Elon Musk reveals the three things that he think could end human life on Earth

Elon Musk has revealed the three things he thinks would end human life on earth - and the declining Western birthrate is on the top of that list.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who is now a father of eight, has spoken about his belief that people are not having enough children. And now, his sentiments haven't faltered.

"I spent a lot of time talking about the birthrate thing. That might be the single biggest threat to the future of human civilization," the billionaire said in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner.

Musk also spoke about two other threats to human existence: the fears of "artificial intelligence going wrong" and a rise in "religious extremism."

According to the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC), the birth rate in the country has declined by 4 per cent from 2019 to 2020. This marks the sixth consecutive year of decline and the lowest number of births since 1979.

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"Most people in the world are operating under the false impression that we've got too many people…The birth rate has been dropping like crazy," he said before adding that the UN needs to update their population updates because they "don't make any sense."

In December 2021, Musk warned that if people don't have children, civilisation is going to "crumble".

Musk noted that his grandest hope for the future of humanity is to create a "self-sustaining city on Mars."

"I would be happy if humanity has a self-sustaining city on Mars because then, probable lifespan of humanity is much greater," he said.

Elsewhere, Musk's firm, Tesla, is taking steps forward to address the possibility of a future labour shortage.

They are developing the humanoid "Tesla bot," which has the ability to perform basic, fundamental tasks and labour - an initiative the tech billionaire claims will become bigger than the electronic car industry.

Read the full interview transcript here.

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