Today about 830 million people around the world are 65 or older. According to the latest UN data, that figure is projected to reach 1.7 billion by 2054, roughly doubling in about three decades. The shift reflects falling birth rates and longer lives, a combination that is changing the age structure of societies everywhere. Some countries are ageing faster than others, and the pace of change will shape pensions, healthcare, housing and the size of the workforce. Demographers see this as one of the more predictable large changes in the modern world, because the people who will be old in 2054 are mostly alive today.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.