Elon Musk tweet sparks debate in Japan on falling birthrate

Tesla boss responds to data showing population fell by record 644,000 last year - the 11th straight year of decline

Elon Musk has warned that Japan will cease to exist" unless it addresses its falling birthrate, sparking calls for the country to allow more immigration and improve its work-life balance.

At the risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birthrate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world," the Tesla chief executive, who recently agreed a deal to buy Twitter for $44bn (36bn), said in a post on Sunday.