Elon Musk urges people in developed countries to have more children

At a political festival organised by Italian leader Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party, US billionaire Elon Musk has claimed that having more children is the only way to reverse the population declines threatening the economies of many advanced countries.

Musk told the Arteju political festival in Rome on Saturday that immigration cannot solve the demographic problem that many major economic powers, such as Italy and Japan are facing.

"My advice to all government leaders and people is: make sure you have children to create a new generation," he said.

Musk has 11 known children with three different mothers, and he took to the stage with one of them in his arms saying that "demographics is important".

Musk urged Italians and populations in other industrialised countries to have children "or the culture of Italy, Japan and France will disappear."

"We are in danger of no longer having these countries," he said.

Meloni has made reversing Italy's population decline one of the key priorities of her government and the 2024 budget bill still before parliament contains several measures in support of families with children.

Musk told the audience that Italy is "an incredible country" and "a good place to invest" but added that "companies investing ask themselves: will there be enough people working?"

"Maybe I'm repeating myself but these are the facts," he added.

Musk said he was "very supportive of legal immigration," saying countries should welcome anyone honest and willing to work hard.

He did say that there should be more vetting of immigrants’ credentials, suggesting that it is not possible to assess who met these characteristics without monitoring to a greater extent.

"Let's increase legal immigration, but we must end