International news explained: demography, water, trade and the forces that connect countries.
A handful of narrow sea lanes carry a large share of world trade. In 2026 the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted by war, the Red Sea route is only partly back and the Panama Canal faces drought limits, keeping freight and fuel costs high.
The world is getting older because people are having fewer children and living longer. The UN projects that people aged 65 and over will outnumber children under 18 by the late 2070s, with Japan, Europe and China already feeling the effects.
No major city has completely run dry, but Tehran, Mexico City and Cape Town have come close. Drought is the trigger; the deeper cause is decades of over-pumping, which a UN report now calls "water bankruptcy".
