Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla [YouTube capture from Peter Diamandis' podcast "Moonshots with Peter Diamandis"]

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has once again cited South Korea as the most severe case of the "population cliff" problem worldwide.

According to a podcast video by American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis on the 8th (local time), Musk stated in a recent conversation about population and lifespan extension, "One of the signs that a country is not on the right track is when you have more adult diapers than baby diapers."

He added, "South Korea already passed that point years ago."

He also said, "If you look at South Korea's replacement rate, the population will decrease by a factor of 27 after three generations. It will be about 3% of its current size," and "North Korea doesn't even need to invade. They can just walk over."

Musk has previously identified population decline as one of the major crises facing humanity and has mentioned South Korea as a prime example on several occasions.

In an interview with Fox News in March of last year, he said, "In places like South Korea, the fertility rate is one-third of the replacement rate. This means that after three generations, the population will be 3-4% of its current size, and it seems like nothing can reverse it."

The replacement rate refers to the total fertility rate needed to maintain the current population size, and a level of approximately 2.1 children per woman is generally considered stable for population maintenance. South Korea's total fertility rate as of 2024 is 0.75.