---
title: "Elon Musk: Civilization Could Collapse in 30 Years"
description: "Elon Musk has a grim prediction for the future of humanity. A “population bomb,” as he puts it, will go off in the coming decades, when an increasingly-elderly global population clashes with declining birth rates around the world. This isn’t the first time Musk talked about a worldwide collapse in human population, reports […]"
date: "2019-06-21"
modified: "2019-06-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-civilization-collapse"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "population bomb"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk: Civilization Could Collapse in 30 Years

![Elon Musk took to Twitter to warn about an impending collapse in global population, arguing that demographics will look like an upside-down pyramid.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/elon-musk-civilization-collapse.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Warner Bros/Getty Images/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Population Bomb

Elon Musk has a grim prediction for the future of humanity.

A "population bomb," as he puts it, will go off in the coming decades, when an increasingly-elderly global population clashes with declining birth rates around the world. This isn't the first time Musk talked about a worldwide collapse in human population, [reports *Business Insider*](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reiterates-global-population-is-headed-for-collapse-2019-6>), but now he's elaborating to say that we'll start to see the most dire effects by 2050.

## History Rhymes

Musk first broached the topic [back in 2017](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-the-worlds-population-is-accelerating-towards-collapse>), when he replied to the magazine *New Scientist* on Twitter.

"The world's population is accelerating towards collapse, but few seem to notice or care," [Musk tweeted](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/882939670895755264>) at the publication, which had just published an article on that very topic.

Now, Musk returned to the idea of a population bomb on Friday, [replying on Twitter](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1141977875567919104>) to a post about global overpopulation to argue that aging and a rift between demographics would be a greater problem by 2050.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1141977875567919104

He later expanded on the idea, [tweeting that](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1141978540021170176>) "demographics, stratified by age, will look like an upside down pyramid with many old people & fewer young."

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk doubled down on his theory that world population is headed for collapse](<https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reiterates-global-population-is-headed-for-collapse-2019-6>) \[*Business Insider*\]

**More on Musk**: *[Elon Musk: The World’s Population is Accelerating Towards Collapse](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-the-worlds-population-is-accelerating-towards-collapse>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)