Tech billionaire Elon Musk expressed surprise after his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, claimed that Nigeria recorded about four million more births than the entire European Union in 2024.
The exchange, posted by Musk on X on Saturday, began when a user asked whether Nigeria had one million more births than the EU last year. Grok dismissed that figure, saying the difference 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 replied.
Musk, apparently taken aback by the numbers, followed up: “Are you, wait. Are you sure that Nigeria had 4 million 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 said.
The exchange has generated widespread reaction on X, with users debating Nigeria’s rapidly growing population and Europe’s declining birth rates.
PUNCH Online could not independently verify the figures cited by Grok. There is no single publicly available demographic database confirming the exact comparison cited, and official estimates from international bodies vary.
United Nations and World Bank data consistently show Nigeria has one of the world’s highest fertility rates and that many European countries face ageing populations and low birth rates, but the specific numbers quoted by Grok were not confirmed at the time of filing.
Nigeria remains Africa’s most populous country, with an estimated population exceeding 230 million.
