March 29, 2026, 05:23March 29, 2026, 05:23
Lines of people mark places where demand and supply diverge. They tell stories of lack and control, of exclusion and exclusivity – depending on whether they are supposed to satisfy basic needs or longings.
They make visible what is desired and scarce: whether beds or gasoline, water or apartments, pleasure or divine grace, these 28 images show you how differently access is regulated in our world – and where it literally reaches its limits.
Apartments
Zurich, Switzerland, 2016: Apartment seekers in District 6 are lining up to view a model apartment in the new Kronenwiese development.Image: Keystone / Walter Bieri
homelessness
New York, USA, 2024: Donation of clothes for the needy and homeless in front of a church.Image: www.imago-images.de
cash
Harare, Zimbabwe, 2019: People want to withdraw their US dollars quickly, especially on payday, because they don’t trust their own currency or the banks. However, these have limited cash reserves and set strict daily withdrawal limits. This leads to long queues forming, in which many often even wait overnight.
Image: AP
fuel
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2022: Autorickshaw drivers wait in front of a gas station. Since the economic crisis that began in 2019, there have been regular shortages of fuel and gas there.Image: EPA
Abuja, Nigeria, 2016: Fuel shortages are also a recurring problem in Nigeria. Although the country produces crude oil, it has very few functioning refineries. Gasoline and diesel therefore have to be imported at high cost, which is prevented by scarce foreign exchange, unpaid subsidies, unfavorable exchange rates, sabotaged pipelines, corruption, mismanagement or speculation – the result is long queues of cars in front of petrol pumps.
Image: AP
Divine grace
Prayagraj, India, 2023: Boats full of Hindu pilgrims crowd along the bank, washing away their sins in the ritual bath at the Sangam – where the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati flow together.
Image: AP
Kathmandu, Nepal, 2023: Members of the Tamang community line up at the Bodnath Stupa during the Temal festival to offer prayers, light butter lamps and remember their deceased loved ones.Image: AP Photo
Jerusalem, Israel, 2008: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem stands over the places where, according to tradition, Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. Pilgrims line up here in front of the crucifixion altar, on the sides of which the Rock of Golgotha can be seen. Anyone who wants to touch the place where Jesus’ cross supposedly stood must kneel in the niche.
image: wikimedia
Water
Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2007: Children from the inner city slums line up to collect drinking water distributed by army soldiers. Drinking water shortages are a regular problem here; The groundwater table has been falling for years because a lot of it is pumped out for city supplies, industry and agriculture.Image: EPA
food
Oure Cassoni, Chad, 2026: Sudanese refugees queue for cookies in the refugee camp. In April 2023, a civil war broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the armed militia group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Around 14 million people have been displaced from the entire region so far, while neighboring countries have little more capacity to accommodate the many refugees because they themselves suffer from great poverty and food insecurity. With over 1.4 million refugees, Chad has become Africa’s highest-receiving country per capita.Image: Getty Images Europe
picture: girlfromnaples
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2024: The Soup Kitchen of the Union of Workers (UTEP) provides those in need with a warm meal. According to its own information, it is open three days a week and serves around 4,000 people every day. Unfortunately, due to the constantly increasing demand, the food is often not enough.Image: AP Photo
Gelateria di Berna, Zurich, Switzerland, 2017: Big crowd on a hot day.image: KEYSTONE/Walter Bieri
Kherson, Ukraine, 2022: Food donations for the people who have been liberated by the Ukrainian army since November 2022, but who continue to suffer from almost daily shelling from Russian positions on the other bank of the Dnipro. The central water supply only works to a limited extent, the electricity goes out again and again and thousands of people had to make do without regular heating in the winter. Without humanitarian aid, the residents of this city can no longer cope with life.Image: ap photo
Gaza Strip, Palestine, 2023: In the Nuseirat refugee camp, people line up in front of a partially destroyed bakery as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues.Image: NurPhoto
Paris, France, 2013: Queuing in front of a bakery is part of the cityscape. Especially in front of the boulangerie, which always wins the “Grand Prix de la baguette” because it is allowed to supply the Élysée Palace for a year – and of course also to the current head of state. And who doesn’t want to try the award-winning presidential baguette…Image: Shutterstock
Choose
Lidroo, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, 2024: A soldier stands guard as Kashmiri women line up outside a polling station to cast their votes in India’s general election. The armed forces are officially supposed to prevent attacks by militant groups and clashes between politically hostile camps – in other words, the state wants to show that it controls the electoral process and in this way guarantees free and fair elections. However, critics see this militarization as an attempt to intimidate the population.
Image: AP Photo/Dar Yasin
Houston, Texas, USA, 2024: Waiting to vote is not uncommon, especially in Texas, Georgia and South Carolina. Additionally, wait times are longer in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods in the United States, analyzes using smartphone location data show. Lower-income areas have, on average, fewer polling stations, voting machines and staff; a structural problem in which inequality in access to voting becomes very clear.
Image: AP
Kajiado, Kenya, 2022: Maasai people queue in front of a school to cast their vote in the presidential election in which current President William Ruto emerged as the narrow winner.Image: AP
City Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2024: Here, too, people queue to cast their votes at the polling station: the National Assembly and the nine provincial parliaments were elected – for the seventh time since the end of apartheid.
Image: Celine Clery/AFP/Getty Images
tourism
Paris, France, 2008: queuing for the Eiffel Tower; Around 20,000 to 25,000 people visit the 330 meter high iron frame tower every day.Image: AP
Mount Everest, Himalayas, 2019: This picture went around the world in 2019: traffic jam on the summit ridge of the highest mountain. As a result, the mountaineers stayed in the death zone for too long; at an altitude between 7,900 and 8,849 meters, where the air is so thin that the body only has around a third of the oxygen available. Altitude sickness can quickly become fatal here: exhaustion, disorientation, cerebral and pulmonary edema, cardiac arrhythmias or strokes are the result. Eleven people died on Mount Everest that year. In 2020 the mountain was closed due to the corona epidemic, and eleven deaths were reported again in 2021. 2023 was the deadliest year since then, with at least 17 deaths. Evidence of qualifications must now be provided to climb the summit, but an upper limit – although required by the Supreme Court in Nepal in 2024 – does not yet exist. To this end, the 2025 climbing permits have been increased from 11,000 to 15,000 US dollars per foreign mountaineer.
Image: AP @Nimsdai Project Possible
Floods
Lahore, Pakistan, 2007: Flooded streets force people to walk in a row. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of flooding that the South Asian nation suffers annually from the summer monsoon. The country was hit particularly badly in 2022, with around 33 million people affected and over 1,700 losing their lives in the floods. At times, around a third of Pakistan was under water.
Image: AP
Health
Borders/Status/Asylum/
Right to remain/migration
Tijuana, Mexico, 2023: Migrants are allowed to enter the United States via the Chaparral pedestrian border crossing. This was made possible by the CBP One app, through which they could complete an interview in order to apply for asylum. As soon as he was back in power, Trump had it switched off at the beginning of 2025: appointments that had already been made were canceled and the appointment function for migrants at the southern border was stopped with immediate effect. This left thousands of people stranded inland Mexico and at the border, which has since been largely closed to asylum seekers. “Remain in Mexico” is the motto.
Image: Los Angeles Times
party
Berghain in Berlin, Germany, 2024: Waiting is part of the experience here; It’s a ritual and an initiation – and anyone who is curated by the bouncer as “socially fit” for the club after waiting in line for hours can finally breathe a sigh of relief. If you are rejected, the reason remains a secret, which only increases the mystification of the techno temple and increases its unfathomable aura. And to keep it that way, no one is allowed to take photos inside. Berghain exists only in the here and now.
Image: www.imago-images.de
(roof)