Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been a vocal advocate for increasing birth rates warning that the declining number of births could have severe consequences for the future of human civilization. In response to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which showed that the U.S. birth rate hit a record low in 2023 Musk reiterated his concerns.

“If people don’t have more children civilization is going to crumble,” Musk stated several years ago. “Mark my words.”

The CDC report revealed that fewer than 3.6 million babies were born in the United States last year a drop of about 76,000 compared to 2022 and the lowest number recorded in nearly 35 years. This decline follows a brief uptick in births during the COVID-19 pandemic which had interrupted a decade-long trend of falling fertility rates in the country.

While some prospective parents are choosing to delay having children due to economic concerns or a focus on their careers others are influenced by environmental factors. In 2021 Morgan Stanley analysts determined that the “movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline.”

Musk has consistently argued that there are “not enough people” to sustain the human species over the long term. As the U.S. and many other nations around the world grapple with the consequences of an aging population and declining birth rates his warnings have taken on a new sense of urgency.