Search Results (322)

Drawing on a systematic review of both international and Chinese-language scholarship on counter-urbanization in China, this article proposes a comprehensive typology of counter-urbanization migrations—consisting of eight types of new migrants—based on the diverse motivations driving such migration. We build a bilingual corpus of 273 research papers published between the 1970s and 2025. Integrating bibliometric mapping and qualitative synthesis, we conduct a systematic review to trace the temporal evolution and thematic diversification of counter-urbanization research. The review reveals persistent conceptual ambiguity surrounding counter-urbanization in the Chinese context, which this study addresses by conceptually distinguishing counter-urbanization from suburban expansion, population decentralization, and return migration. Empirically, counter-urbanization in China is shown to involve heterogeneous demographic groups and multiple drivers. Our synthesis identifies a fundamental analytical divide between consumption-oriented and production-oriented engagements with rural space. Counter-urbanization in China therefore cannot be understood as a singular demographic reversal. Finally, contrary to the common view, it reveals that state intervention in China functions primarily as an enabling infrastructure rather than a direct driver of migration. Overall, this review advances a more nuanced theoretical framework for understanding urban-to-rural mobility in China and contributes to broader comparative debates on counter-urbanization beyond Western contexts. Full article

Background: Language barriers remain a major obstacle to equitable healthcare access for immigrants and refugees across Europe. Greece, as both a transit and host country, faces persistent challenges in providing linguistically and culturally appropriate care. Methods: This study presents a narrative literature review synthesizing international, European, and Greek evidence on the effects of limited language proficiency, professional interpretation, and intercultural mediation on healthcare access, patient safety, satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. Peer-reviewed studies and selected grey literature were identified through searches of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL. Results: The evidence consistently demonstrates that the absence of professional interpretation is associated with substantially higher rates of clinically significant communication errors, longer hospital stays, increased readmissions, and higher healthcare costs. In contrast, the use of trained medical interpreters and intercultural mediators improves comprehension, shared decision-making, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. Comparative European data from Italy, Spain, Germany, and Sweden show that institutionalized interpretation systems outperform Greece’s fragmented, NGO-dependent approach. Greek studies further reveal that limited proficiency in Greek is associated with reduced service utilization, longer waiting times, and lower patient satisfaction. Conclusions: This narrative review highlights the urgent need for Greece to adopt a coordinated, professionally staffed interpretation and intercultural mediation framework. Strengthening linguistic support within the healthcare system is essential for improving patient safety, equity, efficiency, and the integration of migrant and refugee populations. Full article

Historically, the number of United Kingdom (UK) emigrants has exceeded the number of immigrants, but this trend began to change in the early 1970s. The UK government has been enforcing strict immigration controls to reduce the number of immigrants, especially asylum seekers. The country even left the European Union to better control its borders and consider new arrivals based on their skills. However, despite tighter immigration policies, long-term international migration to the UK has continued to grow. The ongoing, and to some extent gendered and racialised, migration fix has not provided a sustainable solution for the country. Instead, it has increased the vulnerability and anxiety of refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants. Informed by a scoping review and the concept migration fix, this article examines UK immigration policies since World War II. This article is important for understanding the migration fix in UK immigration and asylum policies and their effects on asylum seekers, refugees, and other migrants. Full article

In the context of China’s accelerated urbanization process, the increasing number of rural-to-urban migrants has become an integral part of urban economic development. Ensuring stable housing for the floating population is essential to facilitating their integration into urban society and promoting the realization of their health rights. Drawing on data from a large-scale survey of Chinese internal migrants, this study empirically analyzes how homeownership influences health services accessibility in rural-to-urban migrants. The findings indicated that homeowners exhibited approximately 18.4% higher odds ratio of accessing public health services compared to renters. This result remained robust after addressing potential reverse causality using instrumental variable approaches and correcting for self-selection bias through propensity score weighting methods. Meanwhile, the mediating effect decomposition showed that migrants’ perception of acculturation and community participation played parallel mediating roles in the relationship between homeownership and health services accessibility. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis revealed that the positive impact of homeownership on health services accessibility was more pronounced among individuals with lower household income and shorter migration duration. Our research underscores the importance of securing stable housing for rural-to-urban migrants as a key determinant in advancing the equitable development of urban health systems. Full article

Employment promotion and employment realization are the core and fundamental problems in the resettlement of land-expropriated farmers transferred to citizens. To solve this problem, it is necessary to clarify the key factors and mechanisms that affect the employment behavior of “farmers to citizens” workers. Taking the labor force from land-expropriated “farmers to citizens” in the construction of Beijing city sub-center as the research object, this paper utilizes Logistic ISM to determine the key factors affecting the employment behavior of the labor force when changing from rural to urban, as well as the internal logical relationship and hierarchical structure among the influencing factors. The results show that only 40% of the migrant workers in the sample have achieved employment, while 69% of the unemployed population have a willingness to work but are limited by age, skills, and family factors. The logistic regression model identifies that the employment behavior of land-expropriated farmers is significantly affected by 10 factors, including gender, age, work experience, hobbies, employment demand, expenditure change, employment difficulty cognition, government training, policy satisfaction and social security. Among them, ISM further reveals that these factors form a three-level hierarchical mechanism of “structure–cognition–behavior”; gender, social security and policy satisfaction are the deep-root factors, and the intermediate factors, such as hobbies and government training, affect employment demand, employment difficulty cognition and other surface factors, and ultimately affect the employment behavior of land-expropriated “farmers to citizens”. Based on this, it is proposed to start from four aspects: differentiated employment guidance, policy transmission optimization, service efficiency improvement, and industrial driving, to systematically promote the realization of more comprehensive and stable employment for the rural-to-residential population, and provide institutional guarantees and practical paths for their sustainable livelihoods. Full article

China’s rapid urbanization has created the world’s largest internal migration, increasingly shaped by women’s participation. Co-migrant mothers—rural women who bring their children to cities—occupy complex roles as workers, wives, and caregivers. Existing studies focus on left-behind mothers or individual coping, but little is known about how co-migrant mothers collectively reshape motherhood through urban spatial and social change. Based on fieldwork in a Guangzhou migrant community, this study develops the “disembedding–re-embedding–reconstruction” framework to show how mobility reconfigures motherhood. Moving from villages to cities disembeds mothers from the moral surveillance that enforces self-sacrificing norms. Community-based organizations (CBOs) then serve as re-embedding sites where women form new maternal subjectivities through mutual support and reflection, producing a locally rooted idea of self-caring motherhood. This idea reframes care as reciprocal rather than self-depleting and affirms mothers’ emotional and bodily well-being as part of family life. Finally, these values are reconstructed in households through subtle temporal and spatial negotiations that adjust gendered divisions of labor without open conflict. Highlighting collective empowerment and spatial transformation, this study moves motherhood research beyond individualized lenses and reveals grounded, pragmatic forms of gendered agency in China’s rural–urban migration. Full article

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health threat in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), driven by a combination of social determinants including undernutrition, fragile health systems, conflict-related disruptions, human mobility and displacement, sub-optimal programmatic implementation, and insufficient domestic investment. These programmatic and governance constraints operate within a broader geopolitical context marked by conflict, sanctions, protracted crises, and large-scale displacement, which further limit countries’ ability to deliver uninterrupted TB services. In 2023, the region’s TB incidence was estimated at 116 per 100,000 population, with Pakistan alone accounting for about 73% of the regional burden. Despite a multitude of efforts, progress in reducing the TB burden in the EMR remains slow, with high case detection and treatment coverage gaps, low uptake of TB preventive treatment (TPT), underutilization of WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics, and only 25% of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) cases initiated on treatment. Vulnerable populations, including internally displaced persons, migrants, refugees, prisoners, and returnees, continue to face major access barriers, and cross-border TB collaboration remains limited. This commentary reasons that the slow pace of TB burden reduction in the region is not only a biomedical or resource issue but also a reflection of structural and governance shortcomings. It proposes a ten-point strategic vision focused on building a sustainable ecosystem, enhancing primary healthcare systems, adopting people-centered and rights-based approaches, leveraging artificial intelligence, and gradually reducing dependency on external donors where feasible. However, in highly fragile settings such as Yemen or Somalia, domestic financing remains limited, and sustained external support will continue to be indispensable. The commentary calls for stronger national leadership, inclusive stakeholder engagement, and increased domestic financing to deliver integrated and resilient TB services. Ending TB in the EMR is within reach, but it requires boldly committed, coordinated, and country-led action. Full article

The present study explores the role of food as a symbolic, material, and relational device in identity construction and community processes. This study draws on a qualitative case study of a community-based social restaurant located in a mid-sized city in central-northern Italy. The initiative’s objective is to promote the social and labor inclusion of migrant women through training and experiential programs. The research, conducted over a period of nine months from October 2024 to June 2025, was based on a participatory qualitative design, which integrated semi-structured interviews, ecological maps, photointervention, world café, and affective cartography, involving 35 participants including operators, trainees, local community members, and politicians. The results demonstrate the multifaceted role of food practices at the restaurant, which serve to strengthen internal relationships, regulate community life, construct intercultural narratives, and establish spaces of recognition and agency for the women involved. Moreover, the restaurant has been shown to have the capacity to influence the broader social representations of migration in the urban context, thereby promoting processes of cohesion and belonging. It is evident that food-related activities manifest as quotidian micro-political practices, which have the capacity to subvert stereotypes, recognize frequently unseen abilities, and generate new forms of inclusive citizenship. The present study underscores the transformative capacity of initiatives that employ food practices as innovative instruments for fostering empowerment; well-being; and social participation; through the third element of food. The limitations and future prospects of the present situation are discussed; with particular reference to the need to ensure continuity and institutional sustainability for similar experiences. Full article

Background: Mental illness is often stigmatized across various cultural groups, yet there is limited understanding of African communities’ perceptions and beliefs regarding mental health. One reason for this disparity could be the lack of culturally appropriate tools to assess attitudes towards mental illness in African populations. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 40-item Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale within African communities in Australia. Design: This study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional, and descriptive approach, using a self-administered survey to assess the psychometric properties of the CAMI scale among African Australian individuals. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency. Method: A convenience sample of 110 individuals from various African community organizations in Australia was recruited. The original English version of the CAMI scale was used to assess attitudes towards mental illness. Results: Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.717, indicating acceptable consistency. The Authoritarianism sub-scale had a lower reliability of 0.424, which is below the acceptable threshold of 0.70. The other sub-scales had a better internal consistency, with 0.730 for Benevolence, 0.724 for Ideology, and 0.627 for Social Restrictiveness, though the latter still lacked the ideal 0.70. Conclusions: The CAMI scale has been demonstrated to be a reliable and culturally appropriate tool for assessing African communities’ attitudes towards mental illness in Australia. By identifying negative attitudes, this tool can be used to inform health education and awareness programs that address misconceptions about mental illness. Such programs could encourage early health-seeking behaviors among migrants, facilitating early identification and intervention, and ultimately improving health outcomes by reducing the burden of mental illness. This study is significant as it provides a culturally appropriate tool to assess mental health attitudes in African communities, informing the development of appropriate strategies to promote early help-seeking behaviors and reduce stigma, thus improving mental health outcomes. Full article

Despite the presence of strong international and regional instruments for protecting human rights and promoting social justice, migrant and refugee populations continue to experience gross human rights violations. Xenophobic attacks are a global phenomenon that have left foreigners and refugees vulnerable. This article uses a multi-sectoral perspective to explore the socio-economic services to address the effects of xenophobic attacks on refugee entrepreneurs in South Africa. A snowball sampling technique was used to select 10 participants for the study. Data were collected using one-on-one interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed that multi-sectoral services should be provided to refugee entrepreneurs who are victims of xenophobic attacks. The paper also discusses the role of the government in providing aid and security, the role of social workers and civil society in facilitating community support, spiritual support, and support from fellow refugees, geared towards minimising the effects of xenophobic attacks. The conclusion is that social workers should coordinate relief programmes between the government and other service providers in the aftermath of xenophobic attacks. It recommends multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary interventions to address the aftermath of the xenophobic attacks. Full article

This paper evaluates the Enhancing Mobile Populations’ Access to HIV and AIDS Services, Information and Support (EMPHASIS) programme implemented by CARE International across Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Using individual-level data, we estimate the programme’s impact on HIV-related knowledge and preventive behaviours among migrant workers. Results show that participation in EMPHASIS significantly increased correct knowledge of HIV transmission, reduced misconceptions, and improved partner communication. These informational gains translated into higher condom use and fewer unsafe sexual practices, with stronger effects among women. The findings provide evidence that peer-led, information-based interventions can improve health behaviours among mobile populations. Integrating such approaches with gender empowerment and mobile health services offers a promising model for addressing HIV vulnerability in cross-border migration settings. Full article

Existing research has shown that individuals’ early-life experiences exert a sustained impact on their social life in adulthood. However, there remains a lack of understanding regarding how childhood migration experiences influence entrepreneurial behaviors. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this paper examines the effects of childhood migration experiences on migrants’ entrepreneurial propensity. The findings indicate that childhood migration experiences increase the likelihood of migrants engaging in self-employment or entrepreneurship in China, and this result holds consistent across several robustness checks. The research further reveals that social capital and human capital mediate the relationship between childhood migration experiences and entrepreneurial choices. Additionally, for migrants aged over 35, and those who migrated alone during their first-time migration, the positive effects of childhood migration experiences are more significant. Also, among the three age cohorts of childhood migration, the entrepreneurial effects of migration at ages 7–12 and 13–18 are significantly stronger than those of migration before age 6. This research highlights the long-term impact of childhood migration experiences on shaping individuals’ entrepreneurial choices, which provides theoretical and practical evidence for government policies that promote entrepreneurship. Full article

Background/Objectives: Unpaid medical expenses incurred by foreign nationals represent a growing concern for healthcare systems amid increasing international mobility. Japan, which lacks mandatory public insurance coverage for non-resident visitors, faces particular vulnerability in terms of uncompensated hospital care. This study aims to identify factors contributing to unpaid medical charges among uninsured, non-resident foreign patients hospitalized at a tertiary care facility in Tokyo. Methods: This retrospective observational analysis was conducted using medical and administrative data from patients admitted between January 2023 and February 2025. Patients who received elective medical tourism care were excluded. Data on demographics, length of hospital stay, care intensity, payment status, and third-party financial assistance were analyzed. Logistic regression models were applied to assess predictors of nonpayment. Results: Among 153 eligible cases, 9 patients (5.9%) had outstanding hospital bills upon discharge. Compared with those with completed payments, the unpaid group experienced longer admissions, more intensive care utilization, and higher total charges. Notably, the absence of third-party financial support (primarily travel insurance) was significantly associated with unpaid charges. Multivariate analysis identified this factor as the main independent predictor (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.12; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.02–0.915; p = 0.040). Total amount of billing was also statistically significant (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00–1.01; p = 0.039). Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of private insurance in mitigating financial risk in hospitals. Implementing policy measures to promote or require insurance enrollment, along with streamlined reimbursement systems, may contribute to sustainable care delivery for international patients. Full article

This study investigates factors influencing migrants’ decisions to enter Europe via Bulgaria or Greece along the Balkan route, using logistic regression and machine learning models on data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Flow Monitoring Survey (August 2022–June 2025, $n=5536$). We examine demographic variables (age), push factors (economic reasons, war/conflict, personal violence, limited access to services, and avoiding military service), and governance clusters derived from the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs). An adapted migration gravity model incorporates corruption control as a key push–pull factor. Key findings indicate that younger migrants are significantly more likely to choose Bulgaria ($\beta \approx -0.021$, $p<0.001$), and governance clusters show that migrants from high-corruption origins (e.g., Syria and Afghanistan) prefer Bulgaria, likely due to governance similarities and facilitation costs. The Cluster Model achieves a slight improvement in fit (McFadden’s $R^2=0.008$, AIC = 7367) compared to the Base (AIC = 7374) and Interaction (AIC = 7391) models. Machine learning extensions using LASSO and Random Forests on a subset of data ($n=4429$) yield similar moderate performance (AUC: LASSO = 0.524, RF = 0.515). These insights highlight corruption’s role in route selection, offering policy recommendations for origin, transit, and destination phases. Full article

This study explores the comparative employment laws related to migrant worker protection in Indonesia and Malaysia, with a focus on the socioeconomic inequalities faced by migrant workers in both countries. The study identifies key challenges in law enforcement, including migrant workers’ vulnerability to exploitation, poor recruitment procedures, and limited access to adequate legal education and information. A qualitative–interpretive methodology is used to explore in-depth issues related to employment laws and the socio-economic conditions of migrant workers. The study shows that Indonesia’s decentralized system results in fragmented and inconsistent law enforcement across regions, exacerbated by weak institutional capacity, legal gaps, and bureaucratic inefficiencies. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s centralized but pro-employer governance prioritizes economic growth over labor rights, leaving migrant workers—especially in the domestic and informal sectors—exposed to exploitation, wage discrimination, debt bondage, and limited access to social protection. To address these inequalities, bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia is needed, including stronger law enforcement and equal protection for local and migrant workers. The study’s key finding is that these institutional weaknesses not only perpetuate migrant workers’ vulnerability, but also deepen structural socioeconomic inequalities between workers, agents, and employers. The study underscores the need for stronger law enforcement, formalization of the informal sector, harmonization with international labor conventions, and stronger bilateral cooperation. This study contributes to labor law studies and policy debates by offering insights into the institutional reforms necessary for more equitable and sustainable migrant worker governance in Southeast Asia. Full article