Africa

Moroccan champions AS FAR have been building towards their moment in Fifa's Champions Cup against Arsenal on Wednesday.

Thoughtful policy changes can help ensure spending pressures remain contained, while creating space to care for elderly people and respond to economic shocks.

By Rahul Anand and Hoda Selim
WASHINGTON DC, Jan 27 2026 (IPS)

Korea’s population is aging faster than almost any other country. That’s because people live longer than in most other countries, while the birth rate is one of the lowest in the world.

About one-fifth of the population is 65 and older, more than triple the share in the 1990s. This matters because older people tend to consume less, which can have wide-ranging economic effects, especially as the pace of population aging accelerates and birth rates do not improve, eventually leading to population decline.

We estimate that every 1 percent decline in Korea’s population will reduce real consumption by 1.6 percent.

Korea has ample room to meet its current spending needs and respond to unforeseen shocks, with central government debt below 50 percent of gross domestic product. However, age-related government spending pressures are likely to rise significantly in coming years. That would substantially reduce fiscal space unless policymakers implement reforms.

We estimate spending on pensions, health care, and long-term care will rise by 30 to 35 percent of GDP by 2050 depending on alternative estimates for long-term spending by different institutions. However, under our baseline scenario—which includes lower potential economic growth due to aging and no measures to offset this, the debt ratio could reach 90 to 130 percent by 2050 depending on the spending estimate used, increasing risks to long-term debt sustainability.

Structural reforms that maintain potential growth—such as those from AI adoption, greater labor force participation and more efficient resource allocation—would create more fiscal room for Korea to support elderly individuals.

However, given high risks and uncertainty around the growth impact of reforms, even with these reforms, debt could still exceed 100 percent of GDP.

In addition to structural reforms, we also recommend fiscal reforms to help create more room in the budget to meet higher spending without putting pressure on public finances.

Greater efficiency

Raising additional revenue will be particularly helpful. In addition to recent changes, such as reversing some corporate tax cuts, policymakers could reconsider existing personal and corporate tax exemptions and simplify them where appropriate.

Reviewing and adjusting certain exemptions for value-added taxes, which have increased, could also help. Similarly, reducing inefficient spending, including streamlining of support for local governments and small- and medium-sized enterprises, could help create space.

Over the long term, making government spending more efficient will help boost the economy’s productive capacity.

To reduce the long-term spending pressures, furthering pension reform remains important. Parliament recently strengthened the finances of the National Pension Service, raising contribution rates to delay future losses. Additional reforms should aim to keep the system sustainable while ensuring fair and adequate benefits.

Finally, adopting a clear and credible quantitative fiscal limit to guide policies to reach fiscal objectives, supported by a stronger medium-term fiscal framework, would help keep government finances stable over the long term while still allowing fiscal policy to respond to shocks when needed.

Moreover, the medium-term framework could forecast and incorporate expected spending on aging, making fiscal policy more predictable and transparent. This could be reinforced by even longer-term strategies that account for future spending pressures and propose options to finance them.

Rahul Anand is an assistant director in the Asia-Pacific Department, where Hoda Selim is a senior economist.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement to improve the efficiency of the EU External Action Guarantee under NDICI-Global Europe.

The 25th meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro provisionally closed chapter 32 on financial control.

Der Rat und das Parlament haben eine vorläufige Einigung zur Verbesserung der Effizienz der EU-Garantie für Außenmaßnahmen im Rahmen des Instruments „NDICI/Europa in der Welt“ erzielt.

La présidente de l’Association France-Algérie, Ségolène Royal, est arrivée lundi soir à Alger, a indiqué la télévision nationale. Cette visite de l’ancienne ministre française et […]

L’article Ségolène Royal arrive à Alger : un tournant pour les relations Algérie-France ? est apparu en premier sur .

Following an investigation some of the 16 detained last year are accused of planning to unseat President Bola Tinubu.

Prosecutors say Paul Mackenzie lured the latest victims to their deaths by writing notes from his prison cell.

Written by Saša Butorac.

CONTEXT

Timely, cost-efficient expansion and modernisation of the European energy infrastructure is one of the key challenges in the EU’s ongoing energy transition. Grid development is needed to ensure energy supply security, increase the resilience of Europe’s energy system and integrate the rapid roll-out of renewable energy sources. Cross border infrastructure plays a vital role in connecting national energy networks..

Meeting the 2030 interconnection targets is particularly important for completing the energy union and reaching European Union energy and climate goals. Given the scale of investment required, the persistent governance challenges around cross‑border projects and the need to enhance the robustness of the scenarios on which they are based, the European Commission has put forward a proposal to revise the TEN‑E regulation, as part of the European grids package published on 10 December 2025. The proposal is one of two legislative initiatives forming the core of the package (the other is on accelerating permit‑granting procedures).

Legislative proposal

2025/0399(COD) – Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, amending Regulations (EU) 2019/942, (EU) 2019/943 and (EU) 2024/1789 and repealing Regulation (EU) 2022/869 – COM(2025) 1006, 10 December 2025.

NEXT STEPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

For the latest developments in this legislative procedure, see the Legislative Train Schedule:

2025/0399(COD)

Read the complete briefing on ‘Guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure Revision of the TEN E Regulation‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Die Schauspielerin ist 68 Jahre alt, ihr Körper ist durchtrainiert und muskulös. Grund dafür ist eine strenge Ernährung, an die die Serbin sich seit Jahrzehnten hält. Ausserdem entschied sie sich bewusst gegen Kinder – und die Ehe.

Das Anwesen von Gene Hackman in Santa Fe steht zum Verkauf. Letztes Jahr wurde die Hollywood-Legende und seine Ehefrau tot in der Villa aufgefunden.

Damit in Luzern ein neues Buskonzept umgesetzt werden kann, braucht es beim Bahnhof neue Busperrons. Der Kantonsrat hat am Montag mit 84 zu 23 Stimmen den dazu nötigen Kredit von 3,8 Millionen Franken genehmigt.

La stimulation cérébrale est utilisée depuis longtemps pour traiter des maladies comme la maladie de Parkinson et est actuellement testée pour d'autres affections telles que les pertes de mémoire.

OPINION on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the EU – Commission for the financial year 2024
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Evin Incir

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Dauer des Videos : 90'

Haftungsausschluss : Die Verdolmetschung der Debatten soll die Kommunikation erleichtern, sie stellt jedoch keine authentische Aufzeichnung der Debatten dar. Authentisch sind nur die Originalfassungen der Reden bzw. ihre überprüften schriftlichen Übersetzungen.
Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2026 - EP

Selon le cabinet fiscal Deloitte, Liverpool est devenu pour la première fois l'équipe la plus rentable de Premier League.

Les autorités fédérales et locales présentent des versions contradictoires de l'incident qui a coûté la vie au manifestant Alex Pretti.

Depuis l'effondrement mortel de l'auvent de la gare de Novi Sad, le 1er novembre 2024, la Serbie se soulève contre la corruption meurtrière du régime du président Vučić et pour le respect de l'État de droit. Cette exigence de justice menée par les étudiants a gagné tout le pays. Suivez les dernières informations en temps réel et en accès libre.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Vucic, Serbie, Politique, Société, Gratuit

The UN mission says it is gravely concerned by "inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians".

Written by Victoria Martin de la Torre.

Commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz

On 27 January 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was liberated, after some 1.1 million people – mostly Jews, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities – were murdered there. This year, survivor Tatiana Bucci, who was six years old when she was deported to Auschwitz with her family, will address MEPs, recalling that around 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust.

Role of the European Parliament

In 1995, Parliament called for a Holocaust Remembrance Day in all Member States, and in January 2005 proposed 27 January as the EU’s Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. In November 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated 27 January as an international day of commemoration to honour Holocaust victims. Since 2005, Parliament has marked this date every year.

Parliament’s Vice-President responsible for Holocaust Remembrance Day and the fight against antisemitism is Pina Picierno (S&D, Italy). The House of European History, established at Parliament’s initiative in Brussels, features a permanent exhibition on the Holocaust and offers the Hidden Children – Survivors of the Holocaust in Brussels, a guided educational and commemorative walk for young people.

In October 2017, Parliament called on the Member States to mark 2 August as the date to remember the victims of the Roma Holocaust and to include this community in Holocaust Remembrance Day. In June that year, Parliament called on the Member States to adopt and apply the working definition of antisemitism employed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, so as to identify and prosecute antisemitic attacks more efficiently and effectively. In October 2018, in relation to the rise of neo-fascist violence in Europe, Parliament drew attention to growing violence against Jews, and called on the Member States to counter Holocaust denial and trivialisation, and to mainstream Holocaust remembrance in education.

Parliament regularly adopts resolutions on fundamental rights in the EU, addressing a wide range of issues such as human dignity, freedom, minority rights and antisemitism. Its September 2022 resolution on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU (2020-2021), for instance, provided an overview of antisemitism, racism, discrimination against LGBTIQ persons, anti-gypsyism and xenophobia.

In 2023, Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) began work on a report supporting the extension of the list of EU crimes in Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to include hate speech and hate crime, in response to a 2021 Commission communication. If the list is extended, Parliament and the Council may then establish minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions across the EU. Parliament endorsed the report in plenary on 18 January 2024.

The European Parliament’s Working Group against Antisemitism, bringing together more than 80 Members from across the political groups, cooperates with all EU institutions.

This is an update of an ‘At a glance’ note from January 2025 drafted by Alina-Alexandra Georgescu.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026: Through the eyes of a child‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.