Languages
Saturday, November 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Population
ARGENTINA: Flood Evacuees Have Spent Winter in Tents, Waiting
Around 3,000 people in the city of Santa Fe in east-central Argentina are still living in drafty warehouses and abandoned train stations, or tents that must be evacuated when it rains, four months after their homes were destroyed by flooding.EAST TIMOR: Post-Independence Frustrations Find Release in New Rock
As the frustrations of young East Timorese grow in the days after the world's newest nation became independent last year, their restiveness is finding release in a new form of rock music, peppered with socially-conscious lyrics.U.S.: Muslim, Arab Families Await Papers, Deportation
"Look at him. I don't understand why they are punishing this innocent one," says Rukhsana Saeed, pointing to her infant son who cries in her lap, his small hands holding a plastic bottle filled with milk.RIGHTS-CUBA: Homosexuality Takes a Step Out of the Closet
As other countries legalise same-sex civil unions and adoptions by homosexuals, the question of homosexuality has only just become a subject of public debate in Cuba.POPULATION: Pakistanis Fleeing U.S. Face Tough Test in Canada
Many Pakistanis fleeing a U.S. immigration crackdown have crossed the northern border into Canada but activists here say Pakistan's new role as a partner in the 'War on Terrorism' is making it easier for Ottawa to reject those refugee applicants.DEVELOPMENT-CHINA: Women Reap Fruits of Anti-Drug Battle
Seven years ago, Kyin Mu Pu's husband got into an accident while driving a tractor and suffered liver damage, which left him tormented by sharp pains.RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Gov’t under Pressure to Act on Sexual Slavery
When 27-year-old Puongtong Simaplee from Thailand died in an immigration detention centre last year, she could not have known that her death would crystallise public debate on the plight of an estimated 1,000 sexual slaves trafficked to Australia and working in the country's brothels.MALAYSIA: Arrests of Acehnese Show Double Standards – Critics
After a perilous five-day journey by sea in 'tongkangs' or slow wooden boats, Acehnese displaced by the escalating war in their troubled Indonesian province cross the narrow Straits of Malacca, and land on the long west coast of peninsular Malaysia.SOUTH ASIA: A Lot of Talk, Not Enough Action on Trafficking
Dibya Thapa (not her real name), 20, was instrumental in rescuing about 300 unsuspecting girls in 1997 and 2000 from the Kakarbhitta checkpoint on the Nepal-India border in the eastern part of the Himalayan kingdom.SOCIETY-JAPAN: Slowly, Men Break Free from Workaholic Culture
Three years ago, Shunsuke Yoshioka, a writer of children's books, fell into deep depression after he was laid off from a prestigious job at a large insurance company.RIGHTS: U.S. Stuffs Jails, Minorities First
About one in three African American males in the United States can be expected to be jailed during their lifetime, according to a Justice Department report released Sunday.HEALTH-MEXICO: Street Children at High Risk of AIDS
''When you're on drugs, you're just out of it, and nothing matters. That's how I got sick,'' says Raúl, a young HIV-carrier who spent four years living on the streets of Mexico City.EDUCATION-VIETNAM: Too-Successful Policy Leads to Brain Drain
Le Thi Xuan has all her plans neatly laid out, now that she has been admitted to the National University of Singapore (NUS) in September.LATIN AMERICA: Women Scale the Hierarchies of Justice
Women do not yet represent 50 percent of the ranks of Latin America's judicial systems, but many of the trials that are in the media spotlight - those involving major corruption scandals or human rights violations - are in the hands of female judges and prosecutors.THAILAND: Key Arrest Means Muslim Militants Are Not Welcome
This week's arrest in Thailand of the man named by the U.S. government as 'South-east Asia's bin Laden' brings this country clearly into the fold of those nations determined to flush out Muslim militants.RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Indigenous People Under Fire
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) in Colombia recently warned of the growing threat posed by the armed conflict to the country's 86 indigenous groups.TECHNOLOGY-JAPAN: Seniors Eager to Explore World of IT
At the rate its membership is growing, the Grannies Computer Association has had to restrict the entry of new applicants, all of whom are eager to enter the world of the Internet.CHILE: Down-and-Out East Europeans, New Part of Urban Landscape
East European immigrants forced by circumstances to turn to panhandling, especially Rumanians, have become a feature of the urban landscape in Chile in the past few years.POPULATION: Nations Still Do Not Back U.N. Migration Conference
The U.N. has failed again to generate political support for a longstanding proposal to organise an international conference on migration and development.CUBA: Survival Strategies
Although she considers herself one of the lucky ones in Cuba, Sara Abreu, a university graduate with a good job, is too focused on day-to-day survival strategies to even think about the future.SOCIETY-IRAN: Tehran’s ‘Taxicyclists’ Ride on the Edge
To harried public bus drivers and dusty traffic policemen here in Iranian capital's chaotic roads, the motorcycle riders are a pesky menace, darting into the flow of vehicles and cheekily out again in clouds of blue exhaust.« Previous Page — Next Page »
One Thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Relocated from Tomping Camp in South Sudan. Credit: UN Photo/Isaac Billy
It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world’s human population to cross one billion in 1804. Approximately 200 years later, the population has multiplied sevenfold. In 2023, the global population crossed 8 billion, and is expected to reach 9 billion before 2050. With the planet more crowded than ever, it is essential to keep track of population trends, urbanization, migration, and reproduction across the world.
Life expectancy has seen significant strides in the past century, largely due to economic development and increased standards of living. On the contrary, trends in global fertility are shifting, with certain regions in Africa and Asia reporting higher rates, while parts of Europe and North America report stagnant or lower rates. This is in part due to differences in sexual and reproductive healthcare, as well as societal and economic conditions around the world. For example, child marriage is prevalent in certain societies, where childbearing is also considered a familial duty. Meanwhile, stagnating economies frequently experience lower marriage and childbearing rates.
The increase in migration and urban development around the world is also linked to global population trends. By 2050, it is expected that approximately 66 percent of all people will live in cities. Furthermore, global crises such as warfare and natural disasters also prompt transnational migration. Transnational migration is linked to a variety of socioeconomic issues in both host and receiving countries: migrants often leave developing countries with less access to educational and economic opportunities and arrive in developed countries where they are frequently the targets of ethnic, racial, and cultural discrimination, and economic exploitation. Recent crises in Europe and the United States demonstrate the importance of advocating for migrants worldwide. As migrants from the Global South are increasingly stripped of their legal and civic rights in unlawful deportations, or targeted in acts of identity-based violence, it is essential to keep track of population trends and protect the human rights of migrant populations. Climate-related disasters are now a major driver of displacement, with nearly half of all new internal displacements in 2025 being disaster-related.
IPS is devoted to covering issues surrounding population trends, migration, and reproduction through its compelling articles, which use both statistics and human stories to provide readers with robust and informative viewpoints.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
