”? I’m desperate for Japan.