Urbanization Takes on New Dimensions in Asia's Population Giants
The UN projects that the proportion of the world’s people living in urban places will hit 60 percent by 2030, up from 47 percent in 1999. This explosive urban growth will be especially dramatic and uneven in Asia. (Population Today, October 2001)

Uprooted People and HIV/AIDS in Africa: Responding to the Risks
Worldwide, millions of people who abandon their homes and communities because of drought, floods, earthquakes, war, or civil strife live in uncertain conditions either within their own countries or in foreign lands. In such situations, uprooted people, particularly women and girls, face a heightened risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. (October 2001)

Women, War, and HIV/AIDS
In the following interview with PRB, Judy A. Benjamin, senior technical adviser at the New York-based Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, describes ways in which women and girls are at particular risk of HIV in situations of conflict. (October 2001)

Risks Mount for Afghan Women, Children
What conditions do Afghanistan's refugees face? For more than two decades, the Afghan population has been shouldering the burden of civil conflict, the brutal effects of which have been exacerbated by acute and prolonged drought, widespread starvation, and especially harsh winters. The result has been massive movements of people within the country and across its borders. (October 2001)

U.S. Diversity Visas Are Attracting Africa's Best and Brightest
In the United States, many people equate immigration with a growing Hispanic population. But new sources of immigrants have emerged in the past decade — including several African countries — and well-educated professionals constitute a growing segment of the newcomers. (Population Today, July 2001)

Russia's Modest Migration Gains Unlikely to Stop Population Decline
Over the past decade in Russia, the rising mortality rate among middle-age males and the plunging fertility rate have been cited as contributors to the decline in population. Between those two trend lines, migration has been obscured. But counting the incoming and the outgoing, as well as the transfers within the country, shows that migration, too, is having a considerable effect. (Population Today, May/June 2001)

International Migration Transforms Australia
Immigration since World War II has transformed Australian society and population. Many residents of Australia are immigrants or are the children of immigrants. Between 1945 and 2000, most of Australia's population increase came from immigration. (June 2001)

Europe: A New Immigration Area?
Should the European Union (EU) open its doors to immigration to slow the shrinking of the population and labor force? Many governments are concerned about population aging and decline resulting from decades of low birth rates. (May 2001)

Final Peace in the Middle East Hinges on Refugee Population
In the demographic "contest" between Palestinians and Israelis, population growth is a plus, and numbers are everything. That is why resolution of the status of the 3.7 million Palestinian refugees is so difficult and so critical to the peace process. (Population Today, April 2001)

Canada's Immigration Mandate
Returned to power with a wide majority in last November's national elections, Canada's ruling Liberal Party is apt to continue encouraging a high level of immigration. But after a campaign in which critics of some aspects of the current policy were labeled "anti-immigrant," scholars and other Canadians hope that the party's strong mandate will lead to more open dialogue on immigration. (Population Today, January 2001)