Main content

The Silver Age

Life - The Silver Age

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film.

Mrs. Bani Gupta is a widow who lives alone in Calcutta. Like so many Indian women, she'd devoted her entire life to looking after her family. So when her husband died and her children left home, she felt she's lost her reason for living.

It was only when she joined the West Bengal Women's Association and realized how many other women were in the same predicament that she discovered a new purpose to her life.

Bani Gupta's story is typical of millions of elderly women worldwide. Advances in science and health care mean that more people are living longer -- with over 560 million aged 60 and over in the world today.

In parts of Europe, North America and Japan, the proportion of older people in the population is rising faster than any other group. The result, often, is a growing population of old people with too few young people to take care of them.

This program explores the implications in three very different countries: Japan, India and Tunisia.