Third Agers

Hannah Ruguru, aged 75 from Ngando in Nairobi, Kenya.

The 21st century has been called the Century of Ageing.

Our world is ageing rapidly. By 2050 more than 1 in 5 of us will be over 60.

For the first time in human history there will be more over 60s than children under 15.

Most of the world's older people live in developing countries. Yet definitions, expectations, and the problems of old age are changing rapidly.

So what is it like to be old in today's world?

In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third Agers from four continents to find out.

Programme two:

Pensions are inadequate or non-existent in many parts of the world, leaving many older people in poverty.

Campaign groups like Help Age International argue that non-contributory social pensions should be feasible even in poor countries. But is such idealism practical?

In this programme, Jane Little hears from elderly slum dwellers in Nairobi, Kenya - who often face the stark choice between eating and paying the rent.

She finds out how much longer they will have to wait until they can hope to draw a pension.

Jane discovers what a country like Brazil, one of the most rapidly ageing in the world, has achieved with a modest social pension - and what's still left to do.

In Britain, she hears from those who think that it's time to scrap the legal retirement age.

And in the US, Jane finds out why some people who have spent a lifetime working - face debt and huge medical bills.

First broadcast Monday 9 March 2009