Singapore is going extinct. That was Tesla CEO Elon Musk's big tweet on Thursday. The comment was a response to a post about Singapore's baby crisis.
And it's not just Singapore. Musk thinks a lot of countries will go extinct. He has not named them. But earlier this week, South Korea made headlines for the same reasons. On being the first country to disappear from Earth, the headlines...
itself may sound alarming, but the reason is very simple. The dropping fertility rate across the globe, the ideal fertility rate required to sustain a population is 2.1. In some countries, it has dropped below 1, and that has sparked concerns. So is Singapore really facing extinction? Which other countries may go the same way?
Our next report tells you. In every corner of the world, the signs are becoming harder to ignore. Once bustling towns grow eerily quiet.
Schools shut their gates for good, entire villages vanish. Humanity, for centuries, has thrived on the foundation of growth and reproduction. But now, the numbers tell a chilling story.
Birth rates are plummeting. Populations are aging. And the survival of nations hangs in the balance. A stark warning came from Elon Musk.
He tweeted, Singapore and other countries are going extinct. The reason, falling fertility rates. Singapore's fertility rate has been declining for some time now. But in 2023, it fell to a historic low, of 0.97.
This refers to the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime and it has left the city-state alarmed. So Singapore did what all governments do, it tried to throw money at the problem. But even that did not help, Singapore's baby crisis is because of a couple of reasons. The cost of living crisis. The expenses of raising a baby and the difficulties managing work and family commitment.
Just offering parental leaves or cash incentives doesn't make them go away and it's the same situation in many countries across the globe. Like South Korea. Earlier this week, it made headlines on how it could be the first country to disappear by 2100. The reason again was a population crisis.
South Korea already has the lowest birth rate in the world. In 2023. it fell by another 8% to 0.72. If the trend continues, in 50 years, nearly half the population will be older than 65. Japan, too has a similar trajectory.
It was once the world's 11th most populated country. But its population is expected to have before the end of the century. Japan now sells more adult diapers than baby diapers.
Then, there is China, until recently, it was the world's most populous nation accounting for a sixth of the global population. But Beijing too is dealing with falling birth rates and this isn't just a developed country problem. In 2023, Brazil showed the slowest population growth on record. So this is truly a global problem. In 1950, the average woman had five children.
Today, that number is just over two, and in many developed nations, it's far below that. For a population to hold steady, the number should be 2.1. So, what's driving this global phenomenon? The reasons are complex and intertwined. Rising urbanization, the high cost of living, and shifting cultural norms all play a role.
Many young people are delaying or foregoing parenthood altogether. That is due to financial instability and career priorities. Women's empowerment too plays a role. Access to education allows more women to choose. if and when to have children and this is an economic catastrophe.
Fewer people mean fewer workers, fewer consumers, fewer taxpayers. National economies are built on demographic momentum, and that momentum is grinding to a halt. The cost of an aging population will be astronomical. Healthcare systems will buckle, pension funds will collapse, economic growth will stagnate.
Governments are throwing money at the problem. Tax breaks, incentives, more leaves. But money cannot create babies.
Governments need to understand, it isn't just about creating children. It's about creating a world where people feel they can. Or else, civilization as we know it, could run out of people.