Population

Digital Revolution Holds Bright Promises for Africa

By Eleni Mourdoukoutas
Internet penetration is creeping up in Africa, bringing the prospect of digital dividends to a continent long marked by digital divides.

Indigenous Peoples Recover Native Languages in Mexico

By Daniela Pastrana
Ángel Santiago is a Mexican teenager who speaks one of the variations of the Zapotec language that exists in the state of Oaxaca, in the southwest of Mexico. Standing next to the presidential candidate who is the favorite for the July elections, he calls for an educational curriculum that "respects our culture and our languages."

Chile, an Oasis for Haitians that Has Begun to Run Dry

By Orlando Milesi
A wave of Haitian migrants has arrived in Chile in recent years, changing the face of low-income neighbourhoods. But this oasis has begun to dry up, thanks to measures adopted by decree by the new government against the first massive immigration of people of African descent in this South American country.

Child Slavery Refuses to Disappear in Latin America

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Child labour has been substantially reduced in Latin America, but 5.7 million children below the legal minimum age are still working and a large proportion of them work in precarious, high-risk conditions or are unpaid, which constitute new forms of slave labour.

“Green Development Has to Be Equal for All”

By Diana Mendoza
IPS caught up with Dr. Frank Rijsberman, director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), at the end of the flagship side event of the GGGI during the 51st Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila on May 4, 2018, which featured the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its potential to create sustainable infrastructure and promote green growth pathways.

To Have Children or Not: The Importance of Finding a Balance

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
While the world’s population has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, little is still understood about fertility transition and the reasons behind it.Over the last half a century, the global fertility rate has halved, reaching a level of 2.5 births per woman.

From the Syrian War to Argentina – Or How to Start a New Life

By Daniel Gutman
Fares al Badwan moved to Buenos Aires alone, from Syria, in 2011. He was 17 years old then and the armed conflict in his country had just broken out. Since then he has managed to bring over his whole family and today he cannot imagine living outside of Argentina. "I like the people here. No one makes you feel like a foreigner," he said.

Africa’s Millennials Using Technology to Drive Change

By Eleni Mourdoukoutas
When some 276 teenage girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014, Oby Ezekwesili, a civil society activist and former World Bank vice president, was disheartened by the lacklustre response of her government and local television stations.

Women Farmers in Peru Bring Healthy Meals to Local Schools

By Mariela Jara
Getting children and adolescents to replace junk food with nutritious local organic foods is the aim of a group of women farmers in a rural area of Piura, on Peru’s north coast, as they struggle to overcome the impact of the El Niño climate phenomenon.

From Declaration to Action: Improving Immunization in Africa

By Joyce Nganga
Inviolate Akinyi, a 46-year-old grandmother, is certain that her grand-daughter needs to get all her vaccines for her to grow up healthy and strong. She uses a mix of private and public clinics in Kibera, one of the largest informal settlement in Nairobi, to get the 15-month-old the shots she needs.

The Nowhere People: Rohingyas in India

By Neeta Lal
A devastating fire in a shanty at Kalindi Kunj, a New Delhi suburb, that gutted the homes of 226 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, including 100 women and 50 children, has trained a spotlight on India's ad hoc policy on international migrants.

African Youth Demand a Seat at the Table

By Busani Bafana
A new wave is sweeping across Africa. Elections on the continent are increasingly yielding younger leadership than ever before. From presidents to ministers and governors, senators to members of parliament, Africa’s young people are demanding a seat at the political table.

Drowning for Progress in Cambodia

By Pascal Laureyn
Suddenly the road ends. The cart track disappears under the water. A vast lake stretches out in front of me. I have to transfer from a motorbike to a canoe. "Tuk laang," my guide says coolly. "The water is rising."

Africa Lags Behind in Bridging Inequalities

By Richard Munang and Robert Mgendi
“If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today”—so goes an African proverb, crystallising the solutions to the continent’s socio-economic inequalities.

Is There Data Privacy & Protection to Poor Customers?

By Matthew Soursourian and Michael Joyce
Research increasingly demonstrates that poor customers, just like other customers, value their privacy and care deeply about the protection of their personal data. But what do providers think about obtaining, using, storing and sharing personally identifiable information?

Premarital Sex: Increasing Worldwide

By Joseph Chamie
Premarital sex, defined as voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons, is increasing worldwide. While traditional values, religious instructions and the laws of some countries continue to prescribe abstinence until marriage, the rapid societal changes that have occurred across all regions during the past half-century have resulted in the growing prevalence and acceptability of premarital sex.

How Citizen Power Ignited Seoul’s Energy Innovations

By Park Won-soon
In a bid to reduce its nuclear energy dependence, Seoul embarked on a massive energy reduction initiative—shaped by citizen participation—in 2012.

Solving Japan’s Fertility Crisis

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
While much of the global discussion for decades has been focused on overpopulation and its consequences, less can be said of the risks of low fertility and an ageing population—risks that are currently threatening the future of Japan.

Pakistan Needs Global Climate Funds to Combat Shifting Weather Patterns

By Rabiya Jaffery
As shifting weather patterns and extreme climates become the norm, access to climate funds are deemed essential for developing countries, such as Pakistan, that are facing the brunt of climate change.

New Platform Will Support Youth Projects on Water and Climate

By Mario Osava
Young people around the globe with good ideas on how to deal with water and climate challenges now have a platform to show their projects to the world and attract funding and other contributions to realise their dreams.

Ending TB Epidemic Among Youth: Key to Achieving SDGs

By David Bryden
A good education for every child is an urgent global imperative, but what if entering schools puts children at serious health risks? Tuberculosis (TB), the single biggest infectious disease killer, poses a major risk for young people in countries with high prevalence of TB, and schools are among the places where they are most likely to catch it.
Next Page »