Like Japan, Italy faces existential threat if citizens don’t have babies: Musk

Taking to the stage with X Æ A-12, one of his sons, in his arms, Musk told the crowd gathered at the Sant’Angelo Castle that Italy should be having more children.

“Make more Italians to save Italy’s culture,” he said at one point in the discussion when asked about Italy’s immigration and demographics.

Musk said he was in favour of legal immigration but that alone would not solve the issue of population decline for industrialised nations.

“My advice to all government leaders and people is make sure you have children to create a new generation,” he said, “or the culture of Italy, Japan and France will disappear.”

“We are in danger of no longer having these countries,” Musk, who has previously said he viewed “population collapse due to low birth rates” as more dangerous than global warming, added.

‘A nightmare’: in hard-right Italy, gay parents fear losing rights to children

The SpaceX founder has a personal interest in the future of Italy and Europe, people involved in his travel plans said, Bloomberg reported.

This year birth rates in Italy are expected to hit a record low, falling for the 15th consecutive year. Meloni pledged 1 billion euros to address the issue, per Reuters.

Musk has 11 known children, two of whom were born through a surrogate, a practice which Giorgia Meloni’s party recently wanted to define as a “universal crime,” per Politico.

At the event, the X owner also commented on the recent exodus of advertisers from his social media platform, saying they were a symptom of the “woke mind virus” that was infecting the US and was on its way to Italy.

But he claimed it was a “short-term issue” for his company.

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Japan’s greying population: 1 in 10 now 80 or older as country’s birth rate continues to fall

Japan’s greying population: 1 in 10 now 80 or older as country’s birth rate continues to fall

“I think X will be fine, and we are actually already seeing advertisers return to X. Brand advertisers are always worried about their brand,” he said.

The annual Atreju event, which has been running since 1998, was organised by Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy.

Speaking after Musk was British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Previous years have seen Steve Bannon and Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban feature as guests.