Musk, the head of electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) tweeted that "At risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world."
This comment hit a nerve among Japan watchers and in Japan, whose population peaked in 2008 and has declined since due to its low birthrate to about 125 million as of last year despite government warnings and sporadic attempts to grapple with the issue.
Sluggish birthrates plague many nations besides Japan, including Germany etc...
Japanese government must be slammed for not doing enough to fight it, such as by providing more daycare centres and making it easier for women to return to work after having children. The biggest drawback of the Japanese government is the inability to do unprecedented things in other countries.