Tech billionaire Elon Musk expressed surprise after his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, claimed that Nigeria recorded around four million more births than the European Union in 2024, prompting debate on social media over demographic trends. The exchange, shared by Musk on X on Saturday, began when a user asked whether Nigeria had recorded one million more births than the EU last year.
Grok rejected the claim, saying the gap was much larger.
“Nigeria had roughly 7.5 million births last year, while the EU had about 3.5 million. That’s a difference of around four million more births in Nigeria, not one million. The claim seems to be a misremembered version of a comparison to all of Europe, including Russia,” the chatbot said.
Musk then questioned the figures, writing, "Are you, wait. Are you sure that Nigeria had more births than the EU last year?”
Grok stood by its response.
“Yes, the numbers hold up. Nigeria had about seven point five to seven point six million births, while the EU had three point five five million in 2024. That’s a difference of roughly four million. The one million figure comes from comparing Nigeria to all of Europe, including Russia, where the gap narrows to about one point two to one point four million,” it replied.
The exchange drew widespread reactions on X, with users discussing Nigeria's fast-growing population and Europe's declining birth rates.
However, the figures cited by Grok could not be independently verified.
No single publicly available demographic database confirms that Nigeria recorded the number of births cited by the chatbot or directly compares the country's annual births with those of the European Union.
Estimates from international organisations, including the United Nations and the World Bank, consistently indicate that Nigeria has one of the world's highest fertility rates. At the same time, many European countries continue to experience declining birth rates and ageing populations. However, the specific figures referenced by Grok could not be confirmed from official demographic data available at the time of reporting.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with an estimated population of more than 230 million.
