Elon Musk has again aired his concerns about the human population’s longevity and this time took aim at Italians for their historically low birth rate.

       Tweeting on Thursday about population decline, the SpaceX founder argued that “Italy will have no people” if it continues to experience a record low birth rate.

       While the tone of the remarks caused alarm and ridicule on social media, figures from the Italian statistical institute Istat show the country’s population is forecast to fall by 20 per cent by 2070.

       Last year, the European country recorded about one child per woman – which analysts have blamed on both Covid and long-term patterns.

       Mr Musk’s comments came after the Italian cybersecurity researcher Andrea Stroppa tweeted a chart showing Italy’s declining birthrate since the 1960s.

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       The country is not alone among developed nations for a falling birthrate, with the United States’ birthrate also in decline since the 1960s – although last week recorded a small increase for the first time in seven years.

       Mr Musk – who Italian newspaper La Repubblica noted has at least seven children – said in 2019 that believing the world was overpopulated “is an outdated view”.

       The newspaper also explained that the billionaire’s comments on Italy were unsurprising given his pursuit of building a colony on Mars, and remarks such as: “We don’t want to be one of those single planet species, we want to be a multi-planet species”.

       As has Mr Musk labelled himself a “rare exception” among billionaires for the number of children he has, and that falling populations were his “biggest fear” and could cause the “collapse” of civilisation.

       One person tweeted in response to Mr Musk’s recent comments: “No people”.

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       “Truly Italy will be an empty hellscape completely devoid of people,” another wrote. “Just look at these slums here. Great observation Elon”.

       Ryanair, the budget airline, also appeared to mock the Tesla CEO’s comments on Italy and tweeted a meme showing three different points of view – population depending.