Can migration avert population decline and ageing in East and Southeast Asia?

Fertility is currently below replacement level in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. These low levels are expected to lead to declines in the total population and the number of persons of labour force age. In a report that garnered much attention among policy-makers and the news media, the United Nations Population Division developed the concept of replacement migration. This was defined as the number of international migrants that would be required in order to prevent the declines in the total population; the number of persons of working age; or the potential support ratio (persons aged 15–64 per person aged 65 and over). This paper reviews the hypothetical replacement migration projections for Japan and the Republic of Korea in the United Nations report and examines similar scenarios for China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, with a brief overview of possible policy implications.     

Violence in the Brazilian favelas and the role of the police

Institutions should normally have an integrative influence. The family, for example, has the task of protecting and giving socio-emotional support to children, and schools should prepare young people for their future. Ideally the common goal of all of society's institutions is to secure the integration of youth and prevent or intervene against deviant behavior. But sometimes institutions provoke or even cause juvenile delinquency. The article discusses institutional influences and the role of the police in the criminal and violent situation in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.Starting with an overview of the origins and the development of violence, crime, and drug trafficking in the favelas, the authors show how these slums arose. Their analysis examines the lack of a state presence with an integration policy to avoid social disintegration. Instead of social integration policy, there is a dual approach that both controls and produces violence. The article also presents the first results of a government attempt in 2000 to introduce a new police unit to stop the violence and improve the social opportunity structure of the residents of the favelas, especially young people.