Elon Musk claims S’pore is ‘going extinct’ due to low birth rate, sparks debate about population

Elon Musk says Singapore is ‘going extinct’ in viral X post

In a recent tweet on X, American billionaire Elon Musk claimed Singapore and other countries are “going extinct”.

The world’s richest man and owner of the social media platform made the statement on Thursday (5 Dec) morning.

Musk made the remark while replying to another tweet about Singapore’s low birth rate.

Singapore’s Total Fertility Rate hit a record low of 0.97 children per woman in 2023.

“More seniors, fewer workers, and a shrinking labour force,” the post read.

The OP also brought up the possibility of robots plugging the manpower gaps.

Singaporean netizens debate Musk’s claim

Elon Musk’s post, which hit 11.2 million views, also garnered much attention among local netizens.

Some dismissed the controversial billionaire immediately, saying people should stop giving him attention.

However, others agreed with Musk, saying a fertility rate of 0.97 is unsustainable for society.

This netizen claimed Singapore’s population problem could be easily solved by immigration, but agreed with Musk that the “original locals” would go extinct.

However, another user noted that the majority of Singapore’s “original locals” were immigrant ancestors themselves too.

MOM report emphasises importance of remaining open to migrant workers

The X post’s ageing statistics came from the 2024 annual report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

The report found that the labour force participation rate for residents aged 15 and over decreased from 68.6% in 2023 to 68.2% this year.

MOM attributed the decline primarily to a rising proportion of seniors, who had lower labour participation rates.

However, it noted that Singapore’s labour force participation rate was still higher than that of other cities such as Tokyo or Hong Kong.

MOM also highlighted Singapore’s elderly support ratio in the report.

In 2014, Singapore had six adult residents (aged 20 to 64) for every elderly person. This figure, however, dropped to under four in 2024.

MOM expects the decreasing elderly support ratio to continue.

The report concluded that the slowing population growth and ageing population will lead to “tightening manpower constraints in the medium term”.

MOM plans to continue investing in Singaporeans and upskilling them for career transitions.

It also emphasised the importance of remaining open to migrant workers to generate good job opportunities for locals.

Also read: S’pore population exceeds 6 million for the 1st time, number of non-residents jumps by 5%

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Featured image adapted from USAFA and by MS News.