Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2016
We briefly describe recent studies of the low-mass young stellar populations including substellar objects and of their luminosity functions and mass functions, especially at lower-ends, in different star-forming regions. The mass function is determined by the technique based on the near-infrared photometry for estimating stellar luminosities and then translating them into stellar masses. We compare the local environmental characteristics of regions in which high-mass stars form with those of regions producing only low-mass stars and intermediate stars. We find that there exist numerous very low-mass YSO candidates including young brown dwarfs and young isolated objects with planetary masses in common. Further, the luminosity functions and mass functions in the star-forming regions might not have a uniform shape below the hydrogen-burning limit.