Search Results (348)

Geospatial heterogeneity plays a critical role in shaping housing tenure among China’s floating population. Using three binary indicators—homeownership, social housing, and informal housing—this study measures migrants’ housing affordability, access to public housing resources, and residential stability. Based on nationally representative data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), we examine how geospatial characteristics influence migrants’ housing tenure. The results show that both origin and destination characteristics significantly affect housing outcomes. Migrants moving to higher-tier cities are more likely to obtain social housing because these cities provide better public services and greater opportunities to accumulate human and social capital. However, high housing prices in megacities substantially reduce the likelihood of homeownership. A clear birthplace effect is also observed: migrants originating from eastern China and megacities have significantly higher probabilities of obtaining both social and owner-occupied housing, reflecting the advantages associated with more developed places of origin. In addition, marital status, duration of migration, educational attainment, and hukou status consistently influence housing tenure. These findings highlight the importance of geospatial heterogeneity in explaining housing differentiation among China’s floating population and provide evidence for improving housing policies during rapid urbanization. Geospatial factors shape both the housing choices and associated stratification patterns of China’s internal migrants, thereby exerting a discernible influence on the national trajectory toward sustainable development. Accordingly, policymakers must prioritize the pursuit of balanced regional development—with particular emphasis on aligning regional economic performance, infrastructure provision, public service accessibility, and the spatial distribution of population. Such measures would help attenuate the impact of geospatial disparities on migrant housing differentiation and, in turn, advance the country’s broader agenda for sustainable development. Full article

This article analyses how three leading female figures of the European far right—Marine Le Pen (France), Giorgia Meloni (Italy), and Alice Weidel (Germany)—construct populist discourse on X (formerly Twitter) during recent high-stakes election campaigns. The analysis is based on a corpus of 1053 posts published in the month preceding the 2022 French presidential elections, the 2022 Italian general elections, and the 2025 German federal elections. Methodologically, it combines content analysis (operationalised through a codebook developed in Atlas.ti v23), Critical Discourse Analysis, and comparative analysis to identify dominant issues, campaign strategies, and underlying discursive structures. Adopting a corpus-pragmatic perspective, the study undertakes a pragmatic examination of implicit meaning—presupposition, implication, and implicature—to show how meaning is conveyed in authentic, digitally mediated political data. The findings reveal a shared populist communicative matrix centred on polarisation, simplification, and emotional mobilisation, alongside important national variations. Le Pen and Meloni primarily construct an “internal traitor” among political elites, linking economic and social grievances to elite failure. In contrast, Weidel recentres migration and security, portraying migrants as a direct threat and mainstream parties as responsible for citizens’ insecurity. The article highlights the need for further research on gender and leadership in the contemporary European far right. Full article

Migrant resettlement communities in large-scale development regions face persistent pressures from environmental change, livelihood disruption, and social restructuring. Evaluating resilience in such communities requires a framework that captures both external stressors and internal adaptive capacity. This study asks whether differences in resilience between resettlement communities are driven more by differences in external pressure exposure or by differences in internal development conditions. To address this question it applies a Pressure–State–Response (PSR) framework to assess community resilience in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) of China. A four-level indicator system of 29 variables was developed across pressure, state, and response dimensions. Weights were determined by combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process with the entropy method; standardisation and entropy weights were computed across all 25 surveyed communities. Survey data statistical records, and remote sensing information were collected from 25 migrant resettlement communities. Three of these communities—CT, SQ, and GGB—were then selected by purposive maximum-variation sampling for detailed comparison. Results show that overall resilience ranked CT (0.646) > GGB (0.600) > SQ (0.483), with state resilience contributing the largest share to composite scores in all three communities. Obstacle-factor analysis revealed distinct constraint profiles: CT was primarily limited by ecological pressure, SQ by weak livelihood development, and GGB by limited industrial diversity and incomplete social integration. These findings indicate that resilience in resettlement communities depends more on internal development quality than on exposure levels alone; a Monte Carlo analysis confirmed that this ordering held in 99.9% of simulated draws. Differentiated governance strategies are needed rather than uniform approaches. The PSR-based framework and obstacle-factor diagnosis provide a practical tool for assessing and improving resilience in communities shaped by large-scale infrastructure development. Full article

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) traditionally associated with rural poverty in endemic regions but is increasingly encountered among international travelers, migrants, and displaced populations. Climate change, globalization, and mass human mobility have altered the epidemiology of CL, expanding the geographic range of competent vectors and increasing the burden of imported disease in non-endemic countries. Imported cases are of particular public health importance because they may serve as sentinels for autochthonous transmission in regions where vectors and reservoir hosts are present. This narrative review synthesizes surveillance data and epidemiological evidence on imported cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL), with particular emphasis on findings from regional and global surveillance networks. We describe demographic, clinical, and travel-related patterns of imported disease, highlight differences between Old World and New World CL, and discuss implications for surveillance, clinical management, and future research in the context of climate change and global migration. Full article

Despite the Chinese government’s efforts to promote social integration, migrants continue to face considerable obstacles in adapting to the urban life. These obstacles arise not only from the constraints of the hukou system, but also from the difficulties in sociocultural adaptation. While the literature on social integration is extensive, there remains a lack of a comprehensive and cohesive framework for assessing social integration of migrants in China. This study addresses this gap by developing the Social Integration of Migrants Scale (SIMS), an instrument designed to capture the multifaceted nature of migrant integration in urban China. Using a sample of 600 migrants from Shenzhen, China, the SIMS was tested for reliability, factorial validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The results demonstrate the strong internal consistency of the scale. Factor analyses identified six key dimensions of integration: economic integration, acculturation, perceived discrimination, social relationships, civic engagement, and identity integration. The findings provided initial evidence of convergent and discriminant validity based on the scale’s internal structure. The SIMS thus offers a promising multidimensional instrument for assessing the integration of migrants within Chinese urban contexts, with external criterion validation identified as a priority for future research. Full article

Tuberculosis (TB) and malnutrition remain major health challenges among migrant children living in low-resource urban settings. Identifying clinically relevant patterns associated with these conditions may support standardized clinical assessment and public health planning. The present study aimed to identify clinical, anthropometric and sociodemographic factors associated with TB and malnutrition among migrant children under five years of age in urban Pakistan. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in migrant settlements of Rachna Town, Lahore, Pakistan. Clinical, demographic and anthropometric data were collected from 300 children under five years of age. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) combined with Random Forest analysis was applied to identify the most informative variables associated with TB and malnutrition. Model performance was assessed using internal cross-validation. The analytical approach identified a concise subset of variables showing stable internal performance. Key factors associated with malnutrition included Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination status, formula feeding, chest X-ray findings and gastrointestinal symptoms. The most relevant variables associated with TB were Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination score, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, gastrointestinal indicators and parental occupation. The final models demonstrated good internal discrimination and substantial agreement. These findings suggest that routinely collected clinical, anthropometric, laboratory, radiological, and sociodemographic variables may support the identification of clinically relevant patterns associated with TB and malnutrition during standardized community-based assessments. The proposed data-driven approach should be interpreted as an analytical and decision-support framework for prioritizing informative variables and supporting clinical assessment, rather than as a pre-diagnostic or early risk prediction tool. Full article

This article examines heritage language transmission within Chinese migrant families in Italy, focussing on the role of Family Language Policy and the interplay between standard (Putonghua) and non-standard local varieties (fangyan). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with six families and the primary school teachers of their children (aged 6–8), the study adopts a multi-perspective design to explore how reported language practices, beliefs, and attitudes interact across family and school domains. Findings indicate a predominant shift towards Putonghua as the primary heritage language, often at the expense of fangyan, which tends to be marginalised by parents or reported as being retained only as passive competence among children. This shift reflects practical considerations and evaluative orientations related to prestige, usefulness, and standardisation. Variation across families shows that alternative orientations persist, with one family valuing fangyan for intergenerational continuity. Teachers’ perspectives further suggest a limited awareness of internal linguistic diversity within the student population. The convergence of family-driven shifts and school-based perceptions may contribute to processes of increasing standardisation in the representation and transmission of heritage varieties. This article contributes to research on heritage language maintenance by offering contextually situated insights into how the interplay between social actors and contextual factors may shape linguistic diversity within diasporic communities. Full article

South Africa attracts thousands of refugees and is regarded as a key destination for migrants on the African continent. Although the country has ratified international and regional conventions on refugees, many refugee women face enormous challenges to attain basic civil, social and economic rights. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study explored the challenges that refugee women encounter in shifting from survival to sustainable livelihood strategies. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 23 refugee women participants for the study. Data was collected through one-on-one interviews and analysed using thematic data analysis. The findings show that most refugee women find it extremely difficult to find an adequate job despite being educated or having stayed in the country for a considerable period. If they do get a job, it is mostly part-time. Due to a lack of decent work, their income remains low, which in turn influences their access to health services, further education, education for their children, adequate shelter, and food security. The study concludes that the socio-economic challenges that refugee women face keep them trapped in poverty and expose them to discrimination, violence, exclusion, and humiliation. The study recommends that strategies be developed to increase the provision of social protection and promote basic civil, social and economic rights for refugee women. Full article

This article examines how institutional arrangements shape exploitative labour conditions among highly skilled international professionals, challenging prevailing assumptions that labour exploitation primarily affects low-skilled or irregular workers. Focusing on international professionals living and working in Vienna, the study addresses a central paradox of contemporary migration governance: while states and cities actively compete for global talent, they simultaneously reproduce exploitative conditions: legal, organisational, and identity-based constraints that limit labour mobility, weaken bargaining power, and suppress rights mobilisation. The analysis draws on Social Identity Theory, the Skill Paradox, and the concept of Legal consciousness to examine how highly skilled migrants experience labour market entry, wage-setting, and workplace inequality under conditions of legal dependency and institutional regulation. Empirically, the study is based on 42 semi-structured interviews with highly skilled international professionals and 17 expert interviews with representatives of Austrian labour market institutions and non-governmental organisations, complemented by secondary institutional data. Using reflexive thematic analysis, the study identifies three interrelated mechanisms sustaining exploitative conditions: (1) conditional labour market entry through the systematic downgrading of foreign qualifications; (2) legal and institutional dependency that discourages rights awareness and rights mobilisation; and (3) intersectional wage penalties disproportionately affecting women and non-national professionals. The findings demonstrate labour market conditions that exhibit several characteristics associated with labour exploitation. Labour conditions among highly skilled international professionals are not primarily the result of overt coercion or illegality but are structurally produced through migration regimes, credential recognition practices, and uneven access to legal protection. These mechanisms position skilled migrants along a continuum of labour exploitation characterised by restricted mobility, economic compulsion, and suppressed labour market conflict. By conceptualizing what can be reasonably interpreted as exploitative labour arrangements as an institutional outcome rather than an individual failure, the article contributes to debates on skilled migration, labour market inequality, and migration governance, highlighting the need for policy reforms that better align talent attraction strategies with labour rights, legal empowerment, and social justice. Full article

Background/Objectives: The employment of migrant nurses requires structured support from local nursing staff. However, multiple challenges persist in facilitating effective collaboration. We aimed to clarify the efforts made by Japanese nurses and identify their support needs when working alongside migrant nurses in Japan. Methods: We adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Eighteen Japanese nurses with experience working alongside migrant nurses were recruited through hospitals employing migrant nurses. Semistructured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. We classified the codes derived from the participants’ narratives and inductively generated categories. Results: Japanese nurses’ efforts in working alongside migrant nurses were classified into five categories: “Overcoming language barriers,” “Respecting the nursing practices and cultural backgrounds of migrant nurses,” “Encouraging migrant nurses to gain self-confidence,” “Engaging Japanese staff in establishing support systems for migrant nurses,” and “Addressing the personal challenges faced by migrant nurses working abroad.” Three categories of support needs were identified: “Learning about nursing practices and cultural backgrounds of migrant nurses,” “Information exchange on how to support migrant nurses,” and “Support systems for enhancing migrant nurses’ competencies in Japan.” Conclusions: Japanese nurses demonstrated active efforts to address differences in language, culture, and nursing practices, while collaboratively establishing support systems involving other staff members. They also extended support to aspects of migrant nurses’ personal lives. However, additional institutional and external support is required. Structured opportunities should be developed to enhance their understanding of migrant nurses’ backgrounds, alongside continuing education initiatives to support migrant nurses’ integration into the Japanese healthcare system. Full article

The importation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) variants through migration challenges elimination efforts in low-endemicity countries. This study evaluated the seroprevalence, occult hepatitis B infection (OBI), and molecular signatures of HBV among 537 international migrants from 46 countries who arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia. HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc were measured by ELISA. This was followed by nested real-time PCR targeting viral genes (S, X) and a human housekeeping gene (HPRT, internal control), amplification of overlapping fragments covering the complete HBV genome, and Sanger sequencing. HBsAg prevalence was 2.61% (95% CI: 1.43–4.34), while anti-HBc was detected in 16.39% (95% CI: 13.36–19.79). HBV DNA was found in 8.19% (44/537; 95% CI: 6.02–10.04) of migrants. Notably, OBI (HBsAg-negative/HBV DNA-positive) was identified in 33 individuals, yielding a prevalence of 6.15% (33/537; 95% CI: 4.27–8.52) in the entire cohort and 6.31% among HBsAg-negative subjects. The findings among OBI cases were as follows: the majority (54.5%) had no detectable anti-HBc or anti-HBs; 30.3% were positive for anti-HBs only; 6.06% were positive for anti-HBc IgG only; 9.09% of cases featured both anti-HBc and anti-HBs. Viral loads in OBI cases were uniformly low (14–53 IU/mL). Genotype D predominated (86.36%, 38/44). The distribution of subgenotypes among all sequenced isolates was as follows: D1 in 36.36% (16/44), D2 in 36.36% (16/44), D3 in 13.64% (6/44), while genotypes A2 (6.82%, 3/44), B4 (4.55%, 2/44), and C2 (2.27%, 1/44) were rare. In the major hydrophilic region (MHR), the most frequent amino acid substitutions were at positions T127P/I (61.4%) and T118R/M/V/A (45.5%). Immune escape mutations were significantly associated with OBI (81.82% of OBI cases versus 18.18% of HBsAg-positive cases; p = 0.003). Drug resistance mutations (L180M + M204V ± T184A) were detected in 11.4% of isolates (all genotype D2). In the precore region, stop codon mutation W28* was found in 31.82% of samples, and the A1762T/G1764A double substitution in the basal core promoter occurred in 25.0%. The high prevalence of OBI, coupled with the accumulation of escape and drug resistance mutations in imported HBV variants, highlights the urgent need to include molecular HBV screening in mandatory medical examinations for arriving migrants to prevent undetected transmission and inform clinical management in receiving countries. Full article

This paper examines how heritage Russian reflects morphosyntactic dynamics in baseline Russian, drawing on three diachronically spaced corpora collected in 2001, 2010, and 2022 in Germany. It identifies recurrent patterns of variation in heritage Russian and assesses how they correspond to domains of instability already attested in the baseline system. The study assumes that transfer, variation, and convergence in heritage Russian are shaped not only by its reduced use in favor of the societal language but also by internal trigger mechanisms analogous to those operating in baseline Russian, while at the same time exhibiting specific variation patterns arising from multilingual variation typical of communication among heritage speakers. The analysis shows that the most prominent domains that consistently emerge as unstable across the corpora are nominal number and case, shifts in nominal and verbal government, and calquing of syntactic constructions. In this respect, heritage Russian mirrors baseline tendencies while also exhibiting contact-enhanced effects. For instance, GEN/ACC competition and the extension of animate object marking occur in both baseline and heritage Russian, whereas the overgeneralization of inanimate object marking appears predominantly in heritage Russian. Similarly, the loss of an instrumental predicative in favor of the nominative and fluctuations in prepositional government reflect baseline instability amplified by German influence. Syntactic variation—including borrowing of connectors, loss of baseline intonation patterns, and pro-drop in impersonal constructions—further illustrates the interaction of internal instability and contact effects, whereby contact-affected syntactic patterns are not attested in baseline Russian. The calquing of German possessive constructions and the shift from prepositionless to prepositional government patterns can be interpreted as instances of contact-induced leveling of Russian typological features, accompanied by simplification where baseline structures diverge from dominant-language patterns. Interpreted as part of a broader shift from synthetic to analytic government, these developments align with both contact-induced tendencies and historically attested changes in Slavic languages. The identified patterns of variation in heritage Russian correspond to domains of instability in baseline Russian, showing that the loci of variation are largely analogous, while their concrete manifestations are partly different. In comparison with baseline Russian, heritage Russian exhibits both analogous and specific—non-canonical—variants, reflecting unstable areas of the baseline in a multilingual setting and becoming particularly visible in subsequent generations of the migrant community. Within a broader typological context, the documented variation trends align with sensitive language domains observed in other contact situations, confirming their systematic character across diverse minoritized contexts. Full article

The international spread of HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 raises concerns due to its association with contraindications for long-acting injectable formulations of cabotegravir (LA-CAB) and rilpivirine (LA-RPV). This study investigated its increasing proportion in Belgium, assessing transmission dynamics and potential migration links. Additionally, genotypic drug resistance in the Belgian HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 population were analyzed and four automatic subtyping tools were compared. A dataset of 4764 HIV-1 protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) sequences from newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve individuals in Belgium (2013–2022) was analyzed. A combination of phylogenetic analysis and online subtyping tools identified 136 sub-subtype A6 sequences. The increase in the proportion of HIV-1 sub-subtype A6 observed in Belgium since 2020 reflects changing transmission patterns, especially among Belgium-born men having sex with men, and cannot be solely linked to the recent influx of Ukrainian migrants. Of these sub-subtype A6 sequences, less than 10% showed LA-CAB + LA-RPV resistance, mainly due to E138A within RT. HIVdb and ANRS reliably assessed resistance in this therapy-naïve cohort, and HIVdb, COMET, and SmartGene^® produced concordant subtyping results. While algorithm choice has little impact at low resistance prevalence, further research is necessary and HIVdb and ANRS remain more suitable for ongoing clinical and research use. Full article

Climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly recognized as major drivers of human mobility, operating through both sudden-onset disasters and slow-onset processes such as sea-level rise, desertification and resource scarcity. Although estimates vary widely, projections suggest that millions of people may become displaced by 2050 because of climate change, predominantly within their own countries but also across international borders. This article examines the emerging phenomenon of “environmental migration” against the backdrop of international refugee law and broader human rights frameworks. It first maps the diverse environmental scenarios that trigger displacement before analyzing the existing international legal landscape. Particular attention is paid to the contested terminology surrounding “climate refugees”, “environmental migrants” and “environmentally displaced persons” and to the protection gaps that arise from current categorizations. This article argues that, while existing norms on human rights, disaster risk reduction and internal displacement offer partial safeguards, they do not provide coherent legal status or systematic protection for people displaced across borders by climate-related harms. It concludes that climate-related displacement should be addressed through a combination of evolving human rights-based climate litigation, enhanced use of existing instruments and the progressive elaboration of specific normative frameworks. Full article

This study examines the transformation of the Balaton region in Hungary from a traditional tourist destination into an international retirement migration destination for older adults from Western Europe. Migration theories and models are applied to illustrate the relationships between migration and development and to explore how tourism, lifestyle aspirations, and socio-economic factors influence the settlement decisions of older migrants. Empirical findings suggest that prior tourism experience can mitigate the uncertainty associated with migration and foster belonging. However, many retirees move to Hungary with limited knowledge of the country, relying on social networks and real estate agents for information. These retired migrants also utilize local services and infrastructure, including healthcare and community spaces, which shape their daily lives and help them integrate into the community. The migration of older adults stimulates the development of peripheral rural areas through real estate purchases, renovations, and small-scale entrepreneurial activities, particularly in the accommodation sector. This challenges the traditional perception of older-age migrants as inactive. Full article