Elon Musk believes Earth could hold 80 billion people without destroying the rainforest

Elon Musk is a strong advocate that the world needs more people.

He has been saying for years that unless Earth's human inhabitants start pumping out more babies then civilization is doomed.

At the moment, the world's population stands at 8.1 billion, according to WorldOMeter.

While there have been plenty of warnings about how urban density is becoming a problem across the globe, Musk seems to think that the planet could host a lot more people.

Speaking to Joe Rogan, Musk said: "I'm pro-environment...if you take environmentalism to an extreme you start to view humanity as a plague on the surface of the Earth...like a mould or something.

"But this is actually false. Earth could take 10 times the current civilization. You could 10x the population without destroying the rainforest.

"So the environmental movement...and I'm an environmentalist...has gone too far."

Musk didn't prove any details of how the planet would be able to host more than 80 billion people without doing any damage to the rainforests.

While there are plenty of open, uninhabited spaces on the planet, they are probably empty for a reason or taken up by farmland.

You can only imagine the drain on natural resources that tens of billions of humans would cause.

Even at 8.1 billion, scientists have cautioned that we're being pushed to the brink.

A 2021 study said: "Population growth and natural resources are intricately linked and play role in climate disruption and farmers' ability to adapt to climate change especially in developing countries with rapid demographic changes and economies mostly dependent on natural resources."

Musk claims that more work needs to be done on energy resources if we are to house more people.

He believes you could generate enough electricity to service the entire United States on a solar power plant that was 100 square miles big.

The tech billionaire admitted you would need the batteries to be able to support such a huge demand, however it could be done.

He also called on governments to encourage more people to have bigger families.

"Having children should be incentivized, not be a financial penalty like it is in most countries!" he said on Twitter/X.

"We must create the next generation of humans or spiral into oblivion."

Topics: Elon Musk

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

@stewartperrie