Elon Musk’s remark on Australian birth rate sparks debate: ‘Australians are becoming an endangered species’

Australia’s birth rate has been dropping for years. There has been an ample amount of data, statistics, analysis, and more — enough to raise concern. However, it has finally taken Elon Musk to shake things up for the Aussies. Things really exploded when Musk finally waded in, calling Australians an “endangered species.”

As one would expect, the internet had a field day with that remark.

Australia’s birth rate: What’s behind the decline?

According to recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s fertility rate just dropped to about 1.48 births per woman. That’s way below the 2.1 kids needed to keep the population stable. A decade ago, it was closer to 1.8.Now, there are a lot of factors behind this decline: housing is expensive, childcare isn’t cheap, and more people are choosing careers (or waiting longer to have kids) instead of rushing into parenthood.While Australia’s total population is still growing, that’s mostly thanks to immigration. Births alone aren’t keeping up, and experts say that means more older people, fewer workers, and maybe some economic headaches ahead.Elon Musk’s comment: What did he say?Now, Elon Musk, who loves to comment on global population trends, jumped into the debate on X (formerly, Twitter) and typed out, “Australians are becoming an endangered species.”

It was classic Musk: bold, a bit dramatic, and instantly viral. For some, it was over the top. People called it “wild,” “cooked,” and way off base.

Internet’s take

As soon as Musk made the X post, jokes flew about billionaires making life more stressful and then asking why nobody wants kids.One user commented, “Elon Musk calling Australians endangered over birthrates is wild. Maybe people just can’t afford kids anymore. But sure, blame society instead of the economy,” while another mentioned, “Billionaires can’t put two and two together — people aren’t having children because they can’t afford to.”Some users even pointed to the mounting economic pressures as the driving force behind the birth rate decline.One person said, “It’s sad but wealth inequality has caused this. It’s too expensive to have kids,” while another added, “Cost of living and housing are straight up murdering the birthrate everywhere, not just Australia. Gotta make having kids actually affordable again or we’re cooked.”Some even argued the world doesn’t actually need more people anyway, with one person pointing out: “[There are] too many people on this planet as it is! 8 billion and our planet can’t sustain this many people as it is.”What’s more, the debate even shifted gears to a bit of gender war, too.While one user said, “Let’s be honest: birthrates are falling because many women don’t see men today as suitable partners or fathers,” another mentioned, “I’m telling you this is because women don’t like men anymore.”Of course, plenty of people didn’t let go of this opportunity to poke harmless fun.One person said, “Having given birth twice, I am fully with all Australian women who say: ‘Yeah, nah, I’m right, mate’,” while another remarked, “Maybe you [Musk] should move there and help increase their birthrate.”Now, the Musk comment touched a nerve in another way, too. Who counts as “Australian,” exactly? The country’s made up of immigrants, so talking about “endangered species” feels, to many, a bit tone-deaf or even exclusionary.However, there are still some who think Musk is technically right: birth rates are falling everywhere, and ignoring that invites trouble later. And this is a global trend, not just an Australian one. From Japan to Europe, countries are facing the same problem. The whole episode reignited Australia’s old debate: Should the country push for more babies? Or is immigration the answer?